“In order to be secret, both the preparation of the detachment and its embarkation on the steamer, the boys dispersed to the Danube-side towns: Oltenitsa, Giurgiu, Zimnich, Turnu Magureli…. They kept the secret universal.
The ports of the flock
“In order to be secret, both the preparation of the detachment and its embarkation on the steamer, the boys dispersed to the Danube-side towns: Oltenitsa, Giurgiu, Zimnich, Turnu Magureli…. They kept the secret universal. But the real secret: the plan for the detachment to cross to the Bulgarian coast, was known only to Botev, its commander, and two or three of his comrades.”- writes Ivan Vazov on the preparation of Botev’s detachment.
The need to keep the intentions secret is obvious, which is why a limited number of people are privy to the plot to capture the Radetzky and have the detachment debark on the Kozloduy coast. Many of the Chetniks actually think they are traveling to Serbia, and most of them have never seen their voivode. Dressed as ordinary travellers and without giving any pretense of knowing each other, all the groups of Chetniks, together with the weapons, ammunition and uniforms hidden in chests and suitcases, boarded the train from Giurgiu, Zimnich, Turnu Mugurele, Korabia and Beket.
“And that’s how cleverly the plan was made,” reports the Chetnik Spas Sokolov, “a few boys and weapons were picked up at each port. If the plan had been devised so that we should all embark from one port, it was natural that we should arouse suspicion and suspicion in the captain of the vapor, who could easily betray us to the Turks as early as Ruse or Nikopol. But whose head, whose mind was cutting this? The inimitable genius of Boteva!”
