| Battle of Čelopek | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theMacedonian Struggle | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Serbian Chetnik Organization |  Local Ottoman army | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| N/A | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 120–130 | 200 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 4 killed | 200 killed | ||||||
  Location of Čelopek in North Macedonia | |||||||
TheBattle of Čelopek (Serbian:Borba na Čelopeku,Serbian Cyrillic:Борба на Челопеку) was fought at theČelopek plateau, nearKozjak, between theSerbian Chetnik Organization and Ottoman officers accompanied by Ottoman Albanianbashi-bozuks, on 16 April 1905.
After the fights inTabanovce,Savatije Milošević,Lazar Kujundžić andAksentije Bacetović-Baceta left their offices as organizers of the action, wanting to feel the Chetnik lifestyle "from within" as voivodes. Baceta was to replace the then Chief of Upper Staff,Ilija Jovanović. Baceta and Savatije Milošević, by mid-April, had moved 107 fighters across the border.[1]
At dawn onHoly Saturday (15 April [O.S. 2 April]), the two large bands (Cheta) -- Belgrade and Kragujevac -- arrived at the village ofDubočica. There, they were awaited by the bands of Ilija Jovanović, Lazar Kujundžić, Čiča-Pavle Mladenović andLjubomir Jezdić. The Kragujevac Band was led by captain (kapetan)Borko Paštrović and had the sub-lieutenants (potporučnici):Vojin Popović-Vuk,Dušan Jezdić,Pera Todorović andDušan Putniković. The Belgrade Band was led by Baceta, and includedVojvoda Savatije, the officers (oficiri)Janićije Mićić,Bogdan Jugović Hajnc,Vojislav Tankosić,Branivoj Jovanović; and the non-commissioned officers (podoficiri) Jović,Radul Kosovac,Novica Leovac,Radoš Vasiljević, Trajko andRadivoje Ilić. They were also accompanied by the bands ofStevan Nedić andDoksim Mihailović, which had been returned to westernPovardarje after vacationing inBelgrade.[1]
On 16 April [O.S. 3 April], at the heights ofČelopek, around 120 chetniks under the command of voivodes Doksim, Čiča-Pavle, Baceta, Kujundžić, Borko Paštrović,Skopljanče, Vojislav Tankosić andJovan Dovezenski fought a uniformedOttoman army who were accompanied by Albanians from the surrounding villages. During the battle, Čiča-Pavle took the Čelopek heights and thus prevented the encirclement of the bands by the Albanianbashi-bozuks; overtaking the three peaks gave the chetniks a strategical advantage. After their victory in the battle, they inflicted heavy losses on the Turks and Albanians (over 200 dead and wounded), while only having two dead (Petar Todorović and Radul Kosovac) according to Serbian sources,[2][3] while British Vice-ConsulWilfred Gilbert Thesiger claimed in a letter dated 19 April [O.S. 6 April] that fighting nearKumanovo 'the earlier day' had taken 4 Serbian officers' lives, and 8 captured.[4]
The victory enraged the Ottomans,[5] who began amanhunt for the rebels. The rebels were forced to retreat across the border,[6] and were dispersed. Čiča-Pavle and Bacetović were surrounded by the Ottoman army near the village ofBeljakovce (today'sKumanovo) on 16 June, and everyone in their bands was killed.[7][8]
On 21 January 1906, another fight took place in the same place, whereVasilije Trbić nearly lost his whole band (22 men) to the Ottomans.
То је било после победе на Челопеку због коje Турци беху побеснели.
Потерна одељења турске војске открила су их у Никуљану. После одржане славне борбе на Челопеку, у којој су Турци имали преко две стотине које мртвих које рањених, они су св морали вратити преко границе. Њихов ...
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