Part 38 – The Ohrid – Debar Uprising

Part 38 – The Ohrid – Debar Uprising

Macedonia’s division by the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest, approved on August 10th, 1913 by the Great Powers, left the Macedonian people in shock and disbelief. Macedonia had not only been snatched from their hands but now, after two millenniums since Roman times, it had been again partitioned. It would have been better if Macedonia was left intact and given to any one of these countries, including the Ottomans, perhaps as an autonomous province, but to have it divided was not acceptable. Many Macedonians were dissatisfied with the turn of events and sought ways to reverse them. The Macedonian colony in St. Petersburg was the first to react with dissatisfaction and launched an appeal to have the division reversed. But, as before, the appeal was ignored. As events continued to unfold it became apparent that the Treaty of Bucharest had left more than just the Macedonians dissatisfied. But in the interest of avoiding a war that might spread throughout all of Europe, the Treaty was left as it was. This dissatisfaction unfortunately split the parties into two camps, those who agreed with the Treaty and those who disagreed. Having lost the most from this experience, Bulgaria was one of the first parties to call for Macedonian autonomy after the Treaty of Bucharest was signed. This gave some Macedonians, including some Macedonian Revolutionary Organization’s (MRO’s) leaders, hope that there was a chance the division could be reversed by diplomatic or even by military means if necessary. To prepare for such a contingency, in August 1913, MRO leaders met with Mehmed Sefadin Pustina, leader of the Albanian Revolutionary Committee in Elbasan and signed an agreement to jointly take actions against the Serbian regime. The Bulgarian government also became involved and together with MRO appointed a three member commission consisting of Dr. Balabanov from Shtip, Dr. I. A. Georgov from Veles and Dr. P. Pavlov from Skopje and charged them with the task of going to Vienna to lobby Austrian-Hungarian politicians to help reverse the Treaty of Bucharest and its division of Macedonia. Their job was to inform Austrian-Hungarian politicians about the situation in Macedonia and to let them know that a mistake had been made in allowing the Serbian and Greek regimes, considered to be much stricter than the Ottomans, to occupy and divide Macedonia. They encouraged Austria-Hungary not to give up on the Macedonian people and if necessary to engage all its forces to reverse the division. On August 23rd, 1913, Macedonian and Bulgarian delegates led by Leopold Mandl, a representative of the Austrian-Hungarian government, held an assembly in Vienna during which Georgov requested that Macedonia be allowed to organize a referendum to determine the Macedonian peoples’ national declaration. He also emphasized that there was great danger that the Macedonian population would be forcibly turned into Serbians and Greeks. Macedonians did not want to be turned into Serbians and Greeks and with help from Austria-Hungary, were prepared to fight against Serbia and Greece. If the Great Powers wanted peace in the Balkans then Macedonia and Albania must be given autonomy. Mandl was in favour of Macedonian autonomy and said that Macedonia deserved to be helped because the Macedonian people had suffered the most in these wars. A Resolution was passed calling Macedonia’s division between Serbia and Greece a violation of the Macedonian peoples’ rights, an illegal and uncivilized act. The resolution called on the Great Powers to reconsider the Bucharest Treaty and correct the injustice done to the Macedonian people. The resolution was sent via telegram to 150,000 Macedonian refugees in Sofia and to the Albanian government in Vlore. Yane Sandanski too came out in opposition of the Treaty and began his own campaign against it, particularly against Macedonia’s division. Sandanski supported the idea of autonomy for Macedonia and saw hope in it if Austria-Hungary was to give it its support. In August 1913 Sandanski took a trip to Tirana and Vlore and, with representatives of the Albanian Revolutionary Government, organized preparations for a joint Macedonian -Albanian Uprising.

The goals of the Uprising were to cancel the Bucharest Treaty and establish autonomy for Macedonia and Albania. Unfortunately, because of subtle differences between Sandanski’s plan and that of the Austro-Hungarians, Austria-Hungary intervened and cancelled Sandanski’s plans. Discouraged, Sandanski gave up and left Albania. Seeing that there was no mention in any of the agreements of Bulgaria giving up its share of Macedonian lands, a number of prominent Macedonians in Sofia requested of Bulgaria to be the first to relinquish its part of Macedonia and let Macedonians establish a princedom in that part of Macedonia. Then, supported by Austria-Hungary, the princedom would request of the others to relinquish their parts of Macedonia. Unfortunately the Bulgarian government rejected the proposal, once again showing its true intensions towards Macedonia. Despite Austro-Hungarian disapproval, MRO and the Albanian provisional government continued with preparations for an uprising and at the same time gaining Bulgarian and Ottoman support. While the Bulgarians were in support of the MRO the Ottomans threw their support behind the Albanians.

The plan was for the Uprising to commence with Macedonian and Albanian Chetas attacking the Serbian and Greek rear while the Bulgarian and Ottoman armies would mount a frontal attack. Unfortunately opposition parties in Bulgaria were against such an uprising in Macedonia because many believed that cooperation between the Albanians and Macedonians would not last and there would be no benefits for Bulgaria to become involved. However the Bulgarian government continued to prepare for war with Serbia and Greece. On August 29th, 1913 Bulgaria signed a Treaty with the Ottomans to carry out joint actions against Serbia and Greece, according to which Bulgaria was to give up Odrin, Dedeagatch and Gyumyurdzhina in exchange for Ottoman help to take as much Macedonian territory as possible away from Serbia and Greece. After the treaty was signed, the Bulgarian government ordered one of its divisions to mobilize new troops and commence operations in order to occupy Gevgelija, Strumitsa, Kavala, Drama and Seres. At the same time MRO began to recruit Macedonian volunteers in Sofia and to create new Chetas. But before any of these plans could be put into action, the French, British and Russian representatives in Sofia found out and vigorously opposed them. So without Bulgarian and Ottoman support it was now up to the Macedonians and Albanians to commence the Uprising. It was agreed by the Albanian Revolutionary Committee, through written authorization, that the Albanian Chetas would come under MRO command and would be led by Vojvodas P. Chaulev, P. Hristov and M. Matov. On August 25th, 1913 Vojvoda Tane Nikolov met with the MRO Vojvodas in Sofia and informed them of the plan for joint actions against Serbia and Greece in Macedonia and asked them to cooperate with the Albanians. A follow-up meeting was called in Sofia during which the Albanian League in Bulgaria also pledged its support to join the MRO in the uprising. Before the Uprising was to begin, the plan called for the MRO to send some of its Chetas across the Bulgarian -Serbian border and the rest by Austrian ships from the Black Sea via the Danube River to Trieste and further into Albania. The new Chetas would then join Chaulev and Matov in Macedonia. In time Vojvodas Matov and Chaulev mobilized about 12,000 insurgents, consisting mostly of Macedonians and some Albanians and Ottomans. Some of the Vojvodas and insurgents expected to arrive from Bulgaria unfortunately never made it to their destinations. What later became known as the Ohrid -Debar uprising began unexpectedly on September 7th, 1913, not as the planned Uprising but as a spontaneous result of a Serbian provocation in the village Episkupija. The day after Serbian authorities terrorized the population in Episkupija, 300 insurgents from the Debar Detachment launched an attack on the 19th Serbian Regiment stationed in the village Luzuna capturing 18 mountain guns, 7 machine guns and a large cache of ammunition. The momentum of the sudden attack on the Serbians scattered the Uprising in three different directions. One group of insurgents continued to push the Serbian army towards Gostivar and Mavrovo. A second group coming from Debar advanced on the Serbian strongholds in Lopusnik and Kichevo. A third group appeared in Struga and attacked the Serbians stationed near the village Velesta. As more insurgents joined the fight, a number of towns and cities in western Macedonia were quickly liberated and local authority established. Among those who established authority in Ohrid were Lev Ognjanov, Dimitar Ivanov, Ivan Grupchev, Lev Kachkov, P. Hristov, Petar Filev, Dam Tsana and Irfan Bey. Among those who established authority in Galichnik were Evrem Avramov, Ilija Efremov, Eftim Giovski and Riste Efremov. (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 481) Albanian armed units, trained and instructed by the Austrian-Hungarians and led by Gagliardi were given the task of securing the Serbian -Albanian demarcation line established back in December 1912 at the London Conference.

Austria-Hungary’s goal was to move the line eastward so that the Ohrid, Struga and Debar Regions became part of Albania. The Serbians meanwhile, still hoping to access the Adriatic Sea, established a propaganda group in Albania to disarm the Albanians and convince the Albanian population to join Serbia. This however provoked some Islamic and militant Albanians who formed a fighting group called the “Katchaks” and who fought for the liberation of Albania as an Islamic country. This drew support from many Ottoman officers and soldiers who also joined the group. The Katchaks fought fiercely, not only against the Serbian army and police, but also against the Macedonian population in an attempt to cleanse the region of Macedonians. The Serbians reacted quickly and fiercely against the Uprising by engaging all their available forces which were more than a match for the Macedonian insurgents who by now were running out of ammunition. But more disappointing than that was the let down from Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary, both of whom promised help but beyond moral support, delivered nothing. Chaulev and Matov decided to withdraw from the battles and regroup and organize a defense line about 20 km east of Ohrid, taking a defensive position on the hills at Petrino and Bukovo. On September 17th, 18th and 19th, 1913 the insurgents fought bravely against the Serbian forces but were overwhelmed by the sudden attack at Golak Mountain by 600 Greek soldiers. At that point Petar Chaulev dismantled his Cheta into small groups and allowed the fighters to retreat to the mountains where they were to spend the winter. Chaulev, Matov, Georgiev, Sibakov, Atanasov and the other Vojvodas and insurgents fled to Albania. On October 6th, 1913 the Serbian District Chief in Bitola informed Serbian Command that the insurgents were defeated and had retreated to Albania and that the situation in the border region had been pacified. After the Ohrid -Debar Uprising was suppressed, the Serbian army, police and former illegal bands again began to terrorize the Macedonian population. Schools were closed and all non-Serbian educators were expelled or killed. Special martial courts were opened to prosecute the Macedonians and Albanians who had participated in the uprising. Many people were killed and their houses were burned down. Material damage and revenge killings for Macedonian participation in the Ohrid -Debar Uprising continued for a while, which prompted the Bulgarian government to suggest that a part of it’s national budget be set aside for organizing another general uprising in Macedonia in the spring of 1914. Austria-Hungary too was encouraged to set aside government money for this purpose. In the meantime MRO established its own cooperation with Ottoman representatives and agreed to conduct joint operations in Macedonia to protect the Ottoman and Macedonian civilian populations from Serbian retribution. MRO also met with Albanian representatives in Sofia and agreed to carry out joint activities in the spring of 1914. According to the Albanians who attended this meeting, Austria- Hungary was ready to support the insurgency both financially and militarily. A new MRO committee was established specifically for the purpose of preparing and coordinating military activities in the future. General Geshov was appointed president of the new committee, Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandar Protogerov was appointed his assistant, and Nikolov, Matov, Drvingov, Todor Aleksandrov, Chaulev, Stojanchev, Dr. Vladov, Zankov and Takvor were appointed members of the committee. It was decided that the Committee would remain inactive until the next spring, but was charged with organizing a struggle that would involve all of Macedonia.