Location: Map
Elevation: 1,190 m (3,904 ft)
Russian Generals
Iosif Gourko
[1].jpg)
Nikolai Stoletov
Ottoman General
Suleiman Pasha
Shipka Pass of the Stara Planina (Old Mountain) has always been a strategic location since the ancient times. It provides and easy access between North and Central Bulgaria. The first historical record date back to the time of Alexander the Great who crossed Shipka Pass in 335 BC during his campaigns against tribes of Tribals. In 279- 278 BC Celtic tribe of Galatians crossed into central Bulgaria. During Roman times army engineers constructed two roads to connect two important regions.
However Shipka Pass is particularly famous as a battle site of the Russo- Turkish war of 1877- 78. Russians did take Shipka Pass twice during Russo- Turkish wars of 1806- 12 and 1828- 29. Both times surveyors took measurements and drew detailed maps. So then Russian empire set on yet another war to liberate the Christian Bulgarians from the Muslim Ottoman rule they knew the mountains quiet well. On April 24 1877 emperor Alexander II proclaimed war on Turkish Sultan and on June Russian troops crossed the Danube river. By mid July the army took the pass and kept this important strategic location until early January then Turkish army was finally defeated. In total four major attacks by the enemy were repelled by the Russian troops and Bulgarian volunteers who defended Shipka Pass. Occasionally the defenders had to use boulders to repel the advancing Turkish troops once they ran out of bullets. Several Russian officers reported unhealthy enthusiasm that the Turkish troops showed while trying to storm several locations including the Eagle's Nest. It was probably due to psychedelic drugs that were easily attainable at the time. If you visit the site you will understand that some of the paths that attacking forces undertook was nothing more than a suicide. Even without rifles and munitions scaling some of the cliffs of the Shipka Pass is incredibly dangerous and irresponsible. With the enemy shooting at you from the top and throwing huge boulders it made the attacks futile and unsuccessful.
Location: Shipka
Open: 8:30am- 7pm
Entrance Fee: 2 lv, camera
permit 5lv
Church of Christ's Birth or Nativity Memorial
Church was erected between 1886 and 1902. Constructed in a classic
Russian style it was designed to commemorate Russian and Bulgarian
troops who died on a Shipka pass and its vicinity. The idea of its
construction belong to Olga Nikolaevna Skobeleva, mother of general
Skobelev who became famous for his role in a war. Bells for the
church were made in Russian from 30 tons of empty bullet cartridges.
Additionally 34 marble plates on its walls list names and units that
took part in the battles.
The Battle of Shipka (August 1877) on August 9-14 / 21-26, 1877 was
decisive in the struggle for the Shipka Pass during the
Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878). After the battles near Stara Zagora,
Nova Zagora and the village of Juranli, the Central Ottoman Army
under Commander Suleiman Pasha headed for the Stara Planina. The
goal is probably to join the units of the Western Army and the
Eastern Danube Army in the quadrangle Ruse - Shumen - Varna -
Silistra. The army consists of 48 camps, 16 squadrons and 48
cannons, a total of 27,000 officers and soldiers. On August 8, after
concentrating, he headed for the Shipka Pass. It is divided into
three columns:
the first with Commander Redjeb Pasha advanced
along the line Shipka village - Malak Bedek peak - Sveti Nikola peak
and struck the main blow;
second with Commander Shakir Pasha
advancing along the line of the village of Shipka - Mount St.
Nicholas and inflicting an auxiliary blow;
the third is a general
reserve.
The action plan envisions a frontal strike against the
Russian defense.
For the defense of the Shipka Pass a Shipka
detachment was formed - a military formation with the commander in
chief of the Bulgarian militia, Major General Nikolay Stoletov. A
total of 7,500 officers and soldiers and 27 cannons. Includes:
part of the Gabrovo detachment with Commander Major General
Valerian Derozhinsky of the Thirty-sixth Eagle Infantry Regiment and
4 batteries;
The Bulgarian militia of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and
5th militia companies;
Thirty-fifth Bryansk Infantry Regiment -
from 9/21 August.
The defense is divided as follows:
front position - south of the line St. Nicholas Peak - Eagle's Nest,
commanded by Colonel Mikhail Tolstoy;
main position, divided into
three sectors - eastern, western and northern, with commanders
Colonel Leonid Vyazemsky and Colonel Fyodor De Preradovich;
general reserve in the saddle between Sveti Nikola peak and Shipka
peak.
the artillery support is of four batteries: from east to
west are the Central, the Small (nine-pound) and the Steel Battery
(captured in July during the conquest of Shipka Peak); from the
north is the Round Battery.
On August 7, the concentration of the
Central Ottoman Army near Kazanlak and the actions around Elena were
opened. The forces of the Southern Russian Detachment are mainly the
8th Army Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Fyodor
Radetsky and are aimed at protecting the Tvardishki and Heinkoy
Passages, assessed as probable for the passage of the Ottoman
forces. On August 8, Major General Nikolai Stoletov discovered the
real Turkish plan and sent an alarming telegram to Lieutenant
General Fyodor Radetsky:
"I report unmistakably that the
entire corps of Suleiman Pasha, which we see as the palm of our
hand, is turning against us eight versts from Shipka. The forces of
the enemy are enormous. I say this without exaggeration, we will
defend ourselves to the extreme, but reinforcements are urgently
needed. “
Reinforcements from the 8th Army Corps were sent to
the Shipka Pass with an accelerated march. It takes them three days
to arrive. The next day, August 9, the heroic struggle for the
Shipka Pass began.
Fight on August 9/21
During the night,
parts of Rejeb Pasha's column moved to Malak Bedek peak and at about
7 o'clock they rejected the Russian posts, built a position and
deployed a battery. At 8 o'clock they attacked the Russian positions
on Mount St. Nicholas. The attack was repulsed by infantry and the
Steel Battery.
Major General Nikolai Stoletov considered the
actions as the beginning of the main strike and supported the forces
of Colonel Mikhail Tolstoy with the entire infantry reserve of the
Shipka detachment (three companies of infantry companies and eight
volunteer companies). At around 9 o'clock, Shakir Pasha's column
attacked the Eagle's Nest. He violated the order to conduct only
demonstrative fire and launched a frontal attack on the first
Russian position (main) in the area of the Small Battery. The
attack was repulsed, but Ottoman units dug in 150-200 meters from
the position and fired intensively. The created situation gives
grounds for the Field Headquarters of the Russian Army to send a
message to all units:
"Shipka was heavily attacked by Suleiman
Pasha's army. The attack began in the morning. The fight is in full
swing. The attack was conducted along the front, bypassing both
flanks. The situation is critical. “
It is demanded that the units of the 8th Army Corps sent as
reinforcements move as fast as possible. At around 1 pm, Recep
Pasha's column launched its fourth attack on the Steel Battery, and
from the flank it attacked Shakir Pasha's column for the fifth time.
In the midst of the battle, the 35th Bryansk Infantry Regiment,
commanded by Colonel Alexander Lipinski, arrived with an accelerated
march and took over the defense of the western and northern
positions. Three more Turkish attacks were repulsed, with the
defenders using stones and trees against the enemy.
On this
first occasion, Lieutenant General Fyodor Radetsky told the military
correspondent of the French newspaper L'Estafette, AM Mlochowski de
Belina:
"You write mainly about my brave regiments and the
valiant Bulgarian militia, which, having no ammunition, repulsed the
Turkish attacks with stones. “
At around 6 pm, the defenders
of the pass resisted and the attacks were stopped. The Ottoman
forces took advantageous positions for an attack the next day -
Malak Bedek peak, Demirtepe peak and Demievets peak.
The lull
on August 10/22
On August 10, Suleiman Pasha revoked the order
for a new attack. Organizes detailed intelligence and develops an
action plan for the next day. The Ottoman forces engineered the
occupied starting positions. They are installing new artillery
batteries on the first site under the Eagle's Nest. The battery of
Malak Bedek peak has been expanded to 8 cannons.
The units of
the defenders of the Shipka detachment are regrouped and dug up.
Artillery fire broke out intermittently throughout the day. The lull
made it possible to gain time for the march of Russian
reinforcements to the Shipka Pass.
The decisive battle on
August 11/23
The Turkish attacks began at about 4 o'clock, and
the directions of the strikes were changed. Rasim Pasha attacked
Uzunkush Peak and Kyuchyuk Yesiltepe Peak in two columns. Salih
Pasha's column attacked Mount St. Nicholas, and the general reserve
attacked Mount Akri Jebel. Wessel Pasha surprisingly attacked the
eastern position at about 9 o'clock. By noon, all attacks had been
repulsed. The situation became critical at 4 pm, when the Ottoman
forces captured Kyuchuk Yesiltepe Peak and Uzunkush Peak was heavily
attacked. Two companies of Bulgarian volunteers repulsed the attack.
The retreat of Kyuchuk Yesiltepe was perceived by individual
commanders as a permitted retreat. The catastrophe was prevented by
the decisive intervention of the middle command staff: Colonel
Alexander Lipinski with 20 soldiers stopped the retreat in the area
of the Round Battery, Colonel Fyodor De-Preradovich detained the
composition of the Round Battery, Major Chilyaev returned the
militiamen to the eastern positions. battery, and Dr. Konstantin
Vezenkov (senior doctor of the Bulgarian militia) organized a
counterattack with the forces of the wounded who could move. At
17:30 the first reinforcement arrived at Shipka Peak, the company of
Lieutenant Buffalo, two soldiers on artillery horses from the 16th
Rifle Battalion of the 4th Rifle Brigade, commanded by Major General
Adam Tsvetsinski. By 6 p.m., the battalion was concentrating,
attacking, capturing units of the 36th Orel and 35th Bryansk
Infantry Regiments and capturing Kyuchuk Yesiltepe Peak. The 2nd
Brigade of the 14th Infantry Division, commanded by Major General
Mikhail Dragomirov, also arrived. The positions were stabilized at
10 pm and the decisive battle subsided along the entire line.
Suleiman Pasha in a report to the Headquarters concluded:
"Never
before has such a fierce and bloody battle been seen. “
Assessing
the fighting qualities shown on August 11 by the Bulgarian militia,
its commander, Major General Nikolay Stoletov, in a telegram to the
Chief of the Field Staff, Lieutenant General Artur Nepokoychitsky,
stated:
"As for the Bulgarians, they will not be afraid even if
we spend them to the last person. “
After a few days he
insisted:
"To be rewarded, as established for the units of the
troops of our army. “
1,000 civilians from the town of
Gabrovo, sent to the positions by Lieutenant General Viktor Krenke,
also took part in the fighting. Their contribution was testified by
the military correspondent of the English newspaper "Daily News"
Archibald Forbes to the Russian diplomat Count Nikolai Ignatiev:
"He is delighted with our soldiers, and he also praises the
Bulgarian volunteers. At the same time, 1000 inhabitants and
children from Gabrovo carried water from bullets to our troops and
even to the shooters from the front line, and also took out the
wounded with full self-sacrifice. “
Fight on August 12/24
On the morning of August 12, the command of the Shipka
detachment, reinforced with new reinforcements of up to 14,820
officers and soldiers, was taken over by Lieutenant General Fyodor
Radetsky, commander of the Southern Detachment. The Bulgarian
militia, with the exception of the 5th company, was withdrawn for
restoration and rearmament in Gabrovo. The commander intends to
improve positions with actions against the command heights occupied
by the Ottoman forces. Suleiman Pasha was unaware of the change in
Russian forces and resumed the attacks, the main purpose of which
was their rear. The offensive began with the column of Veysel Pasha
in the area of the road to the town of Gabrovo. The Twelfth Rifle
Battalion, commanded by Major Klimovic, repulsed three Turkish
attacks. Shakir Pasha's column subjected the positions of Mount St.
Nicholas to fierce but unsuccessful shelling from the east, and
Salih Pasha attacked the peak from the south. The 36th Orel Infantry
Regiment rejected him. The battle from the west against the second
group of fortifications, attacked by Rasim Pasha's column, was the
fiercest. The Sixteenth Rifle Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel Khodyakov, defended Kyuchyuk Yesiltepe Peak (Volinska
Vyshina Peak, Bukova Glava). The commander of the 14th Infantry
Division, Major General Mikhail Dragomirov, was wounded at Uzunkush
Peak. Its command was taken over by Major General Mikhail
Petrushevsky. At around 2 pm, Lieutenant Colonel Khodyakov
unsuccessfully attacked Yesiltepe Peak (Markovski Rat Peak). At
22:00 the fight ends and the opponents return to the starting
positions.
The battles on 13 - 14/25 - 26 August
On August
13, the composition of the Shipka detachment was regrouped. With the
newly arrived 53rd Volyn Infantry Regiment, the Russian forces
reached 14,217 officers and soldiers and 44 cannons. The struggle
was to push the Ottoman forces from Mount Akri Jebel and Mount
Yesiltepe to their starting positions. At about 7 o'clock the column
of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Lipinski from the 35th Bryansk, 56th
Zhytomyr and 54th Podolsk Infantry Regiment captured Yesiltepe Peak.
It attacked the Akri Jebel peak from the movement, but was repulsed
by the column of Wessel Pasha. Shakir Pasha's column unsuccessfully
counterattacked Mount Yesiltepe. The commander of the Russian
Gabrovo detachment, Major General Valerian Derozhinsky, was killed
in a shootout on Uzunkush Peak.
On August 14, Shakir Pasha's
column resumed the offensive against Yesiltepe Peak. After its flank
coverage, the Russian forces withdrew to the peak of Kyuchyuk
Yesiltepe. At the end of the day, both sides had exhausted their
offensive forces and were moving to defense. The six-day struggle
for the Shipka Pass ends.
On September 5/17, Suleiman Pasha
made another unsuccessful attempt to take the pass - see Battle of
Shipka (September 1877).
Memory
On September 21, 1922, the
Gabrovo City Municipal Council decided to declare as honorary
citizens all the volunteers who participated in the battles of
Shipka and are alive at that time.