The Uprising Spreads to Razlog

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The Uprising Spreads to Razlog

After Berovski's expulsion from the uprising and after the resignation of some voivodes, the Beneficience Committee was once again at the heart of the leadership of the uprising. The affect was felt immediately throughout the area. With the advent of commissars on the field, Voitkevich was also reinstated. The two sites of battle were entrusted to the two adventurers: Voitkevich was put in charge of Razlog; and Kalmikov was in charge of Kresna.

The Committee was now able to implement its policy, to organize and attack as many places as possible. Their earlier intentions to send one detachment to Razlog was now put into effect.

Preparations for the attack on Razlog were entrusted to Bratan Marinof, a Bulgarian from Teteven. On the 5th of November he called the local voivodes from Razlog together for a meeting. Two detachments were created. One was under the triumvirate leadership of Marinov, Srechkovich, and the local voivode, Todor Palaskarya. Palaskarya had been assigned to defend the left flank of the uprising in Kresna. Now, he was ordered to attack all of Bansko. Leading the other detachment was Shteryu Vlavot. He was in charge of the areas of Gorno Draglishta and Dolno Draglishta. The ultimate aim of this action was to capture the administrative center of the plains region of Pirin, the city of Mehomiya (Razlog).

The attack on Bansko began on 8 November, 1878. Massive numbers of peasants participated in the twelve-hour battle, Bansko Was liberated.

This victory and the holding in check of an attack from a division of the Turkish regular army raised the morale among the people. But the exaltation did not last long. In the battle with the local Turkish forces at Razlog, the leader of the rebel actions, Bratan Marinov, was wounded. Leaderless and lacking a sufficient supply of weapons, fear and unrest spread among the rebels.

On 11 November, Voitkevich arrived in Bansko. The uprising in Razlog was under his command. It was hoped that he would be able to restore the declining order and discipline. But that did not come to pass. Voitkevich not only failed to establish order and discipline, but his imprudent actions incited the rebels to revolt against him. In an attempt to calm the situation, he began preparing to attack Mehomiya. But neither did the planned attack occur. In order to avoid another battle and to allow time for reinforcements to arrive, the local Turks sent negotiators to Bansko ostensibly to talk peace. During the discussions, in which the rebels sought the surrender of Mehomiya, all initiative for the attack was killed.

While the detachment in Bansko was inactive, the detachment under the command of Shteryu was filling with new volunteers from the peasantry. They were coming en masse to join. On 13 November they launched an attack on the village of Banya which is on the road between Nevrokop and Mehomiya.

The Turks, entrenched behind wide village walls, were able to repel the attack. Poorly armed - some bearing only axes, pitchforks, and sticks - the peasants were unable to rout out the Turks. However, they did hold back an attack of Turks and a group of bashibozouks who had come to the aid of those besieged. The following day the rebels from Bansko received a cherrywood cannon, but that was still not enough. Their efforts were in vain. The rebels though contributed to their own demise, for there was no cooperation between the two groups: while Shteryu launched his attack, Voitkevich and his troops were idle in Bansko.

Meanwhile, the voivode Tashko Bayrakov and his detachment captured the village of Dobrinishté. The village was liberated. But the rebels could not celebrate their victory for long. On the following day, 14 November, 1878, the Turkish army from Nevrokop arrived to aid the Turkish garrison in Razlog. Tashko Bayrakov's detachment did all it could to prevent the passage of the Turkish army through the gorge of the Dobrinishka River, but the Turks overwhelmed them. That was the beginning of the end of the action in Razlog. The rebels retreated to their own villages. Panic flooded the Dobrinishka Valley. The peasants quickly fled the village for fear of Turkish reprisals. The rebels took no defensive measures whatever; they left the village to defend itself. On 17 November, when the Turkish army entered the village, it was empty.

The village that had welcomed the rebels with open arms, that had flocked to join the ranks, had been deceived and abandoned. That ended the aborted siege of Razlog, an effort that began without plan, without order, and without coordination. The result of the Razlog uprising was: five plundered villages (Banya, Gorno Draglishta, Dolno Draglishta, Nidobrdsko, and Bansko); about 120 dead; and many thousands of refugees.