Authored by Petrit Latifi

Description of the Montenegrin war of conquest of the Albanian region of Krajë in 1877, part of the book by the historian and war reporter Spiridon Gopçeviq published that same year.

“Now there were only two larger forts left in that area, on Golobrdo and Nehaj. Attacking them must have seemed crazy considering the lack of artillery. Therefore, Đurović decided to conquer Muriqi for the time being.
Muriqi is a village whose inhabitants have lived in eternal blood feud with the Montenegrins and which has often been the scene of bloody battles, as we have seen in this work.

From a strategic point of view it is an important point because it blocks the road along the lake to Shkodra, as a result of which large, deep and wide embankments have been built. During the last war, these were always led by 1000 men to resist any invasion in this direction. Likewise, a warship was usually stationed on the shore. We still remember that sometimes even 3000 men occupied the fortifications when the Montenegrins were in Shestan.

At that time, 250 of the crew had just been sent to Antivari and we saw how, surprised by the invasion, they did not have time to turn back. Therefore, they closed themselves in the fortress of Antivari.
When some refugees brought the news: All the fortresses are in the hands of the prince, who has crossed the border with his entire army;

Antivari is bombarded, Plamenac has defeated the relief in Mërkot and sent a detachment over the Rumija mountains, the Muriqs realized that resistance had little chance if Plamenac attacked them from the rear. Therefore, when Đurović moved over Bjela Skalë, the Turks decided to evacuate Muriq.

The warship “Bar” stationed there took “Syrat” and “Suda”, 300 men of which were sent to the islands of the sea to reinforce their crews, while the remaining 400 left for Shkodra.

When Đurović inspected the abandoned fortifications on 22 November, he said that they were so strong that an attack would have cost hundreds of men and forced a large-scale siege. He then approached the Turkish fortifications of Lesendra and Gërmozhur, which he bombarded”.

Reference