Jevrem Vukosavljević
Jevrem Vukosavljević (Serbian: Јеврем Вукосављевић; 1846-1876) was a Serbian officer who, together with major Mihailo Ilić, succeeded in defeating a much larger Turkish force in one of the most important battles in the First Serbian-Turkish War in 1876.
Biography[edit]
Jevrem Vukosavljević was born in 1846 in the village of Blaznava in Šumadija. He finished elementary school in his hometown when both his parents died. A Russian volunteer living in Serbia at the time took him to Russia, where Jevrem finished cadet school and became an officer. He married a Russian woman and stayed there.[1]He was in the Imperial Russian military service when Serbia declared war on Turkey in 1876, Vukosavljević resigned from the service in the Russian army,[2]and returned to his homeland.
At the suggestion of the Minister of War, the Supreme Commander of the Army, by a decree of 26 June 1876, decided to accept the former imperial officer Jevrem Vukosavljević into the civil service, in the rank of Captain II class.
Vukosavljević was adorned with accuracy and energy[3], human honesty and immeasurable patriotism. He kept his battalion in strict discipline.
Captain Vukosavljević was assigned to go to Javor, to the Užice Brigade of the first call. He received the Arilje Battalion at the position. With the Ariljci, excellent fighters, he was in various positions, from Katić to Suvo rt, and most, according to reports from the battlefield, he stayed on the field from Katić, through Mučnje to Čemernica, and had the task of defending and not allowing the Turks to penetrate part of the front, over heights and slopes, into the Moravica valley.
He was late for the clashes and did not take part in the Battle on Kalipolje on 24 June 1876, when the Serbian army was defeated by attacking Turkish positions. Then, along with other officers in the Serbian army, lieutenant Miloje Petrović, commander of the Arilje battalion, was killed. On the night between 4 and 5 July according to war reports, Jevrem Vukosavljević was at the head of the Arilje Battalion, on the right side of Ograđenik. Somewhat later, Vukosavljević commanded the people of Arilje and Morava at the same time. In the fighting during July, Vukosavljević remained in position with the Arilje Battalion.
The Battle of Čemernica[edit]
In the battle of 23 August 1876, the captain of the Arilje battalion -- Jevrem Vukosavljević -- prevented the Turks from penetrating the Moravica valley.[4]
The Serbian-Turkish Wars were fought intermittently from 1876 to 1878 on the front from Negotin to the Drina, which was more than a thousand kilometres long, a real rarity in the history of that time. The battles that were fought on the front from the Ibar to the Drina are popularly known today as the Javorski rat (Javor War).
After two months of war and battles at Kalipolje, Ogorijevac, Vasiljevici, Suvo rt, Lisina, Borovac, Dolovi, the Turks occupied the Javor heights and were preparing to descend triumphantly into the Moravica valley. It was the battle of Čemernica that turnaround everything in favour of the Serbian army.
The Turks went on the offensive very decisively on 21 August and on that day took up positions at Pogledi and Ukočenica. Thus, the fall of Kušić was a matter of time. Major Ilić was then in Sađavac, near Ivanjica, where his army was resting. He was called urgently and came to Javor. Realizing that it would be difficult to reach Ivanjica via Kušić and Opaljenik, as well as via Kovilj and Medjurečje, the Turks decided to direct the main attack via Kadina stena, Čemernica, Katić and Prilik. The position on Kadina stena was defended by Jevrem Vukosavljević with his people from Arilje, better known as Arljici. Fierce fighting took place there on 22 August so the Serbian army withdrew towards Preseka.[5]
That day (22 August 1876), Captain Jevrem Vukosavljević, commander of the Arilje Battalion addressed his fighters with the following words:
Brothers! This is terrible, this is sad that we did! We left Čemernica, that gateway to our homeland, from where we can never expel the Turks. That is why, brothers, I am going back, I am going to die under Čemernica, I like that more than women calling me a coward. Whoever wants, let him come with me, so that we can get Chemernica back![6]
During the night, Vukosavljević's soldiers returned willingly to the positions at Čemernica, which the Turks left unoccupied fearing a counterattack. When they understood the Turkish strategy, the Serbian elders became confused, failing to harmonize their opinions. Mihailo Ilić was the soberest and most determined of them all. With his army, he rushed from Kušić to Katići at a strange speed on the night between 22 and 23 August. He deployed his forces there, leaving the Karanovac Battalion of the Čačak Brigade, led by Simo Petrović. He specifically rushed to Čemernica to join Jevrem Vukosavljević and his Ariljci.
The fight on Čemernica started at six in the morning. The Turks marched in two columns: one directly to Čemernica, and the other by passing it on the left side. And while Ilić's fighters successfully parried the first enemy column, almost unsolvable problems arose when the left column of enemy soldiers arrived on the battlefield in huge numbers.
Four assaults were repulsed, and when the fifth was organized, the Serbian warriors were in a hopeless situation. However, in those moments, the Karanovac Battalion arrived on the battle line from Mučnja and reversed the course of the battle. Suddenly, the Serbian army launched an attack and began to chase the enemy across Čemernica and Kadina stena all the way to Javor. Seeing what was happening, the Turks withdrew from Ukočenica to Vasilin vrh. The great warrior Captain Jevrem Vukosavljević was killed there when his soldiers called him affectionately "a Russian". In that way, not only Kušići and Katići were saved, but also the entire Moravica region.
Thanks to the courage and skill of commanders such as Jevrem Vukosavljević, Mihailo Ilić and Petar Borisavljević,[7] Serb forces on the Ibar Front rallied, fought back for several months and repelled all Turkish attacks in their attempt to penetrate the West Morava Valley border mountain zone. Thus, the Ibar army defended the border on the Javor front and protected the main army, fulfilling the task that corresponded to its strength in that war against the Ottoman Empire.
There is no doubt that among the heroes on the Javor battlefield in 1876, an exceptional place belongs to Jevrem Vukosavljević, a captain who came from Russia to fight with his brothers against the Turks for the freedom of his homeland. He is buried in a cemetery in Čačak.[8]
Legacy[edit]
Zoran Vučićević Ras, a well-known Ivanjica restorer of monuments, erected memorials to the heroes of the Battle of Čemernica, which took place on 23 August 1876 (according to the old-style calendar), and to Captain Jevrem Vukosavljević, who died that day.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Јунак са Чемернице добија вечну кућу: Јеврем је сам отишао у јуриш на Турке".
- ↑ Sa Javora: Podaci za istoriju srpsko-turskog rata 1876 god. Štamp. Kraljevine Srbije. 1890. Search this book on
- ↑ Za otadžbinu. D. Dimitrijević. 1904. Search this book on
- ↑ "Spomenik junacima sa Čemernice". 24 August 2018.
- ↑ "Spomenik junacima sa Čemernice". 24 August 2018.
- ↑ "Јеврем Вукосављевић".
- ↑ Marković, Ljubomir M. (1996). Junaci sa Javora: Major Ilić, Petar Borisavljević, Jevrem Vukosavljević. ISBN 8672700066. Search this book on
- ↑ "Topola: Obnavlja se spomen obeležje Jevremu Vukosavljeviću".
This article "Jevrem Vukosavljević" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Jevrem Vukosavljević. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
