The “Battle for Shkodra” took place, the resistance of the Ottoman and Albanian forces against the actions of the military forces of Montenegro and Serbia for the occupation of Shkodra. Keeping Shkodra surrounded even after the Declaration of Independence and the setting of Albania’s borders, the king of Montenegro, Nicholas I, intended to annex all of Northern Albania together with this important city. For nearly six months, the Albanians and the Ottoman garrison of Shkodra withstood the siege and attacks of the Montenegrin Serbian armies. Despite the superiority of the enemy in military forces and combat material, the defenders of Shkodra successfully faced the enemy armies. In the new circumstances that were created with the Declaration of Independence of Albania, the commander of the Ottoman forces in Shkodër, Hasan Riza Pasha, entered into talks with the committee of citizens of Shkodër to continue the war under the Albanian flag. His initiative was undermined by the Young Turk officers and the traitorous Turkoman elements of the country, headed by Esat Toptani. After that Esat Pasha Toptani took command of the garrison. He did not recognize the Declaration of Independence, he did not respond to the call of the Provisional Government of Vlora and a group of patriots to raise the Albanian flag in the fortress of Shkodra and thus announce its union with the government of Vlora. In the meantime, bloody fighting continued on all fronts: on the mountain of Tarabosh, on the hills of Beltonja, Bërdica and Bardhanjorev. In these battles, the Montenegrin-Serbian armies left nearly 18,000 dead, while the defense forces over 2,000 killed and over 2,500 wounded, not counting the civilians who died of starvation, bombardment and disease. The Montenegrin forces were able to enter the city only after the betrayal of Esat Toptan, on April 22, 1913. He announced the capitulation and handed over Shkodra to the Montenegrins in circumstances that cannot justify this action, when the defenders of the city were determined to continue their resistance and when the fleet of the Great Powers had reached the shores of the Adriatic to force the Montenegrin authorities to lift the siege of the city. This act, which was experienced as national betrayal, had negative consequences in the process of defining the border in the northeastern part of the Albanian lands. (In the photo: Flags of the Great Powers in the fortress of Shkodra.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 233.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rethimi_i_Shkodr%C3%ABs_%281912-13%29
Graphic processing: AHCF
