A Guy Who Defeated Samurai
An interesting photo from the book "Montenegro Army 1896-1916", published this year in Serbia, written by Dusan Babac, Cedomir Vasic and Miladin Markovic, historians specialized in military history. The capture beside the image roughly translated:
Captain of Montenegro Army, Aleksandar "Lekso" Stajchic, in his parade uniform with epaulettes and sash. Sabre is Montenegro type M 1910 (Russian M 1909), with clump made of golden silk and a holster for suspension over right shoulder. This officer took part in Russo-Japanese war 1904 on Russian side. (Montenegro declared war to Japan in this war as an ally of Russia, and the most interesting fact was that the official "peace treaty" was signed among Montenegro and Japan only LAST YEAR! - which is even funnier having in mind that Montenegro, being a small half-a million people country in Balkan, is many thousand miles away from Japan - comment by I. Zdravkovic). During the Russo-Japanese war this officer accepted a challenge from Japanese officer-samurai and defeated him. (There is no mention how, but the unofficial story claims it was Montenegro sabre against samurai sword. Another source claims it was done with special army knife called "yatagan" - comment by I. Zdravkovic). For this outstanding victory, Montenegrin officer was decorated with highest Russian medals, so on his chest one can see medal of Saint Ana and Saint Stanislaw of 2nd order with swords of Saint Vladimir of 3rd order, Saint Ana and Saint Stanislaw's 3rd order medal, Russian medal for Wounded, medal of Italian Crown of the 4th order, Montenegro medals of Danilo The First (4th order), Silver medal for courage and Commemoration medal for 50th anniversary of reign of King Nicola.
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More on Russo-Japanese war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War
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Another mention of this duel:
" There was a Montenegrin contingent during the Russo-Japanese war of 1905. An interesting story from that war is of a old fashioned duel between an Montenegrin and Japanese officer (of Samurai heritage). They apparently fought on horseback and only with swords. The "Samurai" lost his head....litterally!"
Source:
http://www.slavija.proboards37.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=print&thread=1164822013