"Make up of Montenegrin army 1876...?" Topic

Can anyone let me have the make up of the Montenegrin army as the start of 1876..?

I heard a joke once about the make up of the Montenegrin army that went: 163 sheep hearders, twelve farmers and a goat.

However, in reality think by 1876, Montenegro had formed a regular army of its own counting thirty battalions of 800 men each [24,000 infantry soldiers] supplemented by a small contingent of light cavalry.. "Crisis of the Ottoman Empire 1839-1878" by James Reid p. 230

There is little information about about a specific order of battle or tactics for Montenegro army. The army of Montenegro battled used rifles and attacked with guerilla tactics for the most part, even in pitched battles.

That's all I know, other than they had cool outfits, when not actually uniforms.

This is from the Time Portal passages magazine special issue on the Balkan Wars. This is the 1912 OB. I have a list of battles in the 1870s and 1880s but I cannot find a significant battle using Montenegro forces.
Maybe Some skirmishes with Albanian warbands.

MONTENEGRO
Three Front Line Divisions (Primorje, Zeta and Easter) plus the Prekotara Division.
Primorje Division contained a total of 15 battalions and 34 guns. The Zeta Division had 13 battalions and 40 guns. The Easter Division had 14 battalions and 32 guns. The Prekotara Division which contained most of the independent volunteers had only two Brigades with 12 battalions and 24 guns. A total of 4 Infantry and 1 Cavalry divisions were fielded with 130 field guns, a total of 35,000 foot and 500 cavalry.
The Average Infantry Division contained two or three Infantry Brigades + one Cavalry Squadron + one or two artillery batteries (one field and one heavy) + a platoon of engineers.
The average Infantry Brigade contained four to six battalions + a Cavalry scout troop + mountain artillery battery + an engineer platoon + four Machine-guns. Battalion varied between 400- 800 men depending on the recruitment area. Companies were raised from the same clan or village.
The Maxim was the common machine-gun and was carried by pack animals. Infantry carried the 7.62mm Russian rifle and reserve units carried the 10mm Berdan.
Heavy Artillery four-gun batteries included 87mm howitzers and 240mm Italian mortars. Field and mountain batteries contained four 75mm Krupp guns.

MONTENEGRO Uniforms taken from a greek Uniform book
Flag was three horizontal bars of red over blue over white with a gold crown in the center.
Officers wore a Olive Drab or Field gray uniform based on Russian Officer uniforms of the era.
Enlisted Infantrymen : Artwork show an Olive Drab color but other narratives indicate a field-gray color. I prefer the Olive Drab option. The pants, coat, stockings, and cap were all the same olive drab color. The cap was a low pillbox (kilmarock style) with a rank/unit badge on the front. The shoes were black. The epaulets were in facings colors of infantry = scarlet, artillery = yellow, engineers = green, machinegunner = Light Blue.

Reserves and Irregular : They wore a traditional dress with the characteristic red pillbox cap. The artwork shows a man in mid-blue pants, multi-colored waist sash, heavily embroidered red vest and white stockings, shirt. Most of the clothing colors would vary between villages and clans.

Shipka,
There's a brief history of the Montenegrin army in Armies of the Balkan States, 1914-1918, by the (British) General Staff.

Prior to about 1850, the army consisted of undisciplined bands of tribesmen under local chieftains.

"The nucleus of a permanent corps was created by Peter II (1830-1851) who formed a bodyguard of picked men known as perianitzi from the feathers (pera) which adorned their caps. In 1853 Danilo I ordered the enrolment of all persons capable of bearing arms, and instituted a military hierarchy of voivodes (generals), sirdars (colonels) and kapetans. A further step in advance was made in 1870, when, with the help of Servian officers, the army was reorganized after the Servian model. Servia at that time presented to the Montenegrin government 5,000 rifles,1 mountain battery, and a certain quantity of ammunition. This organization, which stood the test of the Turkish war of 1876-1877, has undergone a gradual transformation under Prince Niicholas in conformity with the changed circumstances of the country and the requirements of modern warfare. The perianitzi were disbanded in 1898, when a bodyguard of picked men was formed and placed under the command of Prince Mirko, Prince Nicholas' second son."

Some later stuff that might shed some light:
Post 1906, the only units maintained during peacetime were:
1) A small guard for palace duties (they mention 50 men)
2) Staffs of two instructional infantry battalions
3) Staffs of two instructional artillery batteries
4) Staff of one instructional engineer company
5) A small, instructional medical detachment

Battalions were about 500 strong, and consisted of four companies of four sections each, with a captain and two lieutenants per company. Companies had 90-110 men, including a bugler and a standard bearer.

There's a list of artillery, most of which is too new to have taken part in the 1876 war. No guarantees that the other stuff was actually used in 1876, but here's the list:
There were 12 7.5cm Italian bronze mountain guns of unknown date, 14 9.0cm Italian Krupp guns, model 1876, six 8.0 cm Krupp guns captured from the Turks (doesn't say which war, 1876 or 1912). Finally, the seige artillery included 10 Model 1875 Italian Krupp 12 cm guns, six Model 1860 English 12 cm guns, two 10.5 cm Model 1875 Russian guns, and 22 undated Bronze Italian 15 cm mortars.

No cavalry in 1906, because the country was too mountainous to allow cavalry to deploy and maneuvre, but there were infantry detachments trained in scouting assigned to each brigade.

"As a general rule the heads of families and villages are non-commissioned officers, whilst persons of some local standing form the officer class. Commanders of battalions are drawn from the local magnates, and the brigadiers are heads of tribes or great families."

Some ranks:
Komandir--commander of a battalion or battery
Pod-komandir--2nd in command; major
Offitsir--commander of acompany
Pyeshak--lieutenant
Baryaktar--standard bearer
Vodnik--sergeant
Desetchar--corporal (commander of 10 men)
Voinik--private
Trubatch--bugler
Perianik--soldier of the Prince's guard

They list rank insignia (which may not date back to 1876) and decorations and orders, which frequently date back to the 1850s. I can send this, if you want.

Finally, the fictional detective Nero Wolfe served in the Montenegrin army in WWI; there might be some odds and ends there, if you like to read mysteries. Wikipedia says the author of the Wolfe stories drew his information on Montenegro from Louis Adamic's book, The Native's Return, and from conversations with Adamic.

Grelber

The census of all men of ages 16 to 60, who were under military obligation, determined the number at 16700.
In 1871, the army was reorganised into 23 regular battalions, 6 guard battalions and one battery.

Regular brigades were
- Katunska (with Njeguško-Cetinjski, Cucko-Ćeklićki, Čevsko-Bjelički and Komansko-Zagarački battalions)
- Hercegovačka (Grahovsko-Rudinski, Pješivački, Župsko-Lukovački, Drobnjački)
- Bjelopavlićka (Martinićko-Brajovićki, Petrušinski, Pavkovićko-Vražegrmski, Lješanski)
- Pipersko-Bratonožićko-Rovačka (Piperski, Bratonžićki, Rovački)
- Moračko-Vasojevićka (Donjomorački, Donjomorački, Lijevorečki, Kraljski)
- Riječko-Crmnička (Ceklinski, Ljubotinjski, Gornjocrmnički, Donjocrmnički)

Also, each of the brigades formed a 500 men strong guard battalion, and they gathered into the 7th Guard brigade.

Battalions had companies, platoons and halfplatoons. Battalions were commanded by komandir, and his deputy was podkomandir (subcommander) Companies were also commanded by officers, and platoons and halfplatoons by vodnik (sergeant) and desečar (lets say decurion). All the commanders had had completed some military education.

Battalions and companies had trumpeters and companies had a standardbearer with two desečars as his deputies and 4 soldiers accompanying them.