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A Montenegrin who defeated a Japanese samurai

Aleksandar Lekso Saicic lived at the end of the 19th century. An incredible story is recorded from his life about how he once defeated a samurai in a duel.

**Where did the samurai in the story of the Montenegrin come from?** At the beginning of his career, Aleksandar Saicic was an adjutant of the Vasojevic Brigade. However, the Balkans soon became small for him. He first went to Istanbul, and then to Manchuria, where he joined the Russian army and received the rank of lieutenant. There he was caught in the Russo-Japanese war in 1904. Before the end of the war in distant Manchuria, Aleksandar Saicic got the opportunity to prove and show himself once again. There, the news was waiting for him that the Japanese emperor was looking for someone who would go out on the square to the famous and undefeated samurai. The Russian generals were in shock. It was the 20th century. Did anyone else respect that long-forgotten and, it was considered, outdated tradition? Still, rejecting the request would mean admitting defeat. And again, when to send in a duel against an experienced and in fencing surely the most powerful samurai? It so happened that the commander of the Russian army was looking for a volunteer who would come out on the line to the Japanese fighter. Aleksandar Lekso Saicic was among the first to apply. He received permission and apparently went to the battlefield in front of the great imperial armies. **A duel from a fairy tale** Eyewitness stories say that the duel was strong, and watching it is almost unreal. Both fighters bumped into each other in a flash, receiving blows and alternately repelling. The fight between the samurai and the Montenegrin was a fight between two ways of warfare, a conflict of two traditions that can only be seen today in historical films. At one point, a samurai brushed against Aleksandar Saicic's face. Thinking that the Montenegrin was finished, the Japanese fighter launched an open attack. At that moment, Saicic escaped, waved his sword and cut down the samurai. Leaving the battlefield, Aleksandar Saicic paid tribute to the killed fighter, bowing to the body. His victory inflicted a great moral defeat on the Japanese army, which watched Megdan intently. On the other hand, Saicic was greeted as a great hero, and there was general celebration and joy in the ranks of the Russian army.

**What happened to Aleksandar Saicic?** Congratulations on the victory to Saicic came from all Russian generals, but also from the admiral of the Japanese fleet of Togo, who was amazed by the skill and demonstrated chivalry of the Montenegrin hero. The saber with which Aleksandar Lekso Saicic defeated the samurai is kept today in the Military Museum in Moscow. After the Russo-Japanese war in which, ironically, Russia was defeated, Aleksandar Lekso Saicic returned to his native Montenegro and to military service. He died in 1911 from the consequences of jumping from the second floor of the burning royal court in Cetinje. The story goes that he saved the rich treasury that was there. **He was a knight, a fighter and a hero to the end.** I hope you liked this text about the Montenegrin hero! I salute you! Your @MarijaJak 18.11.2020.

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