Battle of Mečkin Kamen



The Battle of Mečkin Kamen occurred on the hill of Mečkin Kamen ("Bear Stone"), a few kilometres from the town of Kruševo in present-day Macedonia, on 1–2 August 1903. It was part of the Ilinden-Preobraženie uprising led by the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO or VMARO) against the Ottoman empire. The leading revolutionary commanders of the local Krushevo Republic were Nikola Karev and Pitu Guli. A monument exists today on Mečkin Kamen where Pitu Guli was killed. There is a Second World war memorial by Dimo Todorovski at the same site.

There is a legend behind the name of the hill. A long time ago in a small suburb besides the orchids lived a number of brothers. They occupied their time with agriculture and life stock. One day the brothers were returning from the hill when they were confronted by a big bear. The brave people of Kruševo were not frightened, instead they attacked the bear. The bear rolled a rock down the hill towards the brothers, but then they killed the bear with a couple of strikes from their axes. The rock which was rolled by the bear was known as Mečkin Kamen (Bear's Rock) by the people.