Written by Petrit Latifi
In 1892, Nićifor Dučić writes of the Albanian-Montenegrin battles of Kernica and Shestani in 1861 and 1862. Montenegrin imperialist desires to invade Albanian territories, described as anti-Ottoman revolts, resulted in Albanian commander Hasan Hoti of Shkodër retreating. Several Albanian fighters locked themsleves in kullas (fortified towers). During and after the battles, Montenegrin troops committed several atrocities against the Albanians of the villages. In the book we read:
“Knowing how many Turkish troops there were and where they were deployed, they decided that the next day, priest Ilija and with him captains Milo Vojvodić and Milo Byjović with 500 soldiers would attack the Arbanasi in Dračevica, an hour’s drive from Krnjice, and thus surprise the main Arbanasi army in lower Krnjice. This heroic company attacked Dračevica, drove the Arnauts out of it, cut down 8 of them, seized one banner, and set Dračevica on fire.
1 of the Crmnica people was killed and 5 were wounded. This attack truly surprised and frightened the Arbanasi. Those who were in the village of Vučerake fled back to their steamboats and other boats on the lake, thinking that the Montenegrins had burned the entire Krajina. Serdar Turo and the commandership of Mašo occupied Vučerake with their army, forcing Asan Hot (Hasan Hoti) and the Arbanasi who remained with him to retreat.
They imprisoned them in 10 towers, so that no one could enter or leave them. And Murt was forced to lock himself in the tower in the upper Krnjinice. All of these towers were built with stone and lime. As the fleeing Arbanasis rushed onto the steamers, a Srpska woman from Vučedabić with a knife in her hand cut off the head of one Arbanasi with a single blow… […] and they claim that without cannons they cannot do anything.
Serdar Turo sends an accurate report on everything to the prince to Cetinje, asking for support, because after they forced the Arbanasi to lock themselves in the towers, it could be reliably expected that a new Turkish army would come from Shkodra to free Hasan Hoti and his Arbanasi from prison and that there would be a big battle there.
In Cetinje, they understood this well, as well as the consequences of the victory of one or the other army. For the further development of the operations, Prince Nikola ordered that the leaders of the Rijeka nahija immediately lead the army to Krnjice. On Thursday, March 8, the serdar of Ceklinj, Savo Jovićević, Stanko Golubov, captain of Ljubotinj, and captains of Dobrija and Gradjana with the army of the Rijeka nahija arrived in Gornje Krnjice. There, at a council with the leaders of Crmnica, they arranged where each would go. captaincy to take up positions.
Thus, the leaders with the army of the Rijeka nahiya occupied the area from Sinanović tower above the upper Krnjice to the Golik hill, and the leaders and army of the Crmnica nahiya took up positions from the port and the lake to Sinanović tower. Priest Ilija Plamenac with his captaincy in the port, right to the lake to him captain Milo Vujović to this captain Milo Vojvodić to him serdar Butor to this captain Markiša Stanković to him captain Tomo Bonović to this two hundred men from the prince’s guard priest Savo Plamenac and priest Mato Purlija with 200 guardsmen right up to Sinanović towers and the army of the Rijeka nahija.
But the Turks did not stand idly by either Two Turkish steamships brought a new army from Shkodra and landed it at Podvrat and another Turkish army, coming by boat from Shkodra, occupied Šestane. On Thursday evening, March 8, two serdars arrived in Gornje Krnjice, priest Joko Kusovac and Đuko Sredanović with two cannons sent from Cetinje to demolish the towers in which the Arbanasi were imprisoned.
The next day, March 9, serdar Đuko marked the point from which he would attack the tower in which the Buljuk was Basha Murto was imprisoned and the battle began. The Albanians responded by firing from rifles through the gun ports in the towers. This firing lasted until the next day and into the evening. Among them was Prince Nikola. This is the serdar Đuko Sredanović who fought alongside Bishop Peter II in Naples, about whom our favorite poet Ljub Nenadvić speaks beautifully in his notes from Italy…
To facilitate the enemy’s success, Vujović and Radonjić remained on their side and the cannons roared. At the first cannon shot, the Turkish army went into battle and the steamers sailed into the harbor without resistance. So everything that Plamenac had predicted happened. The Montenegrin army, as not all of them had yet taken up certain positions, panicked. But the composed leaders kept the army in order and quickly took up their positions.
That military recklessness, or rather the game of the two commanders, could have cost the Montenegrin army a lot of damage and blood. The Turkish army started the battle from its positions, trying to free the Arbanasi who were locked up in the towers. The Turkish regular and irregular army, both on ships and on land, numbered about 6,000. The irregular army of Arbanasi was led by Mahmud Bey Bušatlija, after whom the Alaut Skadranin, the commander of the Montenegrin army, was killed.
The rebels numbered 4,000 in total. The battle began on all positions. Both armies fought bitterly and fiercely. The guns were firing continuously. The Turkish cannons from the steamers and the two Montenegrin ones were firing continuously. Thick smoke pressed down on the battlefield. The dead and wounded were falling on both sides. The Prince’s Guard was surrounded.
The Arnauts charged to destroy it. The Guards repulsed them vigorously until at the right moment the hero of Kosovo, Captain Stanko Golubov, with the Ljubotinians, came to their aid and relieved their position by repelling the Arbanasi charge, where he received wounds from which he never recovered. At the same time, Serdar Đuko Sredanović with two cannons drove the Arbanasi from Petrova Ponta and the Turkish steamers and other ships from the harbor. Then it was a good moment for the charge.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Montenegrin army ordered the leader and the army to charge the Turkish positions. As soon as they shouted to the leader, “Who is a Montenegrin? Who is a hero? Charge for the cross, honor, and honor of a soldier,” the entire Montenegrin army rushed at the Turkish trenches in unison. The Arnauts defended themselves tenaciously until the Montenegrin heroes grabbed the trenches with their hands, then they turned their backs and fled from the trenches.
The regular army, standing in the rear, tries to stop the Arnauts but fails. When any army is inclined to flee, it is neither reasonable nor useful to stop it at such moments, because at that moment it is incapable of resistance and can easily perish or be captured. In my opinion and bloody experience…
When an army starts to flee from battle, it should be left to its own devices from the beginning, and then it should be stopped at a convenient place and brought into line for battle. However, such an opportunity is a good one for the victor to chase and satirize the terrified enemy army as much as possible, etc. The brave Montenegrin army won a great victory that day. In that battle, 400 Turks and the Alaut hodja, whose head was cut off by Captain Milo Vujović, were killed.
Over 600 were wounded. The Montenegrins seized 5 Turkish flags and many weapons. 60 of the Montenegrin army were killed, including two captains Milo Vujović and Tomo M. Bonović. There were 90 wounded. Of the Ljubotinians, only those from the Rijeka nahiya army were in battle. 15 were killed and 25 were wounded, including the brave Captain Stanko Golubov, the great duke’s aunt’s brother.
Mirko, who died of these wounds a short time later in Cetinje. Of the people of Krnjica and Seocica, 30 more died and were wounded. Asan Hot and the Arnauts who were imprisoned in the towers in lower Krnjica, seeing that their army that had come to rescue them from prison had been defeated.
The remaining survivors retreated to Shkodra, knowing that they would not receive new reinforcements for a long time, having nowhere to go, they called out from the tower on Monday morning, March 12, two Plamenca serdars, priest Ilija Tur and the chief commander of the army, Duke Petar F. Vujović, and 600 Arnauts surrendered to them with the agreement that Asan Hot and Murt and 10 other Albanian leaders would not take their weapons to Cetinje.
This was granted. The others all surrendered their weapons with a sadder heart. As soon as the Arnauts surrendered, Duke Petar S. Vukotić arrived in Krnjice with the captains and the army of the Katun and Lješan districts. By then, this whole thing was no longer necessary. They sent the prisoners to Vir. After that, the Montenegrin leaders decided at the council to attack with one strong detachment of the army Šestane to avenge the people of Oraov and to all of Krajina for the fallen. On Tuesday, March 13, they attacked Šestane, looted and burned it, and spared the inhabitants their lives. On Wednesday, March 14, at the moment when they were ready to attack the Turkish villages, they received an order from the prince of Cetinje to go no further than to bring the prisoners to Cetinje […]”
Reference
Balkan Academia 