SHIPKA Street in central Sofia was named to commemorate one of the greatest victories in the history of the Bulgarian people - the heroic battle in 1877 at the Shipka Pass of the Balkan Range during the Russo-Turkish War.

The war itself was provoked by the atrocities of the Ottoman troops in Bulgaria during the crushing of the 1876 April Uprising and Turkey's consequent refusal to grant autonomy to the Bulgarian lands.

At the Tsarigrad Conference in December 1876 Russia, Great Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy drew up a plan, to which Turkey committed in advance, making provision for the autonomy of all Bulgarian-inhabited territories. It rejected the plan however on the very day of its signing. This last-minute renege prompted even the pro-Turkish West European states to withdraw their customary backing and agree to a military settlement of the Bulgarian question.

Russia declared war on Turkey - following talks with the Great Powers - on April 12, 1877. A military campaign was launched along the Russo-Turkish Caucasian border.

The Russians crossed the Danube in June 1877 and, since they presumed that the Turkish Army would collapse at the very first blow, they sent only a small force of 15,000 men.

The Bulgarian people met the news of the Russo-Turkish War with great enthusiasm and actively took part. A Bulgarian military detachment called `Bulgarian Volunteers', consisting of 12 battalions 12,500-strong, joined the Russian Army. Hundreds of affiliated guerrilla detachments - with strengths ranging from several dozen to several hundred soldiers - were also mobilised. These were particularly efficient in dealing with communications and against small enemy contingents. Thousands of other Bulgarians enlisted in the Russian Army to help as reconnaissance officers, engineers of fortification facilities, medical orderlies, and suppliers.

In July, the leading Russian detachment with Bulgarian volunteer forces included in it, advanced as far as Stara Zagora - almost half-way to Constantinople. The troops who were to protect the western flank of the Russian army in Bulgaria suffered at the strategic fortress of Pleven, 60km south of the Danube. At that time the Turkish military forces, concentrated on the eastern flanks of the corridor occupied by the Russians, also grew unimpeded. Soon they outnumbered the Russians there three to one. Faced with no alternative but to succumb, the Russians and the Bulgarians withdrew to a position along the Balkan Range in the region of the Shipka Pass.

New Russian military formations were expected to arrive in Bulgaria but they needed time to get to the Shipka Pass. Everyone knew that the outcome of the war would be decided by the outcome of the battle at Shipka. If the Turkish army from southern Bulgaria succeeded in crossing over the Balkan Range and then joining one of the Turkish armies in northern Bulgaria, the Turkish command would heavily outnumber the Russian Army and the Russians would have to withdraw from Bulgaria.

In short, the liberation of Bulgaria was entirely dependent on the efficiency of the several thousand Bulgarian volunteers in keeping their positions at Shipka in those summer days. The Bulgarian volunteer detachment and only one Russian regiment remained on Shipka.

During the hot days of August 1877 epic battles took place on that mountain peak at the geographical intersection point of the Bulgarian lands. Supported by not very many Russians the Bulgarian volunteer detachment drove off dozens of frontal and flanking attacks by an enemy far superior in terms of manpower and equipment.

When the arms and ammunitions ran out, the volunteers used blank weapons to parry the attacks. In fierce man-to-man fighting they were using boulders, and even the bodies of dead soldiers as projectiles. During three hot August days the Bulgarian volunteers managed to keep their positions at the Shipka Pass.

A quick change of scene and reversal of the war occurred after the arrival of fresh Russian reinforcements. They took Pleven and, at the end of 1877, crossed the Balkan Mountains in a wide-ranging counter-offensive. Following battles at Sofia, Plovdiv and Sheinovo, the Ottoman military machinery was shattered.