In the book “Histoire du Monténégro et de la Bosnie depuis les origines” by P. Coquelle, published 1895, we can find information on the Montenegrin annexation and invasion of Albanian inhabited regions of Shushanjë, Ratac, Spic (Spiç), Canj, Muriqi, Goloberdë, Fort Nehaj and the region of Volovicë (Volovizza) in 1876-1877.

Cited:

“OCCUPATION OF THE COAST NORTH OF ANTIVARI

Djurevitch, whose mission was to seize all the strongholds on the coast and Lake Scutari located north of Antivari, first occupied the fort of Susanj after the garrison’s capitulation, then the coastal battery of Ratac, and finally reached the small port of Spitza, the subject of the prince’s demands following the 1876 campaign. On November 18, Spitza surrendered, and the able-bodied men were ordered to be transferred to Djurevitch’s battalions.

The next day, the fort of Canj, located on the Austrian border, capitulated with its seventy garrison men. Crossing swiftly through the Sutorman massif from west to east, Djurevitch appeared beneath the walls of Muritch on the shores of Lake Scutari and demanded its surrender. This well-entrenched stronghold, supported by the lake’s warships, had only a thousand garrison men at the moment, so when the the inhabitants learned that the country was in the hands of the prince and that Plamenac was encamped on the Bojana River behind them.

They deemed it pointless to resist and opened their gates to Djurevitch on November 22nd. The steamships Bar Syrat and Suda took the garrison aboard and transported some of them to the islands of the lake and others to Scutari. The two important forts of Goloberdo and Nehaj, located a few kilometers from the sea between Spitsa and Susanj, remained.

Djurevitch could not consider capturing them with his two mountain cannons, and yet these two strongholds could serve as a base for a landing of Turkish troops. It was essential to secure them at all costs. Here is the stratagem by which the prince, who had gone to the area on the 23rd, succeeded: On the night of the 23rd, he had twenty trumpeters and some soldiers positioned in a wood near Goloberdo and ordered them to sound the charge.

The Turks, believing they were facing the entire Montenegrin army, rushed the ramparts and opened fire in the presumed direction of the attack. At the same time, three hundred soldiers equipped with fifty ladders turn to the other side of the square and climb its walls without hindrance, for all the defenders have moved to the other end to repel the simulated attack.

Only an inner door stops them; what to do? They have no tools to force it open. Finally, one of them, who knows the language, a Turkish voice called out. An Arab appeared above the wall and asked what they wanted. “Open the gate for us,” replied the Montenegrin. “Impossible, I have no key.” “Break it down,” replied the Arab, mistaking them for Turks returning from reconnaissance. “We have no axes.” The Arab disappeared and a few moments later returned to the wall and threw axes into the moat.

Instantly, the gate was broken down, the Arab taken prisoner, and the three hundred brave men, falling upon the garrison, cut it to pieces and seized the fortress. Thus fell Goloberdo, and the next day Nehaj in a similar manner, without costing the Montenegrins a drop of blood. They collected a booty of twenty-one cannons, two flags, 200 tons of gunpowder, three hundred and eighty prisoners, and a huge supply of provisions. The prince immediately occupied the conquered places of Goloberdo, Nehaj, Susanj, Ratac, Canj, and the Volovizza battery.”