Battle of Drenovo

Battle for Drenovo
Part of the Macedonian Struggle
Date 9 June 1907 Location Drenovo, North Macedonia 41°37′N 21°42′E Result Serbian Chetnik victory Chetnik capture of western Povardarje after Bulgarian retreat
Belligerents
Serbian Chetnik Organization	Bulgarian committees
Commanders and leaders
Vasilije Trbić Jovan Babunski Local fighters from Bogomila and Teovo	Dačo from Bistrica † Stefan Dimitrov †
Strength
40 Chetniks	2 Committee companies
Casualties and losses
1 wounded	Entire army killed
Drenovo class=notpageimage| Site of the battle

The Battle of Drenovo took place in Spasovdan on 9 June 1907 in the village of Drenovo, near Veles.

Battle and aftermath

For the attack on Drenovo, in addition to the company led by Vasilije Trbić, Jovan Babunski hired village Chetniks from Bogomila and Teovo, which totaled 40 people. In order to pass through the Arnaut villages unhindered, the Chetniks changed into Arnaut clothes, which they got from Kičevo. Also, they decided to attack Drenovo during the day, since the Bulgarians did not post guards at that time. In the afternoon of June 9, they entered the village. The people of Drenovo, thinking that they had Arnauts in front of them, did not take out their weapons. When the Serbian troops found out in which house the committees were hiding, they surrounded the house and attacked it from the other near buildings. Because of this, a mutual shooting ensued, together with the siege of many houses. Some Chetniks managed to climb onto the roof and set the house on fire. The Bulgarians moved to another house under the protection of smoke and the fight continued. Since the second house was also set on fire and the flaming ceiling beams began to fall on them, the committees decided to storm their way through after a four-hour fight. In this attempt, everyone was killed, except for two who surrendered and who were later killed as accomplices in the murders at the Kapinovo mill and on the Bogomil road. The Serbs had only one wounded in this battle - Trbić's Chetnik Donče from Oraov Dol. From this fight arose the Chetnik anthem "Get ready, get ready", which was also sung in the Second World War, with a slightly modified text.

The Battle at Drenovo, which destroyed the Bulgarian organization in western Povardarje, was the last major conflict with Bulgarian companies until the Balkan Wars. Later Bulgarian attempts to insert new companies across the Vardar were defeated by the Turkish army. This was the case with the large Bulgarian company on the Nikodim mountain (June 25) and the destruction of the large combined company of the Bulgarian dukes Mirchev, Chakov, Alabak and Velkov on June 17 near Veles.