Battle of Čegar
| Battle of Čegar | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of First Serbian Uprising | |||||||
Sinđelić blowing up the powder kegs at the Čegar hill. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Ottoman Empire | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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| Units involved | |||||||
| First Serbian Army | Ottoman Army | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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16,000 infantry 2,000 cavalry 11 guns | 30,000–35,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| ~ 4,000 killed | c. 10,000 killed | ||||||
The Battle of Čegar (Serbian: Битка на Чегру/Bitka na Čegru), also known as the Battle of Kamenica (Бој на Каменици/Boj na Kamenici) took place during the First Serbian Uprising between the Serbian Revolutionaries and Ottoman forces near the Niš Fortress on 31 May 1809. Fought on the Čegar hill situated between the villages of Donji Matejevac and Kamenica near Niš in what is today southeastern Serbia, it ended in an Ottoman victory. Commander Stevan Sinđelić famously blew up the gunpowder magazine when the Ottomans overtook his trench, killing everyone in it. Skulls of dead Serb rebels were embedded into the Skull Tower.