But Dramali, by now utterly self-confident by the Greeks' apparent reluctance to oppose him, decided to march at once to the south, towards the Argolis. His advance caused a panic among the Greeks: the siege of Nafplio was abandoned just as the garrison was preparing to surrender, and the provisional government fled Argos and embarked on ships for safety. However, on arriving at Argos on 11 July, Dramali made two critical mistakes: he did not secure his main supply and retreat route through the Dervenakia Pass, and ignored the fact that the absence of the Ottoman Navy meant that he could not be supplied by sea. Instead, he focused on taking the town's fort, stubbornly defended by a 700-strong Greek garrison under Demetrios Ypsilantis, which held out for twelve vital days, before breaking through the besiegers' lines and escaping. During that time, the Greeks, under Theodoros Kolokotronis, rallied their forces, and occupied the surrounding hills and defiles, including the Dervenakia. The Greeks systematically looted the villages of the Argolic plain, even setting fire to the crops and damaging the springs, so as to starve the Turkish army. Trapped in the sweltering summer heat of the Argolic plain, without water and food, Dramali was forced to plan withdrawing back to Corinth. On 26 July he sent out his cavalry as an advance guard towards the Dervenakia pass. But the Greeks were expecting the move, and had taken up positions there. The resulting battle was a complete Greek victory, with few Ottomans managing to escape. Finally, two days later, Dramali set out with his main army. Although he and his bodyguard managed to pass, the majority of his army, as well as the treasury and most baggage and equipment, were trapped in the pass and massacred. The result of Dramali's campaign, which had started so well, was a complete disaster: out of more than 30,000 soldiers, only 6,000 returned to Corinth, where Dramali died of high fever. Dramali's defeat saved the Greek uprising from an early failure. The extent of the defeat was such that it entered into the modern Greek language as a proverb: "η καταστροφή του Δράμαλη" (Dramali's catastrophe), which is used to denote a complete disaster. His descendants live today in Egypt and Turkey.