During the First World War, Serbian Royalists began invading Albania to seize the coast line. During the occupation, the Serbian army committed numerous crimes against the Albanian population. After the Treaty of London and the French never arriving to pick up the troops from the coast, the Royalists began to retreat through the mountains (Albanska golgota). A battalion of 37 Royalist approached Vešala. As the Royalists had razed many of the villages to the ground during the occupation, the Albanians of Vešala, seeing the Royalists approaching from the bottom of the mountain, ambushed them. After bounding them, the Royalists were pushed off Guri Gjatë (Long rock), a natural landmark of the Šar Mountains, and plunged to their deaths.