On April 18-20, 1881 , the Battle of Shtime and Slivova took place, the most important battle that the army of the Albanian League of Prizren fought against the Ottoman armies. About 4000 Albanian volunteers faced 20 battalions of Dervish Pasha’s army, with about 15000 soldiers and officers equipped with the best weaponry of the time. Ottoman forces took Skopje at the end of March and marched towards Ferizaj to subjugate Fushë Kosova. Albanian forces with Mic Sokoli and Ali Ibra took up positions near Shtime, while, another part, near the village of Slivova. The fighters of the League broke the attacks of the Ottoman army more than once and counterattacked several times. In one of these counterattacks, Mic Sokoli blocked an enemy cannon muzzle with his body. On April 21, the Albanians, due to the superiority of the enemy, withdrew. On April 22 and 23, they clashed in Dukël and Suharekë, to prevent the Ottoman army from entering Prizren. In May, the last clashes took place in the depths of the Dukagjin Plain and Kosova. (In the photo: 1950s addition.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 232.
Photo: © http://shtimepress.com/
Graphic processing: AHCF
