[3] These forces were completely inadequate to offer anything but a token resistance; the captured men were transferred to Italy as prisoners of war, but more than a few of the Albanian Regiment's men—up to about half in Zakynthos—simply scattered into the countryside and resumed their traditional guerrilla habits.
Colonel Hudson Lowe along with two Greek chieftains, Theodoros Kolokotronis and Konstantis Petmezas, to scout the situation on the island.
Kolokotronis made contact with the local Greco-Albanian troops, and urged them to surrender, but the latter refused, citing their oath to fight with the French.
[6] The initial fighting was hard, but the British forces managed to overrun the French defences, capturing a number of gun batteries.
This decision not only left the lightly equipped men of the Albanian Regiment exposed to the elements, but Camus also refused to give shelter to their families in the fortress.