Cited:
“Montenegro. The Pester Lloyd writes about the war and its consequences between the Montenegrins and Turks under the title “Indian War in Europe.” Anyone who climbs the Serpentina near Cattaro, especially in the evening and at night, or who climbs the rock faces near Risano, over which the Austrian-Montenegrin border runs, can hear the lamenting howls of the women echoing from more than one place.
No neighborhood, no community, no family, no hut in all of Montenegro could have been spared; every one has already laid its blood tax on the altar of the fatherland. If one estimates the losses suffered by the mountain dwellers in the war so far at only 3,000 men—of course, apart from the wounded and the few prisoners—then one has no less than a quarter of Montenegro’s entire armed forces, for Montenegro actually had no more than 12,000 men capable of bearing arms and actually armed.
They certainly boasted of 20,000, meanwhile, they had the children Women and old men, some of whom didn’t even march out or soon returned to their families, are being targeted. With 3,000 dead, the losses suffered by the mountain dwellers so far are not considered too high. In itself, the number is not particularly high when one considers the days of bloody battles and the numerous skirmishes, but for such a poor country, where moreover a grown man is worth more than a thousand women and children, it is a terribly high number.
It is likely that even Omer Pasha, during the early conquest of Cetinje, did not inflict greater losses on the mountain dwellers, and at that time the country’s strength was almost broken. Therefore, everywhere along the Bocca River and in Ragusa, the question is: what will become of it? But this much is certain: the Czernagorcians will not give in as long as a Turkish foot stands on their territory.
The question regarding the redrawing of Montenegro’s borders would be equally difficult in any genuine peace negotiations. Thus, there is no clarity on this issue either, and meanwhile, the Indian War continues. And the country is falling further and further into ruin. While our Redskins don’t scalp their captured enemies, it’s merely an anatomical question whether cutting off noses, dreadlocks, etc., isn’t an equally painful and terrible operation.
Just as the Indians prefer to skin their dead prisoners, so our Redskins from Czernagora prefer to torture their captured enemies alive. In the hospital in Scutari, as the consuls of various states attest, lie the mutilated in droves. When finally even the Ragusan sack carriers who confronted the Czernagorc pack animals operating against Trebinje found the horrors they had to witness too much to bear, so that these people, by no means known for their gentleness, turned away in disgust and only recounted their experiences with reluctance, then no further indication is needed of how far things have progressed in the mountains behind us.”
Source
Landshuter Zeitung niederbayerisches. Heimatblatt für Stadt und Land ; gegründet. 1849-1876.
