148 years ago, Hristo Botev was killed at the head of a detachment for the liberation of Bulgaria . The poet takes to his Calvary, writing to his wife from the ship "Radetzki":
My dear Veneto, Dimitre and Ivanke!
Forgive me for not telling you where I am going. The love I have for you makes me do this. I knew that you would cry, and your tears are very dear to me!
Veneto, you are my wife and you must listen to me and believe in everything. I pray to my friends not to leave you, and they must support you. God will preserve me, and if I live, then we will be the happiest in this world. If I die, then know that after my Fatherland, I loved you the most, so look at Ivanka and remember the one who loves you.
Christ
For a few days in May 1876, about 200 Bulgarians paid with blood for a free Bulgaria.
After the blow dealt to the Internal Revolutionary Organization by the hanging of Vasil Levski and the hesitation of Lyuben Karavelov, Hristo Botev became the head of the BRCC.
After the outbreak of the uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1875
BRCC under the leadership of Hristo Botev began preparations for an uprising in Bulgaria as well. For this purpose, Botev was sent to Russia to collect funds and weapons for the uprising and to bring the voivode Philip Totyu from there. The premature outbreak of the uprising and its failure led to serious disagreements in the BRCC. As a result, at the end of 1875, Botev resigned, this also led to the dissolution of the organization, but he did not give up his revolutionary activity.
After the establishment of the Giurgiu Revolutionary Committee, Botev also established contact with its members. In May 1876, he began editing his last newspaper "New Bulgaria", of which he managed to publish only one issue.
In May 1876, as a result of the news about the April Uprising, Botev began activities to organize a detachment. From Giurgevo, he boarded with part of the crew of the ship "Radecki".
The troop numbers 205 well-armed and well-prepared Chetniks.
Hristo Botev was unanimously elected as voivode, and Nikola Voinovski as military leader. Analyzing the development of the uprising in Bulgaria, the leadership of the squad decided to go to the Third Vrachan Revolutionary District, where there was a possibility of starting an uprising.
On June 29 at 11 a.m., Chetniks disguised in insurgent clothes conquered "Radetski". The voivode forces the captain Dagobert Englander to stop the steamer a few kilometers west of the village of Kozloduy. Hristo Botev and his squad descend on the Bulgarian coast in battle order with the Kuroto flag waved by Nikola Simov, kiss their native land and leave for immortality.
In its heroic march to the Balkans, which begins on May 29, the squad fights alone against mounting Turkish losses. In the following days, it became clear that the expected uprising in the Vracana district would not break out, which is why the command decided that the Chetniks would retreat to the Vracana Balkans and take positions on the Okolchitsa, Kupena and Kamarata peaks.
On June 1, the enemy begins frontal attacks,
which the Chetniks repel with fire and counterattacks. The battle continues until the evening, when the Turks retreat to their starting positions. Hristo Botev and his staff take cover next to a small rock on the southeastern slope of Mount Kamarata.
During the conversation, Botev stands up to his full height to see where the squad is. At that moment, a single shot rang out, fatally stabbing the voivode. His unexpected death causes confusion among Chetniks. Nikola Voinovski takes command of the squad. On June 2, the squad fought its last battle as an organized combat unit in the Lutibrod area. After that, it disperses into small groups, which are destroyed by the Turkish hordes pursuing them.
Leaded by Nikola Voinovski, a group of 40 people managed to cross the Iskar river and headed for the Razana mountain. Between the villages of Litakovo and Osenov lak, they engaged in a fierce battle with Turkish troops and the group was dispersed. Nikola Voinovski with 15 Chetniks managed to get to the Trojan Balkan. On June 13 and 14, in the territory of the village of Chiflik, they were ambushed. In the unequal battle, together with the military leader, the rest of the Chetniks died.
After almost a month of heavy fighting, the battle path of the Boteva detachment,
started from the Kozloduy coast, ended with the death of 130 Chetniks.
The defeat of the detachment marked the end of the April Uprising, but their feat and the tragic death of the voivode Hristo Botev left a deep mark in the people's memory. It is no coincidence that immediately after the Liberation, the beginning of the national worship before the heroes, monuments and commemorative signs related to the battle path of the Boteva detachment were built.
The first celebration of the feat of Botev and his squad was organized by the residents of the village of Kozloduy in May 1878. It was called “meals” and is associated with a sacrifice of 200 lambs for the fallen Chetniks. In 1885, the Botevski organizing committee, under the chairmanship of the mayor of Vratsa, Ivancho Tsvetkov, organized celebrations of Milin kamak, which marked the beginning of the annual Botevski celebrations. According to the decision of a group of revolutionary activists led by Zahari Stoyanov, June 2 is accepted as the date of celebration.
In order to express their appreciation to the heroes, the population of Kozloduy supports the initiative of the local teacher Mladen Pavlov to place a memorial sign at the place where the Boteva detachment disembarked.
On May 30, 1878, a 4-meter militia cross made of acacia wood was placed on the bank of the Danube.
In 1882 it was replaced by a votive stone cross with a thank you inscription. Among the local population, however, there remains a strong desire to build a worthy monument to the Botevata Cheta on the Danube bank. For this purpose, the company “Hr. Botev – Kozlozuyski bryag”, which in 1905 launched a wide-ranging campaign to raise funds and donations, and even laid the foundation stone of the future monument. After the refusal of the state to participate in this undertaking, the construction stopped. But hope remains. Work on the construction of the monument began again in 1937. The company “Hr. Botev – Kozloduy beach” through the Directorate of Water Communications in Ruse provides funds for tenders, design and construction. The author of the project is Stefan Peychev, and the stone cladding was made by Asen Iliev. In 1939, the monument was built.
The first monument to Hristo Botev was erected in the center of Vratsa after the Liberation.
Its author is Gustav Eberlein. It was inaugurated on May 27, 1890 in the presence of Prince Ferdinand I, Prime Minister Stefan Stambolov, Botev's mother, his wife Veneta and daughter Ivanka. In 1955, this monument was dismantled by the communist authorities. In its place, on June 2, 1964, a new monument was opened. It is the work of Vladimir Ginovski. Hristo Botev is full-length with a height of 12 m. and is made of bronze and gray granite. A fire is already burning next to the monument, and on the architectural bodies there are reliefs with scenes from Botev's creativity and heroic death. Every year in front of the monument, grateful descendants pay their respects.
Another cult place for national worship is the monument on Mount Okolchitsa.
In 1901, on the 25th anniversary of the feat of Hristo Botev and his company in Okolchitsa, the foundation stone of the future monument was laid. In 1926, the initiative Botev Committee at the community center "Development" in Vratsa places as a temporary marker a 4-meter Orthodox Russian cross, which the Bulgarian militiamen carried during the War of Liberation. Ten years later, the construction of the monument began according to the project of arch. Petar Dogramdzhiev and engineer Nikola Novoselski. It has the shape of an eight-pointed cross with a height of 28 m. The monument was completed in 1939. In the years of the communist regime in 1947, the monument was changed. The Orthodox cross has been replaced by a five-pointed star. In 1991, the authentic appearance of the monument with the cross was restored.
During the past decades, the idea of delineating the path of the troop from Kozloduy beach to Okolchitsa peak occupies a special place in the Botev celebrations.
In 1901, a special commission drew up the first official protocol for the combat journey of the Boteva company.
In 1936, it was proposed to outline it with permanent tree plantations. These initiatives gained a particularly large scope in the years of socialist Bulgaria, when the communist government ideologized the Botev celebrations and made them part of the state's cultural policy.
In 1946, a commission was formed with the participation of three well-known researchers of the Botevo case – Dimitar Osinin, Pavel Deliradev and Ivan Velkov. They precisely specify the route of the Boteva detachment from Kozloduy through the village of Butan, Borovan, Milin Kamak Veslets to Mount Okolchitsa. In 1949, the first marking was placed with 53 stone markers and 6 commemorative plaques. When the lob site of Hristo Botev on Kamarata Peak was specified, the marking marks increased to 68. The work on the layout of the road of the Botev group continued in 1954 with the planting of two rows of trees, which outline the road with a wide avenue. On May 27, 1958, a special decree of the Council of Ministers was adopted for the memorial complex "Botev Path", which includes the construction of an alley – monument from Kozloduy to the lob site of Botev in the Vrachan Balkan.
In 1971, by the decision of the Central Committee of the BKP and the MC, a comprehensive layout of the Botev road began as the only monument of its kind in our country with a 120-kilometer avenue from Kozloduy to Okolchitsa peak, Kamarata and Rashov dol. Within the framework of the national tourist hike “On the way of the Botevata Cheta” every year from May 27 to June 2, thousands of Bulgarians follow in the footsteps of Botev and his company. This most patriotic tourist event dates back to 1947, when 17 tourists crossed the battle route of the Boteva Cheta.