Attack on Šabac (1805)

The Attack on Šabac^[a] was undertaken by the Serbian rebel army detachments led by Jakov Nenadović and Janko Katić against the town of Šabac, which supported the Dahije (renegade Janissaries). Šabac was situated in the frontier of rebel territory and was a refuge for the Dahije and their kırcalı (bandits), thus, Jakov and Janko set out to punish the town's Turks and to ease the expansion of the rebellion. The surprise attack ended in failure.

In March 1804, rebel leader Jakov Nenadović of the Valjevo nahija bombarded the Šabac fortress with a cannon.^[1]

The Serbian rebels sought to punish Šabac for giving refuge to Dahije commander Mus-aga Fočić, who freely entered and left the town and fortress, and killed many Serbs there.^[2] Mus-aga had collected cavalrymen in Bosnia and crossed the Drina and Mačva and arrived at Šabac on 18 August [O.S. 6 August] 1804.^[3] In two hours, he dug up his hidden ducats and went to the Bair neighbourhood in the Šabac town and beheaded 70 Serbs and retreated to Bosnia.^[3] Hearing of this, supreme commander Karađorđe ordered Jakov Nenadović, Janko Katić and Sima Marković to punish the Šabac Turks.^[3] The Dahije's supporters, kırcalı (bandits) under Alija Gušanac, roamed free in central Serbia.^[2] The rebels needed to rid the kırcalı in order to more easily expand the rebellion.^[2]

The Serbian leadership chose Jakov Nenadović and Janko Katić to take Šabac, and they decided for a surprise attack.^[2] Shortly after Bekir Pasha (Bećir-paša) returned to Bosnia, Jakov and Janko mustered enough of a force to undertake the mission, at Dobrava near Šabac.^[2] The first line of rebel troops, including Jakov and Janko, slipped through the fortification gates before sunrise on 3 January [O.S. 22 December] 1805, just as the town imam was to call the morning prayer.^[2] The imam saw the rebels and shouted, alarming the Turks who were on their way to the mosque.^[4] The Turks immediately took up weapons and ran towards the gates, shooting at the rebels, forcing them to leave the fortress grounds.^[5] The small number of rebels present were unable to withstand; the rest of the rebel force were too far away from the fort, owing to the deep snow and scattered movement.^[6] The rebels that escaped the fort were unable to move further due to confusion and being hailed with bullets; with Jakov and Janko, they jumped into the fortress ditches where, fortunately for them, the bastion rifles couldn't target them.^[6] They were unable to leave the ditches in day-time as that would risk them being shot from the town.^[3] From the fortress walls, the Turks poured boiling water and threw bee hives down to the ditches.^[7] For the whole day, the rebels stayed in the cold snow and managed to escape the ditches in pairs only in the night, rushing past the hillocks while shot at by rifles and cannons.^[6] In the town, shootouts left 60 dead on each side.^[7] The failed attack resulted in Šabac ceasing all communications with Serbs.^[6]

Šabac was attacked many times in 1806 by Jakov Nenadović and Luka Lazarević, and was finally handed over to Karađorđe on 2 February [O.S. 26 January] 1807.^[8]

• Timeline of the Serbian Revolution