by Sakip Cami
Summary
During the 1912 Balkan War, as Albania declared independence in Vlora, Serbian forces invaded Luma and Dibra. Local Albanian highlanders, led by Elez Isufi, Islam Spahia, Ramadan Zaskoci, and Met Dedja, mounted a heroic defense at the Kolesjan Pass from November 15–19. Using captured cannons and fierce close combat, approximately 4,000 fighters from Luma, Dibra, and surrounding areas ambushed and routed Serbian regiments over a 35 km front. Despite being outnumbered and poorly armed, they inflicted heavy losses, forcing the Serbs to retreat with hundreds of casualties. This victory coincided with Albania’s independence proclamation and remains a symbol of Albanian resistance.
1912
While independence was being proclaimed in Vlora, war was being waged against the Serbs in Luma and Dibra, and against the Montenegrins in Shkodra. In the Balkan War that broke out between Turkey and the allied Balkan states, after the occupation of Skopje, Manastir (Bitola), Tetovo, Gostivar, Prilep, Kičevo, Ohrid, and Struga — areas bordering Dibra — the citizens and highlanders of Dibra found themselves facing the Serbian invaders.
At that time, Dibra elected and sent its representative, Mufti Vehbi (Vehbi Dibra / Agolli), to participate in the historic Assembly that would proclaim Albania’s independence. As is known, Vehbi Dibra was elected chairman of the Albanian Assembly, while Dom Nikoll Kaçorri became vice-chairman of the Vlora government. Hafiz Sherif Langu, the other representative from Dibra, arrived in Vlora on the third day, November 30, 1912. The news that Ismail Qemali and the Albanian delegates had proclaimed Albania independent and sovereign spread like lightning.
…The Serbs had received information that Albanians in Vlora would proclaim independence and could not accept Albania’s independence or its borders. They wanted to reach Durrës before Ismail Qemali to prevent it. They wanted to argue before the Great Powers that they were fighting the Ottoman Empire, not Albania, because “Albania does not exist.” In October 1912, the First Balkan War began. S
erbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Montenegro declared war on Turkey. Bulgaria declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Greece declared war on the Ottoman Empire. In reality, these four Balkan states were fighting against the Albanians, seeking to seize Albanian lands that were part of the dying Ottoman Empire. The Albanians themselves had been fighting the Turks for two years, from Deçiq to Vlora, for separation from the Ottoman Empire. Albanian nobles and Ismail Qemali were in the final preparations to proclaim Albania’s independence.
“The Serbian king cries for mercy,/
Luma has wiped out all his soldiers,/
It has wiped out the wretched soldiers,/
The men with rifles and the women with axes.”
From a popular song
The Serbs attacked the region of Luma at the same time as Dibra. For three consecutive days and nights, the people of Luma and Dibra — from Reçi, Dardha, Çidhna, Sllova, and Lura — under the leadership of Elez Isufi and Isuf Xhelili, and the Lumjans led by Islam Spahia, Ramadan Zaskoci, and Ramadan Çejku, from November 15 to 18, 1912, formed a barricade with their forces from the Kolesjan Pass to the gates of Prizren against a Serbian regiment and two battalions, over a 35 km combat front.
The Austro-Hungarian consul in Prizren, Oskar Prohaska, who observed the Battle of Luma throughout its duration, informed Vienna that a fierce and bloody war was taking place in Luma, in which the Serbian forces had suffered defeat.
The participation and fighting of the people of Dibra, Reçi, and Dardha were reported by the command of Ottoman forces in Dibra (based on courier information) to Ottoman commanders in Ohrid and Elbasan, who considered it their own victory.
Aqif Pasha Elbasani, who did not participate in the Vlora Assembly because fighting against the Serbs was ongoing in Golloborda (in his prefecture’s territory), was orally informed by Ahmet Zogu in Elbasan and sent information to the Vlora government about the Lumjans and Dibrans putting six Serbian battalions out of action.
The forces of Luma, Dibra, and Kosovo numbered up to four thousand men. These forces forced the Serbian army — half of it departing from Prizren toward Lezha and the Adriatic. The capitulated Turkish army was concentrated only in the fortresses of Shkodra and Janina.
In this war, the Albanians were left alone. Ottoman battalion units were withdrawing in fear, trying to suffer as few losses as possible during retreat. Two of the three Serbian armies in the war attacked Albanian territories. The Turks had promised Isa Boletini 63,000 rifles but did not deliver them. Elez Isufi, however, seized three cannons by force from the Turkish army in Dibra as it withdrew toward Manastir.
The Lumjans requested weapons from the Turkish administration in Prizren, but the Turkish administration refused to open the depots and supply arms to the Lumjans commanded by their leader Ramadan Zaskoci.
The fierce fighting began on November 15 against Serbian forces at the Kolesjan Pass. Meanwhile, the Lumjans trapped an attacking Serbian battalion in a horseshoe ambush from the Gryka e Shkallës së Keqe, Kolesjan, Gabrricë, and Bushat.
The Dardha (derjan) forces led by Elez Isufi, supported by a company of Çidhna men led by Met Dedja, turned back from their journey toward Shkodra to aid the Lumjans fighting the Serbs. In the first days of November 1912, Serbian forces were advancing steadily toward Luma. Elez Isufi sent word to Met Deda urging them to reach Kolesjan as quickly as possible to confront the enemy. This action was fully justified tactically, and the highlanders’ combat engagement was at the required level.
Elez Isufi had sent over 400 forces to the Kolesjan Pass, accompanied by two small cannons. On November 19, 1912, the thunder of the cannons and the cries of “Besa-besë” achieved a great victory over the Serbian army, leaving an entire regiment of dead soldiers on the battlefield.
The victory flag with the double-headed eagle waved over the battlefield on the very day independence was proclaimed in Vlora.
In this battle formation, the men of Çidhna, led by Met Dedja, also stood in line. They fought heroically side by side with the fighters from Dardha and Reçi.
A song from that time said:
“Who holds the meeting at the position? /
It is Met Dedja with the big mustache. /
We make smoke and flames, /
As in Bërdicë and in Kolesjan.”
In these bloody battles, alongside Halil Selmani, who was drenched in blood, the following Çidhna men also fell on the battlefield: Beqir Dan Bushi, Dan Beshir Sala, Osman Liman Kariçi, and Rushit Miftar Përseku. Meanwhile, the Çidhna fighters Destan Tota, Ferit Dauti, Halim Xhika, Sahit Xhika, Bajram Xhika, Selam Daci, Selman Xhika, Avdi Xhika, Elez Shehu, Sali Shehu, and others fought fiercely.
Elez Isufi, commander of the Dibra forces
At the beginning of November 1912, as the Ottoman army withdrew along the Luma–Kala Doda–Korab Plateau–Qafa e Resnikut line, two cannons and 17 shells were held in Ploshtan. These were used by the Kala Doda men at the Kolesjan Pass against the Serbian army. The village cleric, under the motto “There is no faith without a homeland,” left the house of God for the sons of God. The people of Ploshtan used the village mosque for this great purpose and also sheltered food for the population and fighters there.
The battle formations were as follows: The people of Radomira blocked the Kolesjan Pass. Cereni, Ploshtani, Dodajt, Shullani, and Vasije positioned themselves in the Gora, Pikllima, and Koritnik areas. Radomira had about 300 fighters. The other villages had roughly the same number or slightly more. The Albanian artillery fire against the Serbs at the Kolesjan Pass had a very great impact. It caught them completely by surprise and caused fear and panic, as they had never imagined that Albanians had cannons in this war. It boosted the optimism and confidence of the Lumjan fighters for victory.
This artillery strike by the Albanians came after the fall on the battlefield (from Serbian artillery attacks) of Ibrahim Gjorgji and Ramadan Kreci. Mustafa Baloshi was seriously wounded. After the battle, his comrades buried Ibrahim and Ramadan on the small hill of Bicaj village. Leading the fighters were Tofik Gjorllaku, Gafurr Brika, Adil Skeja, Ramadan Kadia, Sheh Hajra, Riza Ahmati, Idriz Zholi, Halil Shira, Cen Daci, Qazim Lika, and Osman Lita. Dalip Sula encouraged his comrades: “Strike the enemy so we can exterminate the infidels.”
Bedrije Brika, sister of Hysen Brika, upon hearing the news that her brother and the village men had been taken by the Serbs to be killed, took her rifle and headed toward Cereni. She fired at the killers. The Serbs changed targets and shot at Bedrije. She was killed in Krojnas. Hysen survived. Sister Bedrije was killed.
Her mother lamented her:
“Mother did not live
To see you as a bride,
The enemy set an ambush for you,
And dyed you with blood!
Ploshtani gathers,
My daughter, to mourn,
The homeland weeps,
Martyr sister and brother!”
Hysen later married and had a daughter, whom he named Bedrije in memory of his sister.
The graves of the martyrs from Cereni are separate. The women buried them because the Serbs were killing the men. Hasan Hafuzi built the wall around the martyrs’ graves. He quarried stones from the stream and built the enclosing wall.
The reserve forces of the Lower Dibra sub-prefecture had been mobilized and ordered to join the Dibra regiment in Kruja, as they had received orders from Mahmut Hajret Pasha, commander of Ottoman border forces with Montenegro, to participate in the defense of Shkodra.
But on the night of November 19, 1912, the volunteers who were to reinforce the regiment formed in Dibra split into two groups: one part stopped in Burrel, and the other part turned back under the command of their leader Elez Isufi. They rushed toward Luma, because the Serb had entered Luma committing atrocities against women and children, and there was no turning back for them.
Hundreds of Dibrans commanded by Elez Isufi (as recounted by Abdulla Çanga, Elez’s personal secretary) marched with great effort from Burrel on a difficult road — descending to the Drin from Qafë-Murra, climbing to Kala e Dodës, crossing Upper Luma, and reaching the Kolesjan Pass. There, the day before, popular Lumjan forces led by Islam Spahia, Ramadan Zaskoci, Ramadan Çejku, and others had begun fighting the Serbs. In addition to rifles, the force that arrived with Elez Isufi and Cen Daci of Kalis (a former Albanian artillery officer) also brought two cannons and 37 shells taken from Xhavit Pasha’s division.
The next day, November 16, early in the morning, the enemy opened fire across the entire front from the Kolesjan direction. But the two cannons of the Dibra fighters (taken from Xhavit Pasha’s army) began striking Serbian targets successfully, forcing the Serbian mountain guns to change their firing positions. The Serbs had never imagined they would be attacked with cannons by Albanian fighters. They called the Albanians “empty-bellied and torn-trousered,” but these empty-bellied fighters made them flee in panic. That day, a cold rain was falling, and the Sheja stream and the Black Drin River had risen to their peak. In the attempt to cross the swollen river and stream, some Serbian soldiers drowned.
Meanwhile, the Turkish command was sending telegrams to the Sublime Porte, reporting the successes of the Lumjan and Dibran fighters as their own.
After the remaining Serbian forces withdrew beyond Bicaj toward the Kulla e Lumës, the Dibran contingent under Elez Isufi disengaged from the battle and headed toward Lower Dibra. Elez Isufi received news that the Serbian army was attacking Dibra from the east. That day, November 27, the “Morava” brigade set out to occupy Dibra. The forces of Elez Isufi, who had performed their duty excellently in defending their Lumjan brothers, were now forced to march toward Greater Dibra to defend the brothers in the city of Dibra.
The Lumjans pursued the Serbs even to the Kulla e Lumës, where the remaining forces were surrounded by the Lumjans and heavily damaged. A battalion sent to help them could not break through until the next day. The carts and horses of the Serbian army were destroyed and eliminated. The soldiers of the two surviving companies, carrying heavy weapons and ammunition on their backs, barely regrouped near Vermica on the night of November 17 and withdrew late that night to Zhur.
Kosta Novaković, one of the participants in this battle, wrote in his diary that in Luma they suffered a complete defeat, with heavy losses — several hundred soldiers and officers killed, and much ammunition, food, and animals lost. The Austro-Hungarian consul in Prizren, Prohaska, also wrote about the heavy Serbian losses in Luma a few days later.
Source
https://www.kallabak.com/index.php?idm=681&mod=2
