Medical expertise shows as the Apostle of Freedom was wounded by a bullet and what are the consequences
At the moment of his capture, Vasil Levski’s life began to end.
Therefore, his behavior from shackling to hanging needs to be analyzed in terms of his health.
So, just like the Pazi Bridge study, I needed an expert again. And again, after Assoc. Prof. Sarafov, I came across the most suitable one – Prof. Yovcho Topalov, Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Major General of the Reserve.
As a military doctor, he has extensive experience with gunshot wounds, but is also well acquainted with the literature on Levski. His conclusion is clear:
The apostle was severely wounded in the head, twice in the same area. First, while fleeing the inn, a bullet hit the area of his left ear and tangentially injured the skull bones. In the ensuing struggle, Zaptie swung a knife and cut off the upper part of the Apostle’s left ear.
It is the medical aspect of the capture that helps to completely refute the thesis that Levski is to blame for it.
Proponents of this thesis point out with some special pleasure how, according to various testimonies, when jumping over the fence of a stake, either Levski’s “pants” or “navuchata” got hooked, he hung helplessly upside down and the running guards almost drove him crazy. knit and caught him alive.
This description
even more
“Lands”
Apostle
because it deprives the event of heroism.
However, it is not true. “Can Levski not jump over a fence!” Exclaims Prof. Topalov.
Ivan Drasov describes the wounds during the capture as follows: “When Levski was about to flee, a Turkish policeman blew up against him and hit him in the ear. . ”
A similar description is contained in a letter from Yordanka Filaretova: “Finally, when they managed to injure him on the right side of his head (left), then he felt dizzy and fell half dead in the hands of enemies.”
In 1885 there was an idea to place Levski’s bones under the monument under construction.
In order to be traced in the cemetery and identified, Hristo Kovachev, a member of the commission for the construction of the monument, wrote a report and noted:
“The bone of Levski’s head behind his right (left) ear was destroyed by a bullet that pierced him during his unfortunate capture by the Turkish authorities.”
According to Prof. Topalov, a gunshot wound to the ear, eye and skull due to the great proximity of the brain is accompanied by varying degrees of brain damage.
He writes:
Modern studies of field surgery and traumatology of gunshot wounds to the head confirm that they are accompanied by subarachnoid hemorrhage of the brain and brain contusion to varying degrees.
Injury also leads to impaired brain function. Starting with obnubulation (the lightest degree of concussion – concussion) and ending with severe concussion or concussion. They are clinically manifested with confusion, incoordination, short-term loss of consciousness and short-term retrograde amnesia.
Thus it becomes clear why the “confused” Levski was captured. His companion Nikola Tsvyatkov also testified to this “confusion”: “The apostle was confused and could not explain exactly how he was captured.”
But his actions immediately afterwards prove that he quickly came to his senses.
First, he secretly took out his desk in the name of Little Dobri Koinov from Lovech and swallowed it. This is how he saved the young man from arrest.
Then he secretly took the seal of the organization out of his pocket and threw it in the mints of a Bulgarian woman who came for water at the tap, where he washed his face from the blood from the wound.
The fact that Levski was not able to walk back to Lovech shows that Levski was seriously injured. Especially for him, the loss wants from the mayor of Kakrina a cart and a horse in which
Levski has been uploaded
together with the wounded
from him onbashiya
The other two detainees were tied to a cart to walk past her.
A second argument that the wound is severe is the medical care provided for Levski in Lovech, Tarnovo, Pleven, Orhanie and Sofia.
Dr. Stat Antonov was admitted to the Apostle in Tarnovo. He tied him up and was the last Tarnovo resident to communicate with him.
Levski was taken to Sofia “sick and dropped out”. So the guards took him out of the car. In turn, military doctors found that “the Comite leader has dropped out and has a high temperature.” They conclude that Levski “cannot be summoned to court” because he could not stand on his feet.
In addition, his head was “swollen and the wounded man suffers from insomnia, which darkens his mind.” During the interrogation he did not stand up, but was handed a chair to sit on. His head is bandaged.
Dr. Hristo Stambolski quotes a story by Hadji Ivancho Hadjipencovic, a member of the Sofia court:
These words testify that the Apostle’s wound was in fact fatal. That is why his death turned out to be quite similar to the death of Stefan Karadzha.
He also fell badly wounded in a battle with the enslaver, and the Turks attacked him and captured him. He was also driven in a cart in serious condition to Tarnovo and then to Ruse.
And like Vasil Levski in Sofia, Stefan Karadja was tried half-dead by a tribunal and sentenced to death by hanging. Dying in a very similar way and as martyrs, the two national heroes give each other even more greatness.
This text is from the book “The Traitors of Levski” by our colleague Rosen Yankov. He died on December 20, 2021.
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