On June 3, old style (June 15, new style) 1862, the volunteers of the First Bulgarian Legion receive their baptism of fire by engaging in battle with the Turkish garrison in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The creation of the Bulgarian armed detachment on Serbian territory is connected with the changed situation on the Balkan Peninsula in 1859-1860.
Then relations between Belgrade and Istanbul entered a tense phase. The governing circles in the Serbian capital organize massive anti-Turkish propaganda and begin to prepare for a military campaign against the Ottoman Empire, BNR recalls.
The complicated international situation in the Balkans was skillfully assessed by Georgi Rakovski, who in 1860 arrived in Belgrade to begin the implementation of his ideas for the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.
In the Serbian capital, the great Bulgarian patriot began publishing “Danube Swan” - the first revolutionary newspaper of our emigration.
In Belgrade, Rakovski prepares a plan for the liberation of the Bulgarian people,
according to which the future uprising in Bulgaria must be coordinated with a military campaign of the Serbian army against the Ottoman Empire. The famous revivalist envisions forming a detachment of 1,000 liberation fighters in Serbia, who, after the start of the war between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire, will enter Bulgarian territory.
They must cross the ridge of Stara Planina and reach the old capital, Tarnovo, where, with the assistance of a previously established local committee, they will liberate the city and announce the creation of a free Bulgarian state.
In 1862, Rakovski drew up the statutes of a Provisional Government, which, according to his predictions, should lead the entire campaign. He entered into negotiations with the Serbian authorities and received permission to organize a volunteer unit to be composed of our compatriots. From the pages of the newspaper “ Danube Swan” sends an appeal to Bulgarian patriots.
Thus, in the spring of 1862, around 600 people gathered in the Serbian capital and became part of the First Bulgarian Legion.
Among them are Vasil Levski, Stefan Karadzha, Ilio voivoda, Hristo Tsonev Bruchkov, Vasil Drumev, Hristo Ivanov-Golemia, Hristo Makedonski, Dimitar Berovski and others. In June 1862, tensions in Belgrade between Serbs and Turks escalated. On June 3 (June 15 in the new style), a Serbian youth was killed by Turkish soldiers at one of the city's fountains.
This was used as a pretext by the local Serbs to start a persecution of all Turkish soldiers who were outside their garrison stationed in the Belgrade Fortress. Armed skirmishes found Rakovski in the midst of preparations for an uprising to liberate Bulgaria, but he, along with Bulgarian volunteers, joined the fighting to help the Serbs. At first, the Serbian authorities tried to stop the conflict and Rakovski was ordered to withdraw with his fighters, but the fighting continued throughout the night, the most dramatic being the battles at Varos Kapia and Vidin Kapia.
Bulgarian volunteers also take an active part in them, showing great courage. Georgi Rakovski and Ilio voivoda locked themselves in a Serbian house located next to Varosh gate and from there they fired at the retreating Turks, and another group of volunteers together with the Serbs chased the enemy to Kale Megdan. Bulgarian builders began to demolish every Turkish post with axes and pickaxes.
Serbian rulers and foreign diplomatic representatives made efforts, as a result of which the fighting ceased on June 16.
The Bulgarian legionnaires went the same day to Rakovski with the captured enemy weapons. They strap one of the trophy sabers around the waist of their leader, who greets them with the words: “Hello young men”, and they respond with: “Hurrah, hurray, long live Bulgaria and its brave soldiers!”
Until the morning of June 17, the situation was calm, but the Turkish artillery from the Belgrade fortress began shelling the city. The shooting continued for four and a half hours, triggering a complex diplomatic crisis. Fighting broke out again in the Serbian capital, including Rakovski's volunteers. According to the memories of eyewitnesses, our patriot led the column of Bulgarians. They pass by the Prussian Consulate in Belgrade, where they are greeted by the Prussian Consul General, and then by Serbian soldiers with the greeting: “Long live Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Legion!“
A war between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire was not reached, and at the insistence of the government in Belgrade, the legion was disbanded.
In 1867, when relations between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire deteriorated again and the Serbian government began to prepare for hostilities, the Second Bulgarian Legion was created. The formation of the two legions showed the Bulgarian revivalists that creating a center to lead the movement for national liberation in other countries and linking the goals of our national revolution with the politics of other countries is risky. However, the legions give baptism of fire to a large number of the future leaders of our national liberation movement.