Years of service 1903–24 Name Krsta Kovacevic | Rank Voivode (Vojvoda) | |
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Nickname(s) "Krsta Trgoviski", "Krsta Presevski" Died January 30, 1948 (aged 69)
Presevo, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) Allegiance Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (1903)
Serbian Chetnik Organization (1904–1908)
Serbian Army (1912–18) Battles/wars Macedonian Struggle
Balkan Wars
World War I | ||
Krsta Kovacevic (Serbian Cyrillic: Krsta Kovacheviћ; 1877—January 30, 1948), known as Krsta Trgoviski (Krsta Trgovishki)and Presevski, was a Serbian Chetnik commander that was active in Old Serbia and Macedonia during the Macedonian Struggle (1903–08), then participated in the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and World War I (1914–18).
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Early life
Kovacevic was born in the village of Trgoviste in the Pcinja region, which at the time was administratively part of the Presevo kaza of the Kosovo Vilayet in the Ottoman Empire (now located in Serbia). He was a blacksmith in his birth village until 1900, when he murdered an Ottoman soldier who beat up his younger brother Spiro. He fled to the Principality of Bulgaria where he worked as a labourer on the railways in Sofia.
IMRO
Kovacevic was soon noticed by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), which recruited him into the organization. He was initially part of the ceta (band) of general Ivan Tsonchev, where he became best friends with Krsto Lazarov Konjushki, the later IMRO commander of Kumanovo. At the time of the Ilinden Uprising (1903) he was part of the band of IMRO commander of Skopje, Nikola Pushkarov, at which time he used his experience as a railway worker to blow up the rail near the village of Novacani. After Pushkarov's withdrawal, Kovacevic joined the band of Todor Panitsa whose band after several unsuccessful skirmishes was forced to take shelter in Vranje, in the Kingdom of Serbia. There, Kovacevic befriended Zivojin Rafajlovic, and determined to join the newly self-organized Serbian Chetnik Organization, thus he left the Bulgarian organization which had up until then had many Serbian fighters in its ranks (as there was no self-organized Serbian organization prior to 1904).
Serbian Organization
In 1904, Kovacevic was awarded the title of vojvoda, and he commanded several notable fighters who later became commanders themselves, such as Vojislav Tankosic and Vojin Popovic-Vuk. After the Young Turk Revolution (1908), he lived a peaceful life in Presevo until 1909, when he discovered just in time that the Turks sought to murder him, which made him leave for the woods.
First Balkan War
In the First Balkan War he participated as a vojvoda in the Chetnik detachment of vojvoda Vojin Popovic-Vuk, his old friend. He participated in the battles of Kumanovo, Mukos and Bakarna Gumna.
World War I
Kovacevic participated in World War I as well, alongside six of his brothers and cousins. He independently led his band through Albania in 1915–16, and participated in the breakthrough of the Salonika Front.
Later years
In 1924 he led a band that pursued the band of Vancho Mihailov and bands of Albanian kachaks. During the German occupation of Serbia (1941–44) he lived secretly in Leskovac. He died in 1948, in Presevo.