User:Ειρήνη Μεϊντάνη/sandbox/The battle of Ampliani

The battle of Ampliani is…

Before the events
Dervis Pasha was appointed a new vizier, to whom the Sultan gave an explicit order to command both Vrioni Pasha of Ioannina and Karystinos Pasha of Evia,to invade Acarnania and Attica respectively. Dervis Pasha had to join forces with Berkoftzalis Pasha, Yusuf Pasha and Abbas Pasha Dibra to invade the eastern Central Greece with an army of fifteen thousand soldiers. But instead of enforcing the orders, Dervis decided to act alone. He started from Larissa and went to Lamia not daring to pass through Thermopylae. He went to the village of Lianokladi, opposite Zitouni, and camped there. He ordered Yusuf Pasha Berkoftzali with six thousand infantry soldiers and Abbas Pasha Dibra with three thousand cavalry soldiers to cross Gravia and continue to Salona in order to conquer the city and the surrounding area.

The evolution of events
Upon learning of these plans, Panourgias, who was stationed with his compatriots in Ambliani, decided to build strong bastions in the area, which he reinforced with many trunks of thick trees. The power of Panourgias was not enough to withstand the force of the Ottomans. Fortunately, reinforcements arrived from Souli under the commands of chieftains Drakos, Giotis Daglis, Diamantis Zervas and others. Along came Kitsos Tzavelas and P. Notaras as well as the local chieftain Dimos Skaltsas. Thus, a total of two thousand soldiers were waiting for the enemies, who,having two field cannons, attacked the Greeks on July 14th ;3 hours after sunrise. The war started with shootings, but immediately the Ottomans rushed towards the Greeks,holding swords on their hands to open the way. The Greeks fought against them bravely and forced them to retreat suffering many casualties. The Ottomans tried a second and a third time, but the result was the same. During the battle the Greeks were reinforced with the forces of Kalmoukis. The battle lasted till the afternoon, until Souliotes forced the enemy to flee. The whole Greek army ran after them chasing the enemy. They took as loot two cannons, many weapons, ammunition, flags and horses, as well as the tent of Berkoftzalis. The persecuted Ottomans were knocked over the rocks and killed. What was left of the Othoman army returned to Zitouni and was disbanded in early October.