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>In 1552 Hadim Ali Pasha of Buda laid siege to the castle at Veszprém and captured it on 2 June. The Turkish army turned its attention to the castles of Hont and Nógrád counties. The army of Ali Pasha – about 10,000 to 12,000 strong – got below Drégely Castle on the morning of 6 July. The defenders of the castle consisted of 120 men hired by King Ferdinand and 26 warriors sent by the royal mining town of Banská Štiavnica (then Schemnitz or Selmec). Ali Pasha immediately called upon Szondy to surrender. After the Hungarian refusal Ali the castle's outer wooden wall be set on fire. Because of the first combat the defenders withdrew into the inner stone castle. At the following dawn, Turkish engineering corps built a counterfort on a place called Várbérc ("Castle Crag") where Turkish artillery started a cannonade against the castle gate using three cannon and six howitzers[clarification needed]. The cannon fire continued for two days.
>On 9 July 1552 the high castle gate and its tower collapsed. That was when Ali Pasha sent the priest Márton as envoy to persuade Szondy to surrender. Szondy refused again, but he sent his two pageboys accompanied by two noble Turkish captives to Ali. They brought the message that the castle would be defended until the last breath. Szondy asked Ali to educate the two boys in exchange for the release of the two Turkish prisoners, and for himself to be buried with full honours. As reply to Szondy's repeated refusal Turkish troops started a decisive attack on the castle. Szondy was shot in his knee and the subsequent bullet killed him. The defenders were killed until the last man. Drégely fell, but Ali paid tribute to the brave dead castellan.
