Battle of Cherenets

The Battle of Cherenets took place on 3 August 1944, a clash between Bulgarian police and gendarmerie on one side and fighters of the communist People's Liberation Insurgent Army on the other. It occurred during the partisan movement in Bulgaria. The movement itself formed part of the resistance to the countries of the Tripartite Pact. It lasted from 24 June 1941 to 9 September 1944 and was organised by the Bulgarian Revolutionary Party (BRP). This period was characterised by active partisan operations and terrorist attacks against state authority in Bulgaria. The partisans aimed to establish workers' and peasants' rule and a dictatorship of the proletariat. A wartime regime was already in force in the country, described as a "monarchical totalitarian regime", an "authoritarian monarchical regime" or a "monarchical dictatorship".

In the historic locality of Cherenets, above Zlogosh village, the Police Directorate organised an ambush involving a group of four partisans in which Emil Shekerdzhiyski played an important role. The site had been occupied in advance by police officers and gendarmes disguised as a hunting party, with the principal aim of physically eliminating Shekerdzhiyski, an active participant in the country's communist movement.

The Battle of Cherenets is remembered as a victory for the police. All the partisans were killed in the fighting: Emil Shekerdzhiyski, Stoyan Ludev, Stoyan Stoimenov and Krum Zarev. During the People's Republic of Bulgaria, a memorial complex was erected in 1974 at the place where Shekerdzhiyski and the other partisans died. After 10 November 1989, the local Bulgarian Socialist Party organisation in Kyustendil regularly commemorated the day with ceremonial events.