Mark Bregu - Tribuna Shqiptare

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NE KUADRIN E JUBILEUT TE MADH TE 100 VJETORIT TE SHPALLJES SE PAVARESISE took place there. But our men survived the peril. None of their ships - not even one caique - was impeded or caught. This enraged the barbarians all the more because they had already suffered one defeat. Our forces were heading towards the mouth of the Buna and they began attacking the last trireme with rocks and other projectiles, using in their fury whatever they could find. Now the Turkish horsemen, having regrouped, rode right into the river and attacked the oarsmen by seizing the oars with their bare hands. They would not let go of them for dear life except when our men chopped off their hands or threw some very heavy object at them. Finally, without any of our men being taken prisoner, the fleet sailed and reached a safer location, though five hundred men had been wounded and eighteen had been killed. The Turks themselves had suffered a massacre. This became clear the next day when, following the barbarian withdrawal, our men returned to the church of Saint Sergius so that those under siege realized that they occupied a lofty position. They wanted to make it known to the enemy that they had withdrawn for tactical reasons and not out of fear. There, along the riverbanks, they came across great numbers of bodies of men and horses, some of them floating in the water. Our men, unable to endure the stench, returned to the mouth of the Buna. In the meantime, the enemy had built a bridge, connecting the two banks. They then set up tents along the river and left some ten thousand horsemen there to guard them. Then they departed to plunder all those prosperous reaches and loot the villages, setting fire to homes and destroying fields of grain. At the same time, the Venetians were transporting wooden planks covered in pitch to Acruvium. Acruvium is a town now known as Kotor. From there, all the material was to be transported by men and beasts of burden over the rugged and pathless mountains and was to be unloaded at the lakeside. There, carpenters were to construct lake boats, more for the war than for the needs of transportation. In addition, over one thousand sailors were then seconded to guard the lake in light boats and dugouts. They were to pursue and harass the enemy which had set up tents along the banks of the river. Although they did their utmost to come to the assistance of those under siege, they did not succeed. This was, firstly, because the barbarians held guard day and night at a narrow gorge between the mountain and the river, the site only five hundred paces wide. The guards did not move from the site, even when shot at from the mountain and from boats at the same time. Secondly, a treacherous vojvode, to save his possessions, took a bribe and did not give our men the support they needed. Because they no longer trusted this fellow and because their tents along the lakeside were unprotected, our men out on their boats abandoned their strategy of direct attack and limited themselves to small guerilla actions, yet never leaving enemy forces a moment's peace. The latter could not even go out to fetch drinking water without placing themselves in mortal danger. Once, when the barbarians were out looting like thieves and searching for local villagers hiding in the dense forests, some three hundred of them went down to a spring to drink water. There, they were attacked by the local inhabitants, assisted by our soldiers. Our men surrounded them and chopped them to pieces. Unaffected by the fighting were several rocks and islands in the lake where beautiful monasteries had been constructed by Greek clergy. All these people would otherwise have been heartlessly ravaged. Meanwhile, the enemy made ready some cannons of enormous proportion. They were of such a calibre that, when shot at, the ramparts of the fortress shuddered and most of them collapsed. Nevertheless, those under siege had stored enough material to defend themselves and to repair the fortifications, which proved to be necessary now that the town was without walls. They took a pile of beams and nailed them together, erecting them with earth and mud and thus creating an improvised barrier, like strong ramparts, to fend off the enemy attack. The barbarians then began to launch cannonballs with their bombards, indeed one thousand nine hundred times, destroying both the ramparts and the houses, and believing that their army would now have no problem conquering the city. Orders were given that all iron tools, wooden instruments and other material used for repairing Gravurë gjjermane sh. XV, në librin „Rrethimi i Shkodrës” walls and homes be Gravure gjermane sh. XV nga libri “Rrethimi i Shodrës” 32 made ready for the attack, so that when their forces took the city, they would at least be sure to reap the benefits of the victory after so much trial and tribulation. The assault began with piercing shouting, the beating of drums and the blowing of trumpets. Bonfires were lit on all four sides of the fortress. Then they stopped for prayer, adoring the new moon as they lay on the ground, as is their custom. One must know that the Ottomans never engage in a full battle before the new moon, which they greet with great devotion. As such, on August 15th, the pasha promised great reward to those who would could climb the slopes to the fortress, mustered his army, and with two shots from the cannons, gave signal for the attack. The moment he gave the sign, they all rushed out of the camp and ran forth. With great din and clamour, taking with them movable mantlets, beams and poles with hooked prongs, they clambered swiftly up the mountain, rock by rock, path by path. According to a plan he had prepared before the start of the siege, Loredano, who was second to none in bravery and the martial arts, deployed his forces in such a way that the townspeople, together with the Italian garrison and the young men from the countryside, would be in position, but that they would keep silent and hidden. In this manner, the enemy would not hesitate to approach the base of the fortress. He then chose three hundred men who were to wait at the open square of the fortress, arms in hand, to fend offne who attacked them.
NE KUADRIN E JUBILEUT TE MADH TE 100 VJETORIT TE SHPALLJES SE PAVARESISE Most of the archers were then positioned around the ramparts and a signal was given, a Hyemja e kalasë Shkëdrës great cry, to call the population out to the walls. The Turks then began their advance on the walls against which they placed their ladders, and in fury started to attack from all sides, such that those within the city did not know which side needed the most attention and where to deploy emergency reinfocements. It was in this strategy that the barbarians had placed their hopes. With a hail of missiles and cannonballs engulfing the fortress, the forces under siege rushed forth with all the arms at their disposal and began to attack the enemy which had already reached the top of the hill. Some of those on the ramparts began hurling huge torches and sharp javelins down at them, whatever they could find, but, where they were able, the Turks held their ground and replaced one another. Nearby was the pasha giving orders, urging his men on, praising the most courageous of them and cursing the cowardly and the lame. Whenever he saw any men retreating, he menaced them with his sword and sent them back into battle, threatening otherwise to execute them on the spot. Thus, although most of the Turks were unable to fend off the stones and missiles being hurled at them from above, and many of them were struck dead and fell to the ground, no one dared to retreat or move from the spot. The people of Shkodra, for their part, prepared kegs full of stones which they hurled down the cliffs on the steepest sides. These struck the Turkish fighters swarming below. They also hurled baskets of sticks and rushes dipped in pitch and set them on fire. The conflagration lit up the area and made it highly visible, to the great assistance of those under siege. Who knows how many enemies were burned and consumed by the flames? For the Turks had begun their siege in the dark of night in order to cover up their dastardly plan and tactics. The savage fighting continued all night long. Those under siege did not have a moment's rest. The next day, the attack grew even stronger. The barbarians believed that they had already gained a victory. Therefore, midst the wounded and the missiles, they advanced, trampling over bodies until they reached the edge of the fortifications themselves. In the sections where the ramparts had been knocked down, they brought forth poles with sharp metal hooks which they fixed against the walls. By using those sharp ends, they struck and wounded the defendants, even pulling some of them off the ramparts. But the men of Shkodra were not frightened and held their ground, fighting off the enemy with swords and axes, chopping them to bits on the spot. The defendants from above were slaughtering so many of the enemy with all sorts of weapons and missiles, defending the town with all their courage and with all the strength they had in them, and the battle had reached its zenith. Then, behold!, the barbarians on all sides of the fortress began to withdraw. The sun had been up for three hours and the ladders of the attackers with the men still on them plunged to the ground. Then the Turkish army began to show weakness and lose courage. The townspeople were heartened by this. Their courage and morale had reached a new height. They sprang over the ramparts and leaped to set upon the fleeing enemy forces who were running back towards their tents. They kept at them right until they reached the enemy encampment, where a savage and bloody battle took place between the two sides, and the tents were shredded and destroyed. Beams and logs were set on fire and, as the wind was blowing against the Turks, some of them were burned and consumed by the flames, while others choked in the smoke and ran away in flight. The men of Shkodra returned to the town with the banners of the enemy army and the heads of some of the commanders killed during the attack, and exposed them on the ramparts. Brandishing their shining swords, they made great fun of the enemy, challenging them back to battle. The pasha had been struck on the thigh by a boulder and was wounded. As far as could be learned from letters from princes in the region and from the narratives of those who had escaped the fighting, about seventy thousand men, indeed the majority, were wounded in the battle. There were hardly any fighters who returned to camp without having been wounded. There were no tents in which one could not hear the moaning and groaning of the injured. The fighting had indeed been so savage that the pasha wrote to Sultan Mehmed and reported of the valiant courage of those under siege and of the great damage they themselves had suffered. In addition to all these events, in the months of August and September, the region is so pestilential that the local people can barely endure the debilitating climate, not to speak of the foreigners there suffering from the deprivations of military life and living outdoors under appalling conditions. For this reason, many of our men as well as the Turks who survived the carnage, perished of fever caused by the bad air and stagnant water of the marshes. When the Ottomans realised what was happening, they gave orders for the siege to be lifted, although they knew that their authority would be weakened if they withdrew their forces. Vijon në numërin e ardhshëm 33 SHKODRA KRENARE Shkodër, moj Shkodra krenare, Qytet madhshtor i lashtësisë, Mburrja e racës shqiptare, Qendra e mbretnave t‟Ilirisë. N‟themelet e tu historikë, Pellazgët ngritën mure me gurë, Me blloqe të mëdha ciklopikë, Që nuk do shembëshin kurrë. Ishin kohët shumë antike, Flijimin themeli kerkonte, Rozafa ajo nuse fisnike, Jetën e saj aty ‟flijonte. Shkodra do t‟ruente kujtimin E Rozafës bukur perore, Ku s‟do t‟harronte flijimin, T‟ asaj nusëje trime arbnore. N‟ato mure Agroni mbretnoi, Mbret‟ i urtë, burrnor e fisnik, Ilirinë të tanë e bashkoi, Nga Veriu deri n‟detin Jonik. Aty sundoi Teuta mbretneshë, Nji grue trime e fort krenare, Me romaket n‟lufta tuj u ndeshë, Në mbrojtje t‟trojëve shqiptare. Me romakët u ndesh‟n fiset ilire Me mbretin Genc në krye trimnor, E humbi luftën ai mbret i mirë, Por Roma e nderoi si mbret peror. Ma vonë mbi ty, Shkodër kreshnike, Mbas vdekjës së të madhit Kastriot, Do t‟sulëshin hordhitë aziatike, Me vite të tana kot me kot. Deri ne fund u mbrojte heroike, Qendresa jote u ba legjëndare, U shkruen për ty vepra historike, Dh‟emni yt u hap në botën mbarë. Shpirt i qëndresës mbete ti gjithmonë, Dhe iu kundërvune me guxim, Komunizmit q‟erdh në vendin tone, Mbi ty tuj ushtrue terror e krim. Bijt e tu ma të mirë t‟i kositën, Këto sllavo-komunistë t‟ pa nder, Shumë të rrënuen e sfilitën, Por nuk t‟mposhtën kurr nji here. Serishmi ti ngrihesh krenare, Me Rozafatit, kalanë madhshtore, Qëndresa e racës shqiptare, Prej lashësisë e në vazhdim përore. Shkodër, moj Shkodra krenare, Kokën nalt gjithmonë ti ta keshë, Ti simbol i qëndresës atdhetare, Pëjetsisht n‟histori do t‟ jeshë ! Lahutari, 6 shkurt 2012.
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Mark Bregu - Tribuna Shqiptare

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