Stevan Sinđelić

Stevan Sinđelić (Serbian Cyrillic: Стеван Синђелић) (1770 — May 19, 1809) was a commander (vojvoda) of the First Serbian Uprising. His name became synonymous with courage among many Serbs.

Sinđelić led the rebels from Resava and already in the initial battles he defeated part of the Turkish Army near Medveđa. He also demonstrated outstanding courage and dedication in the Battles of Ivankovac (1805) and Deligrad (1806).

On the day of Holy Trinity, May 19, 1809 (during First Serbian uprising), the Ottoman Turks marched out of Niš and headed towards Sinđelić's trenches with 3,000 strong cavalry and four cannons. First the prayer to God (for forgiveness and guidance) and then, the positioning of the cannons, followed by a slow approach to the trenches on Cegar Hill. With the first volley over, the Turks charged the trenches.

When Sinđelić saw the trenches were filled with Turkish bodies, which still didn't stop the enemy from charging in over the dead and fighting his men with rifle butts, he opened the trench gate and told his soldiers they were free to attempt avoiding certain death by leaving the field of battle if they so wished. His famous words were: "Save yourselves brothers, who wants and who can! Who stays will die!" He himself took a position in the middle of the trench where the gunpowder was stored. Taking his handgun from his belt and reloading it, he then took a look around too see what was happening. There was panic in the trenches. Men, both Serbs and Turks, were choking and dropping dead or wounded all around him.

When the Turks swarmed the trench from all sides and headed for him Sinđelić fired his handgun into the gunpowder container, triggering a huge explosion that shook the surrounding fields and hills. Thick smoke engulfed the trench and billowed skyward. The Serbs that were still in the trench with Sinđelić and the attacking Turks were all blown into the air and killed. This explosion ended the life of a man know as the "falcon of Cegar", the commander of Resava, Stevan Sinđelić.

Every single one of Cegar Hill defenders as well as all the Turkish troops attacking it were killed in this battle. Soon after, as a warning to Serb population, the Turks erected the famous and still standing Cele-kula by the side of the road towards Constantinople. They built it out of Serbian soldiers' skulls. It was done by order of Turkish pasha Hurshid, Turkish commander of the town of Niš at that time. When he saw the Cele-kula, one French traveler said the famous sentence to the Serbs that were living there: "Don't destroy this monument, for this can serve as an example to your kids to see how much the freedom costs...

Sinđelić's feat was done again almost 200 years later by Serbian major of Yugoslav People's Army Milan Tepić during war in Croatia."

Source

* "This article is originally based on a text which has been published on [http://www.slobodnasrpska.org/en/genocid/03_turci/kula.html freesrpska.org] ."