Revolutionary Georgi Obretenov

Georgi Tihov Obretenov was born after 1849 in Ruse and was Baba Tonka Obretenova's youngest son. He graduated from the class school in Ruse and helped his father with his trading business in the village of Isaccea in northern Dobruja. In the spring of 1870 he entered the cadet school in Odesa.

In 1875 he returned to Ruse in connection with preparations for the uprising. He joined a detachment organised in Veliko Tarnovo. After the failure of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875, he was sent to Romania.

The Giurgiu Committee sent him as assistant apostle to Ilarion Dragostinov and military instructor in the Second Sliven Revolutionary District during the April Uprising. He crossed to Sliven, supporting the uprising with weapons and revolutionary materials.

With the assistance of committee activists, he reached Sliven and joined the insurgent group led by Ilarion Dragostinov. Overcoming their tactical differences, the apostles gave new impetus to preparations in Sliven.

As a military instructor, Georgi Obretenov supplied modern rifles and encouraged the acquisition of arms. He arrived in Sliven with the leader of the local committee, Georgi Kolev, and supported the uprising in the Sliven district.

Despite the small number of insurgents, the leaders decided to carry out the plan to tour the mountain villages and raise them in revolt. In the first major battle against Ottoman irregulars and regular troops, Georgi Obretenov died defending his comrades and delaying the enemy attack. On 10 May 1876, realising the severity of his wounds, he took his own life.