Battle of Novšiće

Treaty of Berlin and League of Prizren

The Battle of Novšiće followed the Montenegrin–Ottoman War (1876–78), which the Ottomans had lost. The Ottoman Empire had accepted de jure the independence of Montenegro, which received certain territorial gains. According to the Treaty of Berlin the territories of Plav and Gusinje (then part of Scutari Vilayet in the Ottoman Empire) were awarded to Montenegro, in compensation for territories in Herzegovina captured by Montenegro during the war. Until October 1879 the Montenegrin forces were able to march into this territory without any resistance. However, when Montenegrins prepared forces for a military expedition in Plav and Gusinje, the Ottomans intervened with the Great Powers to stop it, in order to avoid eventual conflicts. Diplomacy of Austria-Hungary emphasized that Montenegro would use Plav and Gusinje as a foothold to realize its territorial aspirations toward Metohija. The common interest brought together former enemies, the Ottoman forces of Plav and Gusinje with Albanian irregulars from the Prizren League. The demographic structure of the population of Plav and Gusinje in 1908, which was not significantly different from data in 1878, was researched by Jovan Cvijić: out of 1,785 households, 1,174 belonged to Bosniaks, 401 to Albanians and 210 to Orthodox population. Muslim population of Plav and Gusinje was afraid that they would suffer the same destiny previously experienced by Muslim population of Nikšić and Kolašin.

The Ottomans were officially intentioned to respect their obligations, however, in reality, they supported the League of Prizren. The Ottoman governor of Scutari sent ammunitions to Gusinje to be distributed to the local population. Thousands of armed irregulars were mobilized by the League of Prizren all over the region and gathered in Plav and Gusinje. The British Ambassador at Istanbul Austen Henry Layard informed his government that the Ottoman Empire did nothing to prevent the influx of armed bands into the region of Gusinje and emphasized that the High Porte would be held responsible for the consequences. Since October 1879 there were numerous skirmishes between the Montenegrin forces and irregulars.

Velika attacks

On October 9, 1879, Albanian highlanders attacked the Montenegrins between Ržanica and Velika, in Vasojevići, and a bloody fight continued into the night. The Montenegrins managed to push the Albanians over the border, and this faintly did aware the Albanians and their several thousand fighters. On November 22, the Albanians attacked a Montenegrin guarding post of 300 men near Velika, after which 4 to 5 Montenegrin battalions were made ready. The Bratonožići and Moračani with yatagans ambushed the Albanians from behind, and cut them, which forced the Albanians to flee; the Montenegrins caught in and slew for two hours. The Albanian death toll was towards 1,000, while the Montenegrins had 85 deaths and 100 wounded, and some 100 horses and plenty of weapons were seized. Among the Albanians, there were many ununiformed Ottoman regulars.

Montenegrin forces

Until the end of November 1879 the supreme commander of Montenegrin forces, positioned at the demarcation line toward Plav and Gusinje was voivode Blažo Petrović, member of the ruling Petrović dynasty. At the end of November prince Nicholas I of Montenegro removed Petrović from his position with the explanation that his presence on that position was temporary cancelled as unnecessary. The prince appointed Marko Miljanov on the position of commander of this part of Montenegrin forces. Miljanov was appointed as member of the neighboring Kuči tribe, who knew very well the territory of Plav and Gusinje and also the customs of its population. Miljan Vukov Vešović, an elderly voivode of Vasojevići, was appointed as Miljanov's advisor with position in Andrijevica. According to some speculations, the prince knew that an eventual success of this campaign would not bring much glory to the Montenegrin side, while eventual failure could significantly discredit the Montenegrin commanders. That is why the prince removed a member of his dynasty from the commanding position and appointed Miljanov as commander and Vešović as his advisor, both being his political enemies. Some authors speculated that Prince Nicholas appointed Marko Miljanov as responsible for the takeover of Plav and Gusinje, knowing that his forces would be attacked by much stronger forces, because Nicholas wanted his political enemy Miljanov dead.

Miljanov was very enthusiastic with the opportunity to capture Plav and Gusinje. He was convinced that he was going to punish Ali Bey of Gusinje for his misdeeds. Vešović advised him to be very careful, otherwise Ali Bey might be promoted to Ali Pasha (which eventually happened).

The Montenegrin forces were organized along tribal lines. After the war with Ottomans Montenegro had demobilized part of its forces, expecting a peaceful takeover of the areas of Plav and Gusinje. Also Montenegro was short of food for larger number of soldiers due to the drought of 1879. The Montenegrin forces that participated in this battle were composed of four battalions. Two battalions of Kuči and Bratonožići tribes were under direct command of Miljanov and positioned in Andrijevica, along the demarcation line near village Murino. Two Vasojevići battalions (Moračko-Rovački and Ljevorečki) were commanded by Todor Miljanov Vuković and positioned in Berane along the demarcation line near the village of Velika. They all had between 4,000 and 6,000 men (out of whom one thousand did not directly participate in the battle).

Prizren League and other Pro-Ottoman forces

In the Autumn of 1879 notables of Plav and Gusinje established the Committee of National Salvation. The first order of the Committee was to send Jakup Ferović to visit neighboring Albanian tribes to offer them an alliance. It was also decided that Ferović will carry all income of Plav vaqif to pay to Albanian chieftains to accept this alliance. Against the orders of Ali Bey prepared 12-15 kilometers long and 2 meters wide trenches.

The pro-Ottoman forces of 2,100 were gathered in Gusinje and put under command of the Ottoman kaymakam of Gusinje, Ali Bey of Gusinje (later known as Ali Pasha of Gusinje). Notable commanders of the pro-Ottoman forces include Haxhi Mulla Jaha (Jahja efendi Musić), Jakup Ferri (Ferović), Husein-beg Redžepagić.

Numerous pro-Ottoman forces were mobilized by the Prizren League. The Ottoman military officer Muhtar Pasha arrived to Prizren in November 1879. He had 15 battalions of Ottoman soldiers there. The Ottomans informed Montenegrins that this forces would be used to provide peaceful takeover of Plav and Gusinje by Montenegro. Montenegro complained to Great Powers and accused Ottomans that their actions contradict to their promises because Ottoman forces under Muhtar Pasha were used not for peaceful cession of Plav and Gusinje to Montenegro. Instead they were used to organize and support irregulars in their actions against Montenegro.

There are different estimations about the composition of the Ottoman forces, regarding the eventual presence of the officers and soldiers of regular Ottoman army and regarding their ethnic composition. The Montenegrin side emphasized that Muhtar Pasha secretly commanded pro-Ottoman forces which included many regular Ottoman soldiers (nizams) disguised as irregulars by wearing Albanian costumes. They also emphasized that pro-Ottoman irregulars were commanded by the officers of the regular Ottoman army who extensively used bugles during the battle, which did not exist in Albanian military tradition. The Albanian sources on this battle over-emphasized participation of Albanians in it without mentioning many non-Albanian Muslims that participated on the pro-Ottoman side. On the other hand, the Muslims from Plav and Gusinje do not even mention Prizren league in their traditional epic poetry on this battle, but only different tribes and their thirty bayraktars with Albanian language being mother tongue of three out of thirty bayraktars. Some recent works of Bosnian historiography emphasize that participation of Bosniaks from Plav and Gusinje in this battle was neglected without real justification.

Battle

The battle evolved from one skirmish of 4 December 1879 that was similar to many other taking place in this region since October of the same year. On that day a detachment of the pro-Ottoman irregulars attacked Montenegrin guards in the village Velika and forced them to retreat. Two Vasojevići battalions commanded by Todor Miljanov Vuković pushed the attackers back and chased them across the demarcation line, towards Plav.

Although the Montenegrin forces were ordered to employ the defensive tactics in case of the conflict, Miljanov decided to use this incursion of Montenegrin forces under Vuković and on the same day crossed the demarcation line advancing with two battalions (of Kuči and Bratonožići) into the territory of Plav. They crossed the bridge over river Lim south of the village Murino and quickly advanced toward Plav and Gusinje along the river Lim. Initially, the Montenegrin forces advanced undisturbed, which led them to conclusion that they were not expected or that the pro-Ottoman forces were not well organized, so they left their flanks unsecured. When they reached the narrow part of the valley surrounded by high hills near the village of Novšiće, the pro-Ottoman forces attacked them. Without secured flanks the Montenegrin forces soon found themselves surrounded and stuck in the deep snow. For hours they repelled numerous attacks while both sides suffered heavy casualties. Prominent commanders of the pro-Ottoman forces Jakup Ferri and Omer Bašulović, the bajraktar of Plav, were killed at the beginning of the battle. Arif Bašić, another commander of the pro-Ottoman forces from Plav, also died in this battle. The pro-Ottoman forces from Plav were initially forced to retreat until around 600 fighters from Rugova attacked Montenegrin flanks from the direction of Ječmište.

In the evening of 4 December two Vasojevići Montenegrin battalions (Moračko-Rovački and Ljevorečki) commanded by Todor Miljanov Vuković reached the battlefield in Novšići and released surrendered forces of Miljanov securing their retreat. Pavle Rovinski reported that 109 Montenegrin soldiers were killed and 115 wounded in this battle. The forces under command of Vuković did not suffer significant casualties. The casualties of the pro-Ottoman side were around 250 men. Some sources say that the Ottoman irregulars beheaded 220 Montenegrin soldiers and for six months kept their heads impaled on the sticks.

Battle of Murino

About a month after the battle of Novšiće, on 8 January 1880 the pro-Ottoman irregulars attacked Montenegrin forces at the village of Murino, but were defeated and pushed back toward Plav. According to the Montenegrin Prince Nicholas, the defeat of retreating Ottoman forces was so devastating, that Montenegrin forces finished the battle before the night had fallen, which is something they usually don't do. The Albanian irregulars burned down several villages (among which (Velika, Ržanica and Pepić), which belonged to the Vasojevići clan.

This battle was considered as Montenegrin revenge for their defeat in the Battle of Novšiće. Right after the Battle of Murino Marko Miljanov received a report that Albanians are boasting for keeping Plav and Gusinje, not for the battles they fought with the Montenegrins. Some reports say that Montenegrin soldiers brought 221 noses they cut from the dead bodies of irregulars.

Outcome and significance

The Battle of Novšiće was not very significant from the military point of view. If it had happened during the Montenegrin–Ottoman War (1876–78), it would probably have remained hardly noticed. The contemporary circumstances resulted with its significant political consequences. The main consequences of the Battle of Novšiće were strengthening of the positions of the League of Prizren and losing any chance for Montenegrins to soon capture Plav and Gusinje. The battle cast a certain shadow on the exceptional Montenegrin military reputation, gave some confidence to Albanians and significantly affected the position of prince Nicholas and his government. Both parties claimed victory after this battle, underestimating own casualties and overestimating enemy casualties. The Montenegrin government tried to conceal the military defeat and published information about 85 killed and 107 wounded Montenegrins as opposed to 1,000 killed and wounded enemy soldiers.

The Ottoman sultan promoted Ali Bey to higher military rank (beylerbey) and awarded him with enough money to build a mosque in Plav, the Sultanija. Only after the Battle of Novšiće the Ottoman governor Ahmed Muhtar Pasha issued a proclamation to the population of Plav and Gusinje instructing them to accept a peaceful cession to Montenegro. Since this was proven impossible without bloodbath, the Ottoman Empire ceded Ulcinj to Montenegro in 1880 as compensation for Plav and Gusinje. Soon the Ottomans completely lost control over the League of Prizren which fell under the influence of pro-Austrian Albanian nationalists, so the Ottomans had to defeat the irregulars of the league in April 1881. In 1881 the Ottomans promoted Ali Pasha to the position of mutasarrıf of the Sanjak of İpek. Plav and Gusinje remained in the Ottoman Empire until 1912/1913 when they were occupied and annexed by Montenegro.

Legacy

This battle inspired poets of both sides that participated in it. The Ottomans made up a mockery song. The poetry of Muslims include description of the horse of Jakup Ferović that ran through the battlefield after the death of his master. Albanian epic poem The Highland Lute, written in 1937, mentions this battle and Jakup Ferri.

There are several poems about this battle composed by the Vasojevići tribe. Pavel Rovinski, who was a medic in the Montenegrin army, decided to publish (in 1902) a song "The Battles in Polimlje" (Serbian: Бојеви у Полимљу), based on the singing of Muslim gusle player Osman Abdulah descending from the Kuči tribe. According to this song the pro-Ottoman forces included many neighbouring Albanian tribes led by their bayraktars. The Krasniqi by Man Avdija, Gashi by Ali-Ibro, tribes from Dukagjini by Mustafa bayraktar, tribes from Peć by Mahmudbegović, from Gjakova by Saitbegović and some by Salih-Agha. According to the legend, before the battle began advancing Montenegrin forces noticed gusle player Osman Abdulah spying on them, so they captured him. When he explained that he just wanted to personally whitness the battle so he could make song about it, Miljanov ordered his release.

On 12 August 2014 in the village Gornja Ržanica near Plav a monument was erected in honor of the Montenegrin soldiers killed in this battle.