The Čačak District Army in the First Serbo-Turkish War (1876)

Abstract

The Čačak District Army, which fought against the Ottoman Empire in 1876, was recruited from four districts of the Čačak administrative area: Trnava, Dragačevo, Karanovac, and Studenica. It consisted of the Čačak First-Class Brigade, the Čačak Second-Class Brigade, and one Third-Class battalion. The First-Class Brigade comprised four fi rst-class battalions, one cavalry squadron, one artillery battery, one company each of pioneers and craft smen, a medical squad, and a supply train. While operating on the Javor and Raška Fronts as part of the Ibar Army, it was commanded successively by Lieutenant Colonel Ilija Čolak-Antić, Captain Jovan Mišković and Major Milutin Garašanin. When transferred to the main Morava Front, command was assumed by Major Svetozar Hadžić. The Second-Class Brigade consisted of four second-class battalions and was commanded by Major Jovan Varjačić. Within the Ibar Army, the Čačak District Army was the fi rst Serbian force to engage the Ottomans, doing so on the Novi Pazar Front on 23 June 1876. On that day, it captured the former Serbian capital of Raška and, on the following day, it seized the entire area up to Novi Pazar, crossing the Raška River onto Ottoman territory. However, both attacks on Novi Pazar ended unsuccessfully, as did attempts by its left wing to advance toward Kosovska Mitrovica. Due to the deteriorating situation on the Javor Front, the Čačak First-Class Brigade and part of the Second-Class Brigade were redeployed to Javor in July. The remaining second-call units and part of the Th ird-Class forces remained on the front between Javor and Raška, where one of the few engagements occurred on 18 October, when an Ottoman attack from Novi Pazar was repelled. On the Javor Front, Čačak troops, together with the main body of the Javor Army, took part in several major battles in July—at Lisina, Suvi Rt, Borovac, and Petrovac—but by the end of the month, the Ottomans succeeded in capturing Mount Javor. In August, the Čačak units were defeated at Pogled, yet they made a signifi cant contribution to the victory of Major Ilić and the Užice troops at Čemernica on 23 August and in the recapture of Pogled. The following day, they participated in Major Ilić’s independently initiated attempt to retake Javor, which ended with his death. Javor remained under Ottoman control, although the front stabilized. Although positional warfare was conducted there from late September until 19 October, the Ottomans once again captured Pogled. Owing to the critical situation on the main front, the Čačak First-Class Brigade, together with its artillery battery, was dispatched from Javor to Deligrad on 10 September, where Major Svetozar Hadžić assumed command. By mid-September, as part of Colonel Horvatović’s corps, it took part in the three-day Battle of Krevet, which ended without a decisive outcome. In early October, the first-class troops from Čačak also fought in the three-day battle near Veliki Šiljegovac, where they displayed notable bravery. Finally, they participated in the Battle of Đunis on 17 October, in which the Ottomans achieved a decisive victory in the First Serbo-Turkish War. Due to an ultimatum issued by Russian Emperor Alexander II, Serbia concluded an armistice with the Ottoman Empire based on status quo ante bellum, which took efect on 20 October. Military operations ceased across the entire theater of war, and the Čačak troops, except for units assigned to guard duty, returned to their homes. Defeated in the First Serbo-Turkish War, Serbia suffered approximately 6,000 killed and missing and about 9,500 wounded or permanently disabled soldiers. Although the exact number of men mobilized from the Čačak District and the number of casualties it sustained remain unknown, their contribution on the Javor Front and subsequently on the main front was significant, particularly in countering the Ottoman off ensive toward the valley of the West Morava River.