Cited:

“A report regarding the engagement between Mukhtar Pasha and Prince Nikita arrived via Risano (dated the 27th): On the morning of the 24th at 4:00 a.m., after his vanguard had initially been driven back, Mukhtar Pasha launched a renewed attack with all twelve available battalions against the Montenegrin advance guard—which consisted of only three battalions—on the Volsjana Heights above Bischina.

After a four-hour battle, the Turks captured all positions. Inexplicably, the Montenegrin advance guard received no reinforcements—neither from the three battalions stationed further back in reserve nor from the bulk of the main Montenegrin army. The Montenegrin advance guard retreated with 100 lightly wounded men, leaving behind 65 dead and seriously wounded soldiers; the latter were massacred by the Turks.

Without further engagement, Prince Nikita ordered the retreat of the. army from 8 a.m. onwards, the march led back from Nevesinje to Korito, crossing the Gacko Plain; positions were taken up facing the Gacko Plain. At the Montenegrin headquarters, a decisive battle was evidently being risked amidst total incompetence and a lack of direction; the army suffered from a complete absence of any higher-level organization.

On July 25, facing the enemy near Korito, there was indignant grumbling over the wretched situation; the Chief of General Staff, Stanko Radonjić, was to face a court-martial, and Prince Nikita was to relinquish supreme command. On the 25th, Mukhtar Pasha pursued the defeated Montenegrins as far as Studenica; however, upon sighting the Turkish troops, Nikita’s bands retreated, abandoning a large quantity of provisions and livestock while fleeing towards Banjani. In the ensuing battle between Zalom and Nevesinje, the Montenegrin force—numbering 7,000 men—suffered a significant defeat.”

Source

Brünner Zeitung Nr 170 Freitag 28 Juli 1876. Joseph Cölestin Lauer, K.K. Privilegirte Mahrische Lehnbank. “Nichtamtlicher Theil Vom Kriegsschauplahe Grünn 28 Juli”.