Heroes of Serbia - Memory Eternal

WWI Serbia / The Serbian Golgotha 1915/1916 / Srpska Golgota / "Where the Yellow Lemon Blooms" / "Gde Cveta Limun Zut"

2010-03-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

A remarkable historical documentary, with a combination of historical and modern footage and actors, produced by Kosutnjak Film, tells the story of the amazing Serbian Golgotha of 1915/1916 during World War One. The film has been posted on YouTube in 11 parts. All 11 parts can be viewed below. The narration is in the Serbian language with English subtitles.

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Kosutnjak Film presents...

Gde Cveta Limun Zut // Where the Yellow Lemon Blooms

2008

Produced by:

Zoran Jankovic
Slobodan Terzic

Screenplay by

Milovan Vitezovic
Zdravko Shotra

Narrated by Dragan Nikolic

Part 1 of 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BT2Ry2_bok

Part 2 of 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yzm22n7ZQA

Part 3 of 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nga-vEkLnlM

Part 4 of 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrYFec9uCY

Part 5 of 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx6Hul__ZlQ

Part 6 of 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFGJksUTlak

Part 7 of 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20uyjhsO_Y4

Part 8 of 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYl0d_JfPVo

Part 9 of 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4kz7KrDSo4

Part 10 of 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnCPYkfuu-M

Part 11 of 11

The Conclusion of

"Where the Yellow Lemon Blooms"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIBS4V86gEs

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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SERBIAN ORTHODOX HOLY LITURGY / SVETA LITURGIJA

2010-02-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

The following beautiful video was posted on "YouTube" by "xCZ99x"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSxFU3bszzg

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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"World War One in Serbia" / "Prvi svetski rat u Srbiji" - An 8 part series on "YouTube"

2010-02-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

Alex, my Serbian friend in Belgrade has made me aware of this wonderful 8 part series on "YouTube" called "World War One in Serbia" ("Prvi svetski rat u Srbiji"), posted by "Radeta".

This series is comprised of both live footage and photos. It is narrated in the English language with Serbian subtitles in "Latinica".

My friend said this about "World War One in Serbia" and I concur wholeheartedly:

"Below is a MUST SEE movie about Serbia in World War One. In English, with Serbian subtitles. I love my little, but proud and freedom loving country. FOR SERBS, FREEDOM HAS NO PRICE. The unimaginable suffering of Serbia in WW 1 and its astonishing sacrifice for freedom is UNPARALLELED IN HUMAN HISTORY. In 1918, the Serbian flag flew over the White House as a sign of American gratitude. That, my friends, was the glorious Kingdom of Serbia!"

Thank you, Alex! And thank you "Radeta" for sharing this with the world! Glorious indeed!

Sincerely,

Aleksandra Rebic

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Part 1 of 8 / "World War One in Serbia" / "Prvi svetski rat u Srbiji"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eODLtDz4IM

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Part 2 of 8 / "World War One in Serbia" / "Prvi svetski rat u Srbiji"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSVjLcjSHq4

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Part 3 of 8 / "World War One in Serbia" / "Prvi svetski rat u Srbiji"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBrKAH51sYg

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Part 4 of 8 / "World War One in Serbia" / "Prvi svetski rat u Srbiji"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USuxRwJmyJw

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Part 5 of 8 / "World War One in Serbia" / "Prvi svetski rat u Srbiji"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvGeWbdsvK4

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Part 6 of 8 / "World War One in Serbia" / "Prvi svetski rat u Srbiji"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMbb1dYhWE4

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Part 7 of 8 / "World War One in Serbia" / "Prvi svetski rat u Srbiji"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPzvPsI4lXw

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Part 8 of 8 / "World War One in Serbia" / "Prvi svetski rat u Srbiji"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJzDOVZzoHk

THE END.

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Thank you for visiting. If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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Dr. Elizabeth Ross - the Scottish saint of Serbia

2010-02-10T14:11:00.001-07:00

By Emma Cowing

The Scotsman

February 5, 2010

Photo of Dr. Elizabeth Ross

courtesy of Glasgow University Archive Services

JUST AFTER 11am on St Valentine's Day, a long procession of official cars will wind its way through the main street of the Serbian town of Kragujevac towards the city cemetery.

At the gate the occupants, expected to include Stephen Wordsworth, the British Ambassador to Serbia, and the town mayor Veroljub Stevanovic, will disembark and make their way towards one of the snow-covered graves to pay their respects. The grave is distinctive not only because it marks the resting place of three young women, but because some of the words on it are in English. On the largest, the headstone reads 'Here lies Dr Elizabeth Ross'. Underneath in Serbian, it says: 'They gave their hearts to the people of Serbia'.

It is 95 years since Ross, a doctor from Tain and one of the first women in Scotland to gain a medical degree, died of typhus in a military hospital in Kragujevac, where she had been treating Serb First World War casualties. Yet today, her name in Serbia is a byword for courage and bravery, emblazoned upon street signs, taught to schoolchildren, and celebrated every 14 February – the anniversary of her death – in numerous similar ceremonies across Serbia.

"She sacrificed herself for them," says Louise Miller, a writer who has extensively researched Ross's life, and those of other women like her who chose to travel to the frontline from Britain during the First World War. "The Serbs just think that a sacrifice like that is worth remembering."

Ross was born in Tain in 1878 into a progressive, adventurous family. Her father was a banker and her brother, David, worked for many years in Japan with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. She had four sisters, one of whom was a professor of maths and science who spent many years in India, another who was a secretary for an explosives company in Glasgow, and a third who was also a qualified doctor, working in York. The fourth became a farmer.

Ross's 86-year-old niece Edith Ross, who lives quietly in Tain surrounded by the memories of her extraordinary family, says they were remarkably modern for the times.

"Elizabeth's parents were very broadminded," she says. "They believed in women having the same chance of education as men. My mother, who ran a poultry farm, was the only one of the women in the family to get married. The rest were very focused on their careers."

After school, Ross went to Queen Margaret College in Glasgow to study medicine. She graduated in 1901, one of the first women in the country to do so.

"She was pioneering in that respect because you had to be incredibly strong-willed to get a medical degree at the time if you were a woman," says Miller. "Women weren't permitted access to clinical studies, they were segregated from the men, and a lot of the teachers didn't even believe they should be taught in the first place."

After her graduation, Ross worked briefly as a doctor in Tain, before becoming the medical officer for the island of Colonsay. But her family's adventurous spirit clearly ran in her veins, and she was soon on her way to Persia – now Iran – where she worked as an assistant to an Armenian physician. While there she spent time in the Iranian mountains working with the powerful Bakhtiara tribe, who were so impressed with her they made her a chieftainess. Edith still has a photograph of her aunt dressed in the traditional ceremonial dress, smoking a long hookah.

"Part of her job was to be a doctor to a harem of women," says Edith with a giggle. "She really liked the women and they just adored her."

Returning to Scotland for a break, Ross caught sight of a newspaper advert looking for a ship's surgeon. "The ship was going to India and Japan so she applied for this post, got it, and off she went," says Edith.

She is now believed to have been the world's first female ship's surgeon, and although Ross is thought to have loved it ("She sent the family short postcards," says Edith, "she never said too much") there was something about Persia that drew her back, and she returned to work there just before the outbreak of the First World War in September 1914.

"There was a desperate need for doctors and nurses in Serbia at the outset of the war," says Miller. "The country only had 400 doctors and most of them had been allocated to the military. Serbia was the first country to be attacked by Austro-Hungary and the hospitals were full of wounded Serbians and Austro-Hungarians. It was an absolutely desperate situation."

With other projects such as the Scottish Womens Hospitals, which were travelling to the region at the same time, just getting up and running, Ross felt she had to do what she could to help. "Elizabeth heard of the need and left Persia as soon as she could," says Miller. "She borrowed money from an old servant in order to make the trip."

When she arrived in late January 1915, she immediately volunteered to go and work in a typhus hospital in Kragujevac, rather than a Scottish Womens Hospital which had been set up not far away.

"She knew she really hadn't much of a chance of surviving because typhus was rife and they didn't know at that time what caused it," says Edith.

"The place was in a dreadful mess when she arrived and there were no nurses. They would put two single beds together and put three patients in them. Some of the nurses from the Scottish Womens Hospital came to visit her and said 'Dr Ross, I don't know how you can bear to work here', and she just said 'well, somebody's got to do it'. "

In the end, she survived less than three weeks. "She was probably bitten by one of the women she walked onto the ward," says Miller.

Ross died on 14 February 1915. She was 37 years old. For many years, she was remembered quietly, both by her family and by those in Serbia whom she had helped. Then, in 1977, the local Red Cross in Kragujevac was given some money, and decided to use it to restore Ross's grave. She is buried next to two British nurses who also died in Serbia of typhus, Mabel Dearmer and Lorna Ferriss. Altogether, 22 British women lost their lives to typhus in Serbia during the First World War, attempting to aid wounded soldiers.

In the early 1980s, after the graves had been restored, the town started holding commemorations at the graveside, and over the years they began to gather momentum, attracting bigger crowds, and becoming an important date in the town's calendar. Meanwhile similar celebrations started to spring up across Serbia.

"What is really quite remarkable is that even during the NATO bombings they continued doing it, and it just got bigger and bigger," says Miller. The ceremony now attracts hundreds every year, including a wealth of local dignitaries. The youth movement of the local Red Cross is now the Dr Elizabeth Ross Society, and every year its members attend the ceremony wearing T-shirts with Ross's graduation picture emblazoned on the front. Elsewhere in the town there is even an Elizabeth Ross Street. It is a remarkable canonisation for a woman who felt she was just doing her job.

"The Serbs admire her for her remarkable courage," says Miller. "She went into this military hospital to take over six typhus wards in the full knowledge that she would probably die just a few weeks later. The majority of people in Serbia have had a really tough time of it and Elizabeth's story is a thread that links them to their remarkable history. And it's a history they hope for as well – working hand in hand with their allies."

This 14 February, before the Orthodox priest starts to chant and sprinkle incense over the grave, and a poignant reading of the Lord's Prayer – in English – is given, Miller will give a talk at the ceremony about Ross, and the other women who came to the frontline to treat wounded Serbs. "It's one of these things I think will just continue to get bigger," she says. "These ceremonies happen across Serbia, this is just the biggest one."

Meanwhile, Edith, who is now too old too travel to Serbia, will be at home in Tain. She has created an album of pictures and writings about Ross, and often flips through it.

"She was exceptionally intelligent and very, very brave," says Edith. "She had a real sense of adventure."

Recently, some of the Serbs responsible for the ceremony commemorating her famous aunt asked Edith if she wanted to attend the celebrations.

She laughs. "I said no. I had to explain I wasn't quite as brave as my Aunt Elizabeth."

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http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Dr-Elizabeth-Ross--the.6045806.jp

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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The British pay Tribute to the Serbs - The Guardians of the Gate

2010-01-24T13:37:00.035-07:00

Aleksandra’s Note: “The Serbs - The Guardians of the Gate” by R.G.D. Laffan is an old, wonderful book that documents the views of a Briton on the Serbians. Originally published in England in 1918, the book was also published in 1989 in the United States by Dorset Press, New York, a division of Marboro Books Corporation. The 1989 publication, which was given to me as a gift by the late Professor Alex Dragnich in 1994, does not contain the original Foreword written by Vice-Admiral E. T. Troubridge, C.B., C.M.G. that was included in the 1918 publication. I wanted to include that Foreword by E.T. Troubridge here.

In researching the history of the Serbians, the “old” books, now often out of print but still available if you search for them, are invaluable. Given the particularly volatile relationship the Serbs have had with the British over the years, it’s important to consider just how highly the Brits regarded the Serbs BEFORE the poison of Communism and political expediency entered into and compromised that relationship.

R.G.D. Laffan was one of several Britons who publicly shared their experiences with the Serbs in World War One and documented them in print. I’m very grateful that they did so, because what they had to say was from the heart and reflects an image of the Serbians as the people and the heroes that they really were.

Aleksandra Rebic
January 24, 2010

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THE SERBS - THE GUARDIANS OF THE GATE

Oxford University Press
London Edinburgh Glasgow New Tork
Toronto Melbourne Cape Town Bombay
Humphrey Milford Publisher to the University
1918

HISTORICAL LECTURES ON THE SERBS
BY R. G. D. LAFFAN, C.F.

FELLOW OF QUEENS' COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

WITH A FOREWORD BY VICE-ADMIRAL E. T. TROUBRIDGE C.B., C.M.G.

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

1918
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FOREWORD by Vice-Admiral E.T. Troubridge

"The Serbians are a people but little known in Great Britain. This extremely interesting book by the Rev. R. G. D, Laffan, C.F. will, I am confident, help our nation to understand them better, and, in understanding, to appreciate the sterling qualities that underlie their national character.

I have lived among the Serbians during the past three years, in days, and under circumstances, which encourage the revelation of every human attribute: in the days immediately following their first success, when they triumphantly flung out of Serbia the 'Punitive expedition' of their powerful neighbour and relentless enemy: in long and weary days of tenacious defence: in the days of overwhelming and treacherous attack upon them, with hope of succour growing less and less: in days of terrible marches in a fighting retreat through their beloved country under moral and physical conditions surely never paralleled in the history of any nation: in the days of regeneration of all that was left of them: and finally in days of eager and reckless fighting to regain that which they had lost. The qualities which they have displayed throughout these fateful years should especially appeal to the inhabitants of our Empire.

A love of freedom and country as deeply implanted as our own. A loyalty to friends that does not falter under the greatest temptation, and a chivalry so innate that hundreds of our countrywomen could walk hundreds of miles through a great army in a harassed retreat, through a fleeing peasantry in a disorganized and strange land, and yet fear no evil.

From such experiences a judgment can be formed; I permit myself, with the Serbians, to believe in a Serbia great and flourishing in the future, pursuing her national development and ideals in peace and quietness, bound to
Great Britain in the closest ties of friendship, and once more — as for centuries past — holding the gate of freedom of life, of freedom of thought, against the sinister forces of moral enslavement.

Serbia has indeed well and bravely answered the great question He asked: 'What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?'"

E. T. Troubridge
1918

_______________________

PREFACE to

“The Serbs – The Guardians of the Gate”

by R.G.D. Laffan, C.F.

"To pass away the winter evenings in the early months of 1917 I gave a series of lectures on modern Serbian history to the scattered companies of the A.S.C. (M.T.), who are attached to the Serbian Army. Many of the men of the companies showed great interest in the subject, and, as we approached the end of the course, a number of them asked me to publish the lectures. So I have written the following chapters from the lecture-notes, intending them primarily as a souvenir for those who are now with the Serbs, but also in the hope that they may serve to spread sympathy for our heroic but little-known allies.

The title, “The Guardians of the Gate”, is borrowed from a phrase applied to the Serbs by several speakers, in particular by Mr. Lloyd George [British Prime Minister] in his speech on August 8. It is a summary of the services which the Serbs have always done their best to render to Christendom : for their country is, indeed, one of the gateways of civilized Europe. Despite their unhappy divisions and their weakness in numbers they have never ceased to struggle against the barbarisms of Turkestan and Berlin, which at different times have threatened to overflow the Western nations and the Mediterranean lands.

The lectures did not attempt a detailed survey of even recent years, and their publication may seem superfluous in view of the number of books lately produced on Balkan topics. Yet attention in England has been so largely and naturally directed to the west of Europe and to Russia that it is still possible to encounter the most complete ignorance of the Eastern Question. There are many who have a working knowledge of the great nations of Europe who still could scarcely distinguish between a Sandjak and a Dardanelle, or say off-hand whether the Balkan peoples were Christians or worshippers of Mumbo Jumbo. And the history of south- eastern Europe in the present century is so obscure in its details that there is much excuse for those who could not be bothered to understand it. Yet the vital interests of the British Empire are so bound up with the Near East that every effort should be made to present British readers with facts on which an opinion may be based. Not that it is yet possible to write the history of such recent years or of so complicated a subject with the scientific and impartial accuracy of the true historian. For that we must wait until the dust of conflict has cleared and the passions of the moment have subsided. Meanwhile, these lectures are offered as a provisional and tentative examination of the triumphs, disasters, and ambitions of the Serbs.

The chief difficulty in the way of gathering historical material during a campaign in the uplands of Macedonia consists in the lack of books. Especially has this been true of books giving the views of our enemies. However, I have read everything upon which I could lay my hands, and the lack of printed matter has been perhaps, to some extent, balanced by the advantage of meeting with and questioning numerous Serbian officers and others who know the Balkans well..."

R. G. D. LAFFAN

Head-quarters,
M.T. Units with Royal Serbian Army,
British Salonika Force.
September 19, 1917

INTRODUCTION TO THE LECTURES
AS DELIVERED BY R.G.D. LAFFAN

"When we arrived at Salonika last summer, most of us were entirely ignorant of the Balkan peninsula. Since then we have lived and worked in Macedonia, and I believe that you have formed no very high opinion of the country; which is not surprising when we remember that it has been the most troubled and insecure part of the Balkans for the last forty years. We are still more than vague about the inhabitants, the states, the economic condition and the history of the peninsula. But one thing we have all learned. We have been in close touch with the Serbian soldier, and we admire and love him. He has been a revelation to us of the charm of a people very unlike ourselves.

In the past most Englishmen, who have spoken to me about the Balkans, have expressed very decided views. Nine out of ten have said that all the Balkan nations were as bad as each other; that, as between Turks and Christians, it was six of one and half-a-dozen of the other; that all were savages and cut-throats and past praying for. The tenth man has usually been a philanthropic crank, who would only see good points in his own pet Balkan nation, and who wished to make it by industrialization and party politics into an imitation of Great Britain.

Now, when we return to England, we shall, at any rate, be in a position to declare that we found one Balkan race, the Serbs, to consist of the best of fellows. Our companies have had Serbs attached to them, as guards or drivers, and very sorry we were when they were withdrawn. Though most of us could not say anything to them except 'Dobro' (‘Good’), we managed to understand them, and to make ourselves understood. They were always cheerful, kindly, helpful, with a skill in many handicrafts that made camp-life more comfortable for themselves and us. And I think we may flatter ourselves that they liked us and our ways, and found the British character sympathetic with their own.

But, though first-hand acquaintance with some Serbs is essential to any knowledge of the people, I believe that you would like also to understand something of the nation's past and of the mental background from which the Serbs view the world. It is for that reason that I have undertaken to deliver these lectures. They will deal with the history of the Serbs in recent times; because it is impossible to understand the characteristics and point of view of a people, especially a people so nationalist and traditionalist as the Serbs, apart from their history…

…It will be necessary throughout to remember that the Serbs look back with pride to the great days of their independence in the Middle Ages, and to their empire which once embraced the whole Balkan peninsula, except southern Greece and the coast-towns.

They were a great people six hundred years ago. Never have they been more glorious than in their present humiliation, exile, and disruption. But, please God, that spiritual glory which encircles them to-day will soon be expressed in the 'outward and visible signs' of material greatness, and they will again take their place among the mighty nations of the earth."

R.G.D. Laffan

"The Serbs - The Guardians of the Gate"

1918

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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In honor of Sveti Jovan Krsna Slava (St. John the Baptist) / "We Magnify Thee, O Lifegiver Christ" by the Valaam Choir

2010-01-20T07:32:00.001-07:00

In honor of this day, January 20th, 2010, which is the Serbian Orthodox Krsna Slava of Sveti Jovan (St. John the Baptist), I'm sharing this beautiful Serbian Chant, We Magnify Thee, O Lifegiver Christ, sung by the St. Petersburg Valaam Metochion Choir at the St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, D.C. in 2002. Sveti Jovan was the Krsna Slava of my beloved maternal grandparents, Andja and Timotije, my Baka and Deka.

Enjoy.

Aleksandra Rebic

We Magnify Thee, O Lifegiver Christ

Posted by "gtrubetskoy" on "You Tube" at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh_kanfUmVE

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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"Siege of the Moles" // How a Christian Serb helped save Vienna from the Moslem Turks

2010-01-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

By John Godwin

MILITARY HISTORY, October 2001

"Siege of the Moles"

The high tide of Ottoman expansion to the west saw the Turks burrowing underground in an attempt to take Vienna.

They had swept down from the steppes of Turkestan in Central Asia, calling themselves the Ottoman Turks. And during that chill, rainy summer of 1529, they represented the gravest peril Europe had faced in a thousand years, worse even than Attila’s Huns in the 5th century. Attila’s hordes had been barbarian primitives - these new invaders were more advanced and sophisticated than the Western nations in many dangerous ways, particularly in the military sphere.

Named after their first sultan, Osman, the Ottoman Turks settled in what is now Anatolia, in Asia Minor. At a glance they seemed no different from other tribes of wild horsemen in that region. But the Turks possessed two outstanding attributes that made them natural conquerors: They were excellent administrators, and they were very fast learners. The first enabled them to absorb neighboring peoples. The second gave them a rapid grasp of whatever sciences into which they came in contact - engineering, architecture, medicine, astronomy and the use of gunpowder.

In the 14th century, the Turks crossed the Dardanelles Strait into Europe and proceeded to overrun the entire Balkan Peninsula. Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians and Albanians all came under their domination. And in the process they created what was probably the most remarkable armed force in history.

The Turks were fervent Muslims. But they allowed Christians and Jews in their realm complete freedom of worship, providing they paid a special head tax imposed on all “infidels.” The bitterly poor mountain folk of the Balkans had no money for taxes, so they were charged a “blood tribute” instead. This consisted of the biggest and strongest adolescent boys from each village, who were taken to the capital to become personal slaves of the sultan. What they actually became were janissaries (“new troops”).

The boys, who had grown up in miserable shacks and reared on dry bread and onions, were housed in palaces with carpeted floors and marble bathing pools, with the choicest delicacies as daily rations. Their filthy, verminous rags were exchanged for silken robes. As the Venetian traveler Marcus Stinetti wrote: “Those youths whom I chanced to address believed they had entered paradise by accepting slavery.”

But there was a reverse side to all this luxury. The young men were placed under the harshest possible military discipline and put through staged exercises nearly as fierce as actual battles. Every drill left dead bodies on the parade ground; the slightest show of hesitation was savagely punished. Within months the janissary recruits were turned into robots who would march in ranks over a cliff if ordered.

Though the boys were not compelled to change their religion, they soon learned that conversion to Islam might earn them unlimited promotions - all the way up to commanding general or grand vizier (prime minister). Slavery was no obstacle. They filled most government positions and often grew into fabulously rich slave owners themselves. Most of them converted readily and became more fanatical Muslims than the Turks.

The janissaries were so proud of their superior rations that they used cooking utensils as badges of rank and cauldrons instead of regimental standards. They also adopted a peculiar type of martial music: rolling drums accompanied by shrill, wailing flutes. This was the origin of the fife and drum bands, which Western armies later copied. By the 15th century, those sounds evoked sheer terror, even from a long distance, because the janissaries committed unspeakable atrocities among civilian populations. They were kept away from women in peacetime and forced to live like military monks, but campaigns meant freedom to do anything, especially to unbelievers. The results were mass rapes of young girls and boys, torture, massacres and the systematic devastation of entire countrysides. The sight of the blue tunics and tall, white woolen hats of the janissaries resulted in panicked flight wherever they appeared.

With these new soldiers, Turkey possessed the only regular standing army of the period, and an elite force at that. European countries still depended on mercenaries who had to be raised for every campaign, or feudal levies that were notoriously unreliable. The janissaries were all infantry, but to support them, the Turks built up an artillery arm such as the world had never before seen.

In 1453, the Turks moved on Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire and the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church - the “Second Rome.” Its citizens fought desperately while the Turkish guns pounded their walls to rubble, sending out frantic pleas for help to all Christian nations. None came - they were too busy warring among themselves to respond. Constantinople fell, and the sultan rode his blood-spattered horse into the venerable cathedral of St. Sophia, to proclaim the city his new capital - today’s Istanbul.

From then on, the Ottoman Empire spread with the speed of a forest fire. It reached from Egypt and the Sudan in the south to the Crimea and Ukraine in the north; from Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine in the east to Bosnia in the west. Its subject peoples included Russians, Tartars, Arabs, Persians, Armenians and Jews, black Nubians and blond Dalmatians. The Turks themselves were a minority. With every new province the stream of tribute money and the number of available soldiers swelled; all were at the command of the sultan in Constantinople. The empire resembled an avalanche that grew in weight and velocity the farther it rolled.

Part 2. Suleiman II

The 10th sultan, Suleiman II, ascended to the Ottoman throne in 1520. The Turks called him “the Lawgiver,” but to foreigners he was Suleiman the Magnificent. His court, the Seraglio, comprised an entire town within the capital, housing approximately 9,000 people and boasting water fountains that danced to music and ponds of goldfish with tiny jewels attached to their fins. His harem contained 300 slave concubines representing every race and nationality in his realm.

Suleiman was the son of a Tartar harem slave. He spoke eight languages fluently, wrote exquisite Persian poetry and composed lute music as a hobby - none of which prevented him from being one of the most ruthless warlords of his age. He enjoyed battle as much as philosophical debate and led his armies personally on horseback. His grand vizier was a Greek slave named Ibrahim, an accomplished violinist who went on campaign with him and, it was rumored, frequently shared his bed. Suleiman, in other words, was the classic Renaissance prince, an Oriental counterpart to the Borgias in Rome, but infinitely more powerful.

The Venetian envoy Ottaviano Bon described Suleiman as “tall and thin, with a smoky complexion and an aquiline nose above drooping mustaches. His hands were finely boned but exceedingly strong, and it is said that he can pull the tautest bowstring in the army. On his head he wore a wide oval turban with an aigrette of peacock feathers, held in place by a clasp of diamonds. His voice was sweet and pleasing, though he never smiled during our discourse.”

Suleiman was kept fully informed about the bitter feuds among the Western powers, several of which secretly sought his aid. He also knew that the rise of Protestantism was tearing Christianity apart. The time seemed ripe for a final westward push by the forces of Islam.

The Turkish assault troops took the important border fortress of Belgrade with almost playful ease. Then Suleiman’s army, 100,000 strong, advanced into Hungary, the gateway to Central Europe. King Lajos II of Hungary was a brave, handsome and extremely stupid young man; he ordered the Turkish ambassadors hanged when they came to demand his submission. Calling for help from other Christian monarchs, Lajos scraped together some 25,000 noble knights and retainers. From his royal colleagues he received fair promises and not a single soldier. In August 1526, he met the Ottomans at Mohacs and was not so much defeated as obliterated. King Lajos and 24,000 of his men were killed in the battle. Hungary became yet another Turkish province.

Suleiman appointed a Transylvanian governor named Janos Zapolya as puppet king of Hungary, and it says a great deal about the state of that country that Zapolya and thousands of Hungarians fought fiercely for the Turks from then on. They had been so cruelly oppressed and impoverished by their own nobles that they felt better off under the sultan.

It took the Ottomans just three years to digest Hungary. Then Suleiman began preparations for the next meal: Austria. King Ferdinand I von Hapsburg of Austria had protested against crowning of the puppet ruler Zapolya. Suleiman sent him a brief and ominous reply via courier: “Tell the king that I will meet him on the field at Mohacs. If he is not there I will come to Vienna and fetch him.

In the spring of 1529, the bulk of the Turkish army started massing in Bulgaria. Joined by their auxiliaries, they comprised the largest armed force ever in Europe - more than 330,000 men, 500 guns and 90,000 camels. They included 20,000 of the crack janissaries and 6,000 Christian Hungarians. Suleiman led this mass, with Ibrahim acting as seraskier (field commander, as distinct from commander in chief). It was a signal honor, since grand viziers, being politicians, usually stayed home.

Part 3. Ottoman Invasion

That spring it rained as it hadn’t rained in living memory. Day after day, week after week the torrents came down, turning the countryside into one vast morass. The Balkan roads became quagmires, the rivers burst their banks and swept away what bridges existed. The camels - creatures of the dry desert - could not gain a foothold in the slippery mud, stumbled, broke their legs and lay down to die by the thousands.

There was no way Suleiman could transport his heavy artillery under these conditions. He therefore decided to leave the big pieces behind - all 200 of them - and push on with only the light field guns. Ibrahim warned him against that move and advised him to postpone the campaign until the following year. Suleiman would not hear of it. Determined to take Vienna that summer, he replied, “It is beneath my dignity to allow the weather to interfere with my plans.”

The sultan banked on the thousands of highly skilled Romanian and Serbian miners in his ranks to reduce the town through mining operations. It was his first - and fatal - mistake in the war. Another soon followed. Suleiman was suffering from hubris, the delusion of invincibility that has broken so many conquerors in the past and would undo so many more in future.

When his army reached Pest, opposite Buda on the Danube, the sultan offered its small German garrison a safe retreat if the soldiers would evacuate the stronghold.The Germans accepted and marched out between two lines of jeering janissaries. But from mutual insults the two sides came to blows, then to cold steel. Within half an hour the Turks killed every man of the garrison, then turned on the town and sabered most of the inhabitants as well.

Word of the massacre spread and acted as a terrible warning for the Austrians not to trust the sultan’s promises. For Suleiman the episode held a different, equally ominous warning - that he couldn’t control the janissaries once they went on a rampage.

Icy fear gripped Vienna as the Turks drew closer. Ferdinand - whose actual title was archduke of Austria, king of Hungary and Bohemia - appealed to his mighty brother, Charles V, emperor of Germany and king of Spain. But Charles was engaged fighting the French in Italy and did not have the resources for a two-front war. Ferdinand, probably remembering King Lajos’ fate, scuttled off to the safety of Bohemia, leaving the Viennese to fend for themselves.

Fortunately for the Austrian capital, some help did arrive. The most valuable came in the person of Nicolas Graf von Salm, a cool, thoroughly experienced professional soldier, 70 years old but steady as a rock. Salm was too low on the nobility scale to be given top command - that went to a Duke Frederick, who gladly let Salm do all the work involved. With him arrived about 1,000 German Landsknechte - formidable, well-trained mercenary pikemen - and 700 Spaniards who were armed with the new-fangled wheel-lock muskets, which fired faster than the old Turkish matchlocks.

Salm took charge of a garrison of 23,000 infantry and 2,000 mounted cuirassiers, plus a total of 75 cannons - a sorry handful compared to the Ottoman host. He inspected the defenses and found them in a miserable state. Vienna was not very large, consisting only of those inner city portions that are today enclosed by the chain of boulevards called “the Ring.” Near the center towered the ancient cathedral of St. Stephen’s, and all around clustered a maze of narrow, crooked, foul-smelling alleys, sprinkled with innumerable taverns and a few grandiose palaces. The city walls were 300 years old and in very bad repair. They were pierced by four gates, the obvious danger points.

Part 4. Defenses

Salm methodically set about preparing the city for a siege. He had fireproof magazines dug, threw up earthwork bastions for the defenders to stand on and used paving stones to erect a second wall of sorts. He tore the inflammable shingles off the roofs and heavily palisaded the four gateways. Every building beyond the walls that might provide cover for the attackers was demolished. For his command post he chose the looming spire of St. Stephen’s, an extremely risky location, but one that gave him the widest possible view of the battlefield.

In order to save precious food supplies, Salm ordered 4,000 women, children and old people evacuated from the city in an escorted column. That turned out to be a tragic error, for by then the Turkish advance horsemen were swarming all over lower Austria, and at the village of Traismauer they swooped down on the convoy. They spared only young women who could be raped and then carried off to be sold as slaves. All the rest, including infants, were butchered, some spitted alive on sharpened stakes. Among the worst perpetrators were Zapolya’s Hungarian scouts.

From the city walls the sentries could see the smoke of burning villages all around them. The Turks were scorching everything in their path, slaughtering or carrying off an estimated half of the peasant population. But it was not until late September, two months behind schedule, that the main body of the Ottoman army reached Vienna.

Overnight the city found itself surrounded by a mass of white tents stretching as far as the eye could see, all the way to the heights of Semmering Mountain. It was an awesome sight and helped to disguise the fact that things were not well with the Turkish army. Roughly one-third of its troops were spahis, light cavalry of very limited use in siege warfare. Of the initial 90,000 pack camels, barely 20,000 remained, and those were in bad shape. The same applied to the men, who had been drenched to the skin for months and were coughing so loudly that the sound drowned out the camp preparations.

Suleiman dispatched couriers with a demand for surrender. “I expect to sup in the city on the last day of September,” his message ran. “If Vienna capitulates only my dignitaries will enter and all will be spared. If you resist, the place will be razed to the ground and all therein put to the sword.” Salm sent the couriers back courteously enough, but minus any reply.

At dawn the following day, 300 cannons opened up on the city, maintaining a steady fire until dusk. The Turkish gunners displayed exemplary discipline; they had managed to keep their powder reserves dry in the torrential rains, and they loaded and fired faster than any Western artillerymen. The bombardment, however, was fairly futile. The heavy pieces, left behind in Bulgaria, would have cracked the walls, but the stone projectiles of the light field guns simply splattered, though at high elevation they curved over the walls and damaged houses. Several lodged in the tower of St. Stephen’s, where they can still be seen by visitors. Salm remained calmly at his post, remarking to an aide, “These pebbles are like the little pills my medico bids me swallow.”

With the balls came showers of arrows fired over the walls. The crescent-shaped Tartar bows used by the Turks were vicious weapons that could propel their arrows through chain mail or iron helmets. But again, these were typical field armament - against fortifications they had only nuisance value.

The defenders’ response was a sudden sally by 100 cavalry that took the Turks by surprise. The horsemen, commanded by the daredevil Eck von Reischach, rode over two gun emplacements, cut down the crews and were back behind the walls before the besiegers could block their retreat. Vienna was holding its own ....for the moment at least.

Part 5. War Underground

The bombardment continued for days, without any sign of a massed attack. But on October 1, a Serbian engineer who claimed Christian parentage sneaked into the town and conveyed some very disturbing information. He said that the cannonade was merely a ploy to hide the real preparations that were proceeding underground. The Turks were digging mine shafts on both sides of the Carinthian Gate, intending to blow up the structure to open the way for their assault troops.

Salm knew all about mine warfare and immediately took countermeasures. He had drums scattered with dried peas and buckets of water placed in the cellars near the walls and posted sentries beside them. The moment the peas rattled or the water showed ripples, the guards sounded the alarm and squads of men began digging down. They found that the Turks were running six different saps, burrowing like moles with astonishing speed.

The counterminers shoveled until they struck the tunnels. Some were deserted, with huge bags of gunpowder stacked and ready to be exploded. The raiders carried them off as booty. In other shafts the work was still going on, and they became scenes of macabre subterranean combat. Neither side dared to fire a shot and could barely see each other by the light of shaded lanterns. The half-naked men fought with picks, spades, daggers and clubs, with bare fists and occasionally their teeth. Wounded men were trampled to death. Comrades killed comrades because they couldn’t distinguish friend from foe. The low, narrow shafts allowed no room to dodge, so every thrust or blow found a target. The survivors crawled back to the surface half crazed, black with earth and covered in blood, looking, as one eyewitness described, like “devils from the nether pit of hell.”

The defenders disarmed most of the saps, but new ones were being dug all the time and not all were discovered. On October 5, two mines exploded with ear-shattering roars at the Salt Gate, tearing holes large enough for a company to march through. The janissaries charged before the dust had settled but ran into a bastion behind the breach. On the bastion stood the Landsknechte armed with 12-foot pikes and halberds. Thrusting down with their long weapons, the pikemen had a distinct advantage over the Turks, who carried only their curved, razor-sharp scimitars. The attack was repulsed with heavy losses. The moment the Turks had withdrawn, the defenders were blocking the breach with sandbags and stone-filled baskets.

That night a new type of raiding party struck the Ottoman camp. This time the raiders came on foot and in utter silence, wearing black cloaks. Each one carried two homemade bombs - earthenware containers filled with powder and chopped lead - which they hurled into the tents. The glowing streaks of the burning fuses were the only warning the sleepers had before the grenades exploded and the lead pellets tore into them. More than 2,000 Turks died in their shredded tents.

The mining and the charges that followed went on day after day, accompanied by gunfire. A huge mine went up under the Carinthian Gate and effectively demolished the twin guard towers. Again the Turks found a bastion already erected behind it, manned by pikemen, Spanish arquebusiers with their wheel locks and Bohemians wielding two-handed swords that could slice an opponent in half. The janissaries piled in, were cut down and climbed over the heaps of dead, only to be slaughtered in turn. When the attackers finally fell back they left a mountain of 1,200 bodies.

The fighting underground took on even more gruesome forms. The counterminers now used spades with sharpened edges, both as digging tools and weapons. A blow could take a man’s head off. The Turks employed short cavalry maces, designed to smash helmets and crack skulls. On one occasion a spark exploded the stored powder prematurely, blowing up friend and foe alike in one indistinguishable mass. Nobody knows just how many men died in these nightmarish clashes beneath the earth.

Part 6. Ottoman Retreat

Watching the battle, Sultan Suleiman could see that his mining operations were too unpredictable to be effective. Most of the mines were emptied before they could be blown. Sometimes the debris fell inward, creating new obstacles instead of clearing them. And the defenders were fighting like men possessed, fully aware that they were the last barrier of Christendom preventing the Muslim tide from flooding Western Europe. They had by now mounted their own guns on reinforced rooftops. Their fire was raking the Turkish camps, ploughing into troop formations and killing scores of horses. Several of their Viennese cannons were so-called royals, which outranged any of the besiegers weapons.

On October 11, the heavens opened again and more rain poured down. Thousands more of the camels subsequently sickened and died. The coughing in the Ottoman army swelled as the campsites became waterlogged. Entire units fell out with fever chills. To make matters worse, food supplies were running low. The Turks had so thoroughly devastated the countryside that it could no longer support hundreds of thousands of hungry men.

Suleiman held a war council in his tent and decided on one final all-out attempt to capture the city. He intended to winter there, then continue the westward march with the coming of spring, when dry roads would enable him to bring up his heavy ordnance. This time the assault formations were reversed. The bashi-bazouks, an inferior militia, would go in first and tire out the defenders by the sheer press of their bodies. Then the janissaries would follow to push through into the city. The attack would be thrice renewed, regardless of the losses. The sultan also decided on the unprecedented step of offering a cash bonus of 1,000 silver aspers for each janissary. This was unheard of - hitherto those elite troops had fought only for loot and for glory, confident that death in battle would gain them immediate entry into heaven.

The attack began on the morning of October 14. Seraskier Ibrahim himself joined the janissaries. The drive was aimed at two points: the ruined Carinthian Gate and a protruding bastion called the Berg. One of the mines failed to blow; the other went off with a thunderous roar, hurling bodies into the air. The Turks surged forward, howling like demons, only to run into more palisades and the terrible rows of long pikes. Count Salm left his lookout position and took personal command. Almost immediately he was hit in the side and leg by stone splinters and had to be carried off. The wounds eventually killed him.

The bashi-bazouks fell back, were whipped forward by their onbashes (sergeants), fell back again, and were again driven toward the menacing spears. Their dead and wounded piled up, but they made no headway. Then the janissaries took over, only to be decimated by musket fire from both flanks. The musketeers rested their weapons on forked stands, which gave them steady aim. The attackers had pistols, but couldn’t use them in the wild press. Those who did mostly hit their own comrades. They charged and charged again, breaking one line of pikes only to be confronted by another. Hand bombs with hissing fuses rained down on them, exploding with terrible effect. Two small field pieces positioned on the Berg spewed grapeshot into the attackers. Mounds of entangled bodies hampered the men advancing from behind, who had to climb over them while musket balls inflicted more casualties.

The janissaries reeled back, though no signal for retreat had been given. Ibrahim used his horsewhip, then his saber to drive them forward, only to be ignored or cursed. For the first time in the 200 years of their existence, the janissaries refused to obey. They flooded to the rear, first in trickles, then in swarms, not stopping until they had reached their tents. Some even began to strike the tents without orders. There was no pursuit.

Part 7. Consequences

During that night the Turks packed up their campsites. The people in Vienna were kept awake by dreadful shrieks coming from the camps. The Ottomans were setting fire to the baggage they couldn’t carry and hurling their bound prisoners into the flames. Hundreds were roasted alive, but hundreds more managed to escape in the confusion and ran toward the city walls. They were hoisted up by ropes. The Viennese refused to open any gates. They couldn’t believe that the danger was over.

The following day the sea of tents around the city had nearly disappeared. Snow began to fall, far too early in the season. The weather that year, more than anything, had saved Vienna. The Turks marched off unhampered after Sultan Suleiman announced solemnly, “Allah, in His wisdom, has not yet permitted us to capture Vienna.” The Ottoman losses were estimated at between 18,000 and 25,000, several times higher than those of the garrison. But civilian casualties had been ghastly - lower Austria was virtually depopulated. In some villages the invaders left pyramids of human heads in place of inhabitants. Thousands of young girls were dragged off to the slave markets and never heard from again.

In Vienna the commanders were at first unable to believe their good fortune. They thought the Ottoman retreat was a feint to put them off guard. They also believed that the Turks had smuggled in scores of spies and saboteurs among the escaped prisoners. The provost marshal, a brute named Wilhelm von Roggendorf, had all the men examined to see whether they were circumcised, to confirm that they were Muslims. Those who bore the mark were hanged immediately. Others were tortured, and while their toes were crushed and their arms torn out of the sockets, a few poor wretches “confessed” to being Turkish agents. They were drawn and quartered in public while the audience cheered.

When the Austrians cautiously entered the Turkish campsites, they found some sacks filled with glistening black beans nobody had ever seen before. A Turkish prisoner explained that this was coffee, imported from Arabia and used by the Muslims as a stimulant, since the Koran forbade them wine. The Viennese brewed the stuff but found it too bitter for their taste. It was only after someone hit on the idea of adding honey that the new drink caught on, with a vengeance. A coffee house - the first such establishment in the West - opened in Vienna the following year.

In retrospect, the defeat at Vienna signaled the beginning of the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The invincible janissaries had been forced to retreat, and their morale was impaired. The Turks teamed the hard way how dangerous such elite guards can be to their own side. The janissaries grew more and more insubordinate, threatening and occasionally murdering their monarchs. Instead of the janissaries being slaves of the sultan, the sultan frequently became their prisoner.

For Suleiman, Vienna marked another kind of decline. He remained the Magnificent, but fell under the strange domination of a harem beauty. Little is known about her, not even her real name. The courtiers called her Roxelana, meaning “the Russian,” or Khurrem, the “Laughing One.” Her laughter, however, concealed a poisonous intent. Whatever the reason for the power she wielded over her master, she induced Suleiman to have his devoted grand vizier Ibrahim strangled, followed by his eldest son, Mustapha, a promising young heir. Roxelana contrived instead to gain the succession for her own offspring, Selim II. He was a warped creature nicknamed “the Sot,” a confirmed alcoholic despite the Islamic ban on liquor.

Selim took over after Suleiman’s death in 1566, and from then on the realm went steadily downhill. The Turks never produced another capable sultan, though there were many cruel ones. Their military prowess declined decade by decade as the Western nations rapidly improved their armaments and organization. The Turks still counted as a major power; they even staged another - disastrous - siege of Vienna in 1683. But as a menace to Europe they were finished the rainy night they folded their tents and retreated into the Balkans.

*****

Australian-born John Godwin is a former reporter for Murdoch Press, living in San Francisco, Calif., whose books include Alcatraz, Murder USA, Unsolved and a dozen of the Frommer Dollar-a-Day travel guides. For further reading, he recommends: The Battles That Changed History, by Fletcher Pratt; and The Wanderer, by Mika Waltari.

*****

If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

*****

Христос се роди! Hristos se rodi! Christ is Born!

2010-01-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

"Хероји Србије" долази у 2010! // "Heroes of Serbia" coming in 2010!

2009-12-24T10:17:00.003-07:00

"Отвори врата историје предамном
принеси догађаје и лица натраг
у живот и поведи ме у башту
чињеница где је сваки корак
и свака стаза позната..."

Десанка Максимовић

"Предлажем, такође, да се 2010. година прогласи – годином књиге у Србији."

Наташа Марковић

децембар 2009

Драги Пријатељи:

Кроз њихову историју, Срби су ретко добили признање за њихове велике успехе од стране великих сила света. Те силе нису могле, или нису хтеле, да признају да је мала нација као што су Срби могла да постигне подвиге који су по карактеру једнаки па чак и већи него постигунућа њих великих. Ретко је Србији дато признање за њене огромне жртве како би остварили бољи живот не само за себе већ за добро људског рода широм света. Појединачни примери, као што су легендарна „битка на Косову“ 1389. Године кад су Срби изгубили своју целу војску од 70.000 у одбрани Хришћанства од снажног напора муслиманских Отомана, или 27 март, 1941. kад су жртвовали своју целу нацију у ефорту да зауставе немачку ратну машину, нису једини примери српског хероизма. Било је много других случајева у којима су Срби позитивно допринели и огромно жртвовали.

Време је да се Србима да њихово заслужено место у светској историји. Један од најбољих и најефикаснијих начина да се то постигне је издавањем правих књига.

Скоро 20 година радим на рукопису који ће се звати Хероји Србије и који ћу, ја живим у нади, моћи да издам на оба, српском и енглеском језику, у 2010. години. Приповест у Хероји Србије допуњена са неколико стотина фотографија и обилном документацијом ће истаћи следеће историјске истине:

1. Срби нису били одговорни за Први светски рат

2. У просеку (с обзиром на број становника) Србија је жртвовала више него иједна друга нација света у победи над Централним силама у Првом светском рату.

3. Инсистирањем на офанзивној акцији на Слунском фронту између 1916. и 1918 и са пробојем који су успешно постигли на том фронту у септембру 1918. године Срби су скратили Први светски рат за најмање годину дана и сачували од смрти неколико милиона људи, жена и деце, углавном Европљана.

Апелујем на све вас да ми помогнете да успешно завршим овај подухват са публикацијом што већег броја ове књиге. Заједно ми можемо да успешно зауставимо процес клеветања Срба, занемарност њихових жртава и позитивног доприноса по људски род. Заједно, ми можемо почети нови и светлији процес који ће показати да су Срби истински хришћански народ, вољан да се жртвује за опште добро и који живе по и третира друге са моралним врлинама које учи хришћанска православна вера. И коначно, живим у нади да ћу моћи да пошаљем енглеску верзију Хероји Србије многим утицајним Американцима, америчким институцијама и другим широм света, а, српску верзију „Српској кући“ на острву Крфу где се чува успомена на трагедију и славу српске војске и српског народа у зиму 1915/1916 године, као и храму Св. Саве на Врачару (као помоћ за њихово одржавање).

Једини начин да се књига Хероји Србије штампа и растури по свету је са вашом финансијском помоћи.

Сваки, и најмањи, прилог је добродошао и биће од вредности (као на пр. два долара). Име и место даваоца ће бити документовано и публиковано у посебној књизи која ће носити наслов Српска Плава Књига а која би била издана после успешног штампања Хероји Србије. Имена даваоца ће бити стављена и на Веб-сајт који сам створила у част овог подухвата, www.heroesofserbia.com. И најмањи прилог ће претстављати жељу да се помогне овај подухват у који ја непољуљано верујем зато што исти претставља срце и душу српског народа.

Као даваоц, уз ваше име, ви можете да укључите име ваше супруге (и њено девојачко презиме), или супруга као и имена деце, или било ког другог члана фамилије у чије име желите да помогнете. Такође, можете изабрати да приложите „у знак сећања“ на преминулог рођака или пријатеља.

Српска Плава Књига ће претстављати истинско и трајно признање свима који су помогли српску ствар у једном од најтежих часова српског народа у њиховој историји. Књиге су дуготрајне, можда заувек, и ваше име ће трајати уз ову. По речима Нобеловца литературе Јосифа Бродског:

"У криминалним законима нема казне за злочин против литературе. Најгори међу овима нису малтретирања аутора, цензура аутора, паљење књига и томе слично. Далеко је већи злочин – игнорисање књиге! За тај злочин човек плаћа целог живота, а кад тај злочин почини нација, она плаћа за то својом историјом."

Зато вас молим да узмете учешће у овом српском подухвату. Реците својим пријатељима о овом подухвату. Направите копију овога писма и пошаљите га надалеко и нашироко.

Када Хероји Србије изађе из штампе, биће вам јасно, зашто заиста треба да будете поносни на ваше српско порекло, шта више, да сте били оправдани да сматрате како није било фер од садашњег подпредседника САД-да у моменту "непажње" каже, да би нас све требало ставити у Хитлеров тип концентрационог логора, или кад је рекао преко ЦНН-а (CNN) да смо ми „руља неписмених дегенерика, убица деце, кољача и силеџија." (Peter Worthington, Edmonton Sun Sunday June 1, 2009).

Волела би да досегнем што већи број људи. Ваше сугестије, имена и адресе су добродошле.

Бићу захвална ако би управе организација, клубова, друштава и црквено-школских заједница обавестиле своје чланове о овом cве-српском подухвату. Обећавам да ће бити вредан напора.

Са срдачним поздравом,

Александра Ребић

Пишите ми, молим вас, на адресу:

Aleksandra Rebic, P.O. Box 95551 , Hoffman Estates, IL 60195 U.S.A.

heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

herojisrbije@yahoo.com

heroesofserbia2010@yahoo.com

Ако желите да приложите, кликните овде:

“Open the door of the history that came before me,
Make the events and faces come alive again
And take me into the garden of facts where
Every step and every path is familiar…”

Desanka Maksimovic

“I suggest…that the year 2010 be proclaimed ‘The Year of the Book in Serbia ’”

Natasha Markovich

December 2009

Dear Friends:

Throughout their history, Serbs have seldom been credited for their great achievements by the great powers of the world. The great powers often could not, or would not, accept that a small nation such as Serbia was capable of the achievements and contributions, which are, by their character, equal to or even greater than the achievements of the great powers. Rarely has Serbia been given the credit for her tremendous sacrifices to achieve a better life not just for herself, but for the greater good of humanity and the world. Singular cases such as the legendary “Battle of Kosovo” in 1389 when Serbs lost their entire army of 70,000 men defending Christianity from the onslaught of the Moslem Ottomans, or March 27, 1941 when they sacrificed their whole nation in an effort to push back the Nazi war machine, are not the only examples of Serbian heroism. There have been many other cases where the Serbs have contributed positively and sacrificed mightily. It is time that the Serbs are given their rightful due in the history of mankind. One of the best and most effective ways to achieve that end is by publishing the proper books.

For almost 20 years I have been working on a manuscript to be called “Heroes of Serbia” which I hope to publish in both the Serbian and English language in 2010. The narrative in “Heroes of Serbia” will be complemented by several hundred photos that will be included, and, along with extensive documentation, will highlight and emphasize the following historical truths:

1. Serbs were not responsible for causing the First World War.

2. On average, Serbs sacrificed more than any other peoples of the world in defeating the Central Powers in World War One.

3. By insisting on an offensive action on the Salonika Front between 1916 and 1918 and with the breakthrough they successfully achieved on that front in September of 1918, the Serbs shortened the First World War by at least one year and saved from death several million men, women and children, mostly Europeans.

I am calling on all of you to help me complete this project successfully by being able to publish as many copies of this book as possible. Together we can help stop the ugly process of denigrating Serbs and ignoring their sacrifices and positive contributions to mankind. Together we can begin a new process, a much brighter one, in which the Serbs are rightfully presented as a truly Christian people willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good and who live with and treat others in harmony with the moral virtues inherent in the teachings of the Christian Orthodox faith. I ultimately hope to be able to send the English version of “Heroes of Serbia” to many influential Americans, American institutions and elsewhere throughout the world, and the Serbian version to the “Serbian House” on the Island of Corfu (Greece) where the memory of the tragedy and glory of the Serbian Army and Serbian people from the winter of 1915/1916 is being preserved and to the Hram Svetog Save in Belgrade (The Cathedral of St. Sava). The only way the publication of “Heroes of Serbia” and achieving these other goals will be possible is with your financial help.

Every, and any, contribution will count, no matter what the amount, and the name and location of every donator will be documented and published in a very special “Heroes of Serbia Blue Book” that will be issued after “Heroes of Serbia” has been successfully completed. All donators will also be listed on the website which I have created in honor of this project, www.heroesofserbia.com. Even the smallest contribution will show a good faith effort to support this cause which I believe in with all my heart, because I believe in the heart of the Serbian people.

As a donator, you may choose to have the name of your wife or husband or your children included with your name. A wife has the option of having her maiden name included as well. You may also choose to donate “in the memory” of a loved one who is no longer with us or on behalf of a loved one whom you wish to honor. This “Heroes of Serbia Blue Book” will be a real tribute and a permanent record showing that you supported the Serbian cause in one of the most difficult times for the Serbian people in their history. Books last for a long time, perhaps forever, and your name will last with this one. In the words of the great Nobel Laureate in Literature, Joseph Brodsky:

“No criminal law provides penalties for crimes against literature. The worst of these are not the maltreatments of authors, censure of authors, the burning of books or similar things. There exists a worse crime – the ignoring of the book! For that crime a man is paying all his life, and when that crime is committed by a nation, she pays for it with her history.”

Please be a part of this Serbian cultural initiative. Talk to your friends about this project. Copy this letter and distribute it far and wide. When “Heroes of Serbia” is published, it will be obvious why you should be extremely proud that you are Serbian. I am sending this letter to many thousands of Serbs, all over the world, and others who in one way or another have believed in the Serbian cause over the years. I would like to reach as many people as possible. If you would like to suggest names and addresses of who should be contacted, your feedback would be much appreciated. Please inform the organizations, clubs, societies, boards and church communities you are part of about this project. I promise you that it will be worthwhile.

With sincere gratitude and warmest regards,

Aleksandra Rebic

Write to me by postal mail at:

Aleksandra Rebic, P.O. Box 95551 , Hoffman Estates , IL 60195 U.S.A.

To contact me by e-mail, feel free to use any of the three e-mail addresses below:

heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

herojisrbije@yahoo.com

heroesofserbia2010@yahoo.com

To donate to this effort, please click on the "Donate" button below:

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A Privilege to serve the Serbs

2009-12-23T20:33:00.002-07:00

"But—if you know any of them—ask them about the Serbs they worked for, in mud and snow, rain and sun. A bunch of grapes on a dusty day, a glass of milkless tea on a cold winter’s dawn, a smile in the wet—these are only little things. But they are little things that count; the little things that reveal a people’s soul. It is what the pauper gives away that touches every heart. "

"It has been a privilege to serve them."

Douglas Walshe

A Briton, who served with Serbians in WWI

"With the Serbs in Macedonia" 1920

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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Winston Churchill excited about the prospect of catastrophe as Austria declares war on Serbia

2009-12-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

A young Winston Churchill

"Everything tends towards catastrophe and collapse. I am interested, geared up and happy. Is it not horrible to be built like that? The preparations have a hideous fascination for me. I pray to God to forgive me for such fearful moods of levity. Yet I would do my best for peace, and nothing would induce me wrongfully to strike the blow."

Winston Churchill

July 28, 1914

The day that Austria declared war on Serbia and WWI began.

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From "Voices from the Great War" by Peter Vansittart 1984

The nature of the War that began in 1914 reveals itself: 'Death to all Serbs!'

2009-12-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

"The war that began in 1914 and has been going on ever since revealed its nature to me through two experiences. Awkward young soldiers were being pelted with flowers by women and girls. The streets of Graz were full of excited people marching towards the Sudbahnhof. Their patriotism reeked of alcohol. Over and over came the roar: 'Death to all Serbs! Long live the Emperor! Down with the traitors!' Outside the station, in the middle of a knot of howling, screaming, insane people, a man was dragged to the ground, trampled upon, torn limb from limb. 'A Serbian spy!' someone called out. 'A Serbian spy!' went the cry from one mouth to another as the remains of a human being were retrieved from the murderous mob."

Ernst Fischer

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From "Voices from the Great War" by Peter Vansittart 1984

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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Белгија памти, а ми?

2009-12-11T06:15:00.002-07:00

Павле Крстић, Белгија

December 6, 2009

Живим у Белгији - малој успешној лепо уређеној земљи. Земљи која поштује све нас који живимо и радимо али која на првом месту поштује своју историју и традицију. И то је тема о којој би хтео да напишем пар речи. Данас када ово пишем је је 11. новембар - дан када је пре 91 годину завршен Први Светски рат или Велики рат како га овде зову. Велики је празник и сви се са пијететом сећају жртава и њихових заслуга за будућа покољења.

Сваког 11. новембра ја са породицом одлазим да упалим свећу свим ратним друговима мојих дедова, Павла Крстића редова Моравске и Богосава Рачића поднаредника Дринске дивизије. И док се спремам да заједно са сином још једном погледам предиван филм „Где цвета лимун жут“ размишљам шта се то десило са Србима и Србијом да се одричемо себе и своје историје?

Рат у коме је Србија изгубила 25% становништва (много више него Белгија), рат у коме је Србија дала немерљиви допринос савезничкој победи полако пада у заборав. И ако смо за време Титове диктатуре морали да сакривамо своја осећања да се стидимо што смо једини народ у бившој Југославији били на страни победника, што смо на сахранама горе поменутих дедова морали да подмићујемо музику да би смели да свирају Марш на Дрину и Тамо далеко (верујте ми лично искуство), шта се то дешава сада?

Зашто нам деца не знају ко су Живојин Мишић, Радомир Путник, Степа Степановић, Павле Штурм. Зашто уместо матурских екскурзија по европским метрополама не оду на Зејтинлик, Крф, у Солун, Кајмакчалан, Цер, Дрину, Колубару (европске метрополе ће упознати сами).

Ко убија сваки покушај да се развија љубав и поштовање према својој отаџбини и њеној традицији историји и вери. Ми као народ полако али сигурно изумиремо а бела куга није једини разлог. Да ли је касно да нешто сви заједно променимо?

Павле Крстић, Белгија

[објављено: 06/12/2009]

http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Moj-zivot-u-inostranstvu/Belgija-pamti-a-mi.sr.html

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To get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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"Why the Serbs are Great" - A Tribute Booklet now available!

2009-11-22T17:26:00.003-07:00

The Serbian Krsna Slava // Photo by Aleksandra Rebic April 2009

The Great Serbian Army with King Petar I Karageorgevich

World War One

Hand Carved Wood Doors by Branislav Kevich

at Gracanica Monastery Third Lake, IL. U.S.A.

Photo: Aleksandra Rebic June 28, 2009

Ravna Gora, Serbia May 2003 / Photo by Aleksandra Rebic

Ravna Gora, Serbia February 1995 / Photo by Aleksandra Rebic

Serbs and their "Albanian Golgotha" / World War One

Serbian Christmas ("Bozic") January 7th.

Photo by Aleksandra Rebic January 7, 2009

Three of the 25 Reasons Why the Serbs are Great!:

1. Serbs are great because they are true survivors. Throughout the many centuries of their existence as a people, they have been faced with virtually every obstacle and adversity known to mankind and have always emerged resilient and unbeaten with forgiveness in their hearts.

7. Serbs are blessed with great good humor, genuine warmth, generous hearts, and the talent to tell a good story or joke with a memorable punch line no matter when, where, or what the circumstances. Serbs are never boring. Once you know them, it’s impossible not to like them.

23. Serbs rank among the bravest people on the planet. Perhaps due to necessity, perhaps to geography, which, in their case, has always been a pivotal factor, perhaps due to the essence of their Christian nature, the Serbs are a people of whom it can be said unequivocally ‘They are fearless.’ The courage of the Serbs is legendary and rightfully so. Though Serbian bravery is the stuff of legend and always has been, it is no myth. The Serbs are the ‘Davids’ to the world’s ‘Goliaths’.

Part of the "Reconsidering what we take for Granted Series" by Aleksandra Rebic, Why the Serbs are Great is a 25 page booklet filled with 25 simple truths and reminders about why a heroic and unique people like the Serbs should never be taken for granted and why they should be appreciated. So much more than a greeting card for not much more! This 5 1/2 by 8 inch coil-bound booklet is printed on excellent quality paper with rich color photographs included along with the text. In Why the Serbs are Great there are a couple of blank pages included for you to write your own notes or message to a friend or loved one who understands what makes the Serbs special and worthy of appreciation, or an acquaintance or stranger who hasn't yet discovered the treasures to be found in Serbian culture. This booklet also serves as a tribute to the Christian heritage of the Orthodox Serbs, highlighting what makes the contributions of the Serbs to world history and the legacy of those contributions so worthy of our respect.

For 1 to 25 copies, the price is $5.99 each.

For 26-50 copies, the price is $5.75 each.

For 51-75 copies, the price is $5.50 each.

For 76-100 copies or more, the price is $5.25 each.

All the prices above include the tax. The shipping and handling charge for one booklet shipped anywhere in the United States is $2.25.

If you would like to purchase more than one booklet, please contact me and I will create a separate listing to incorporate the shipping and handling charge based on the weight of the number of booklets desired and their destination.

Sincerely,

Aleksandra Rebic

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to get in touch with me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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Његова светост Патријарх српски господин Павле, 1914 - 2009 / Serbia's beloved Patriarch Pavle - A Tribute

2009-11-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

1914-2009

The following is a beautiful music and photo slide show video tribute to the beloved Patriarch Pavle.

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Milunka Savic: WWI veteran / The most decorated female combatant in the history of warfare

2009-11-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

Milunka Savić (Serbian: Милунка Савић; 1888 - 1973) was a Serbian woman war hero from The First World War, recognized as the most-decorated female combatant in the entire history of warfare. She was wounded no less than nine times during her term-of-service.

She was born in a village known as Koprivnica near Raška, Serbia in 1888. In 1913, her brother received call-up papers for mobilization this, in the war between Serbia and Bulgaria. She elected to go in his place - donning men’s clothes and joining the Serb Army. She quickly saw action and received her first medal and was promoted to Corporal in the battle of Bregalnica. Engaged in battle, she sustained wounds and it was only then, when recovering from her injuries in hospital, that her true gender was revealed - much to the surprise of the attending physicians.

In 1914, during the height of World War I, she was awarded her first Karađorđe Star with Swords after the battle of Kolubara where she single-handedly captured 20 German prisoners. She received her second Karađorđe Star (with Swords) after the battle of Crna Reka in 1916 when she captured no less than 23 Bulgarian soldiers single-handedly.

In Thessalonica, as a test of skill, she hit a bottle of cognac at 40 m distance with a hand grenade, thereby winning a wager with French General Maurice Sarrail. The remaining 19 bottles of expensive 1880 cognac she shared amongst the soldiers of her company.

She was awarded the French Légion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour) twice, Russian Cross of St. George, English medal of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael, Serbian Miloš Obilić medal. She is the sole female recipient of the French Croix de Guerre (War Cross) with the palm attribute.

After WWI, she turned down an offer to move to France, where she was eligible to collect a comfortable French army pension. Instead, she choose to live in Belgrade, but people soon forgot her merits, this as the political winds changed with the inauguration of Tito, and she effectively was deemed persona non-grata in her own country and was forced into subsistence living - ekeing out an existence as a lowly cleaning lady till her death in 1973.

She died in Belgrade on 5 October 1973.

________________________________________

Source link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milunka_Savi%C4%87

____________________________________________________

U našem narodu su solunci sinonim za predane rodoljube, postojane stradalnike i hrabre ratnike. Drugim rečima, to su proslavljeni veterani našeg slobodarstva. U tome, naravno, nisu zaostajale ni žene-solunci, a među njima se naročito isticala tiha i neustrašiva Milunka Savić. Rođena 1888. godine u selu Koprivnici kod Raške, Milunka Savić se u Balkanskim ratovima 1912. i 1913. godine borila kao dobrovoljac. U dobrovoljačku jedinicu je primljena zahvaljujući lukavstvu - odsekavši kosu, stavivši šajkaču i preobučena u muškarca. U sastavu Drinske divizije je, između ostalog, učestvovala u borbama oko opsednutog Skadra (zauzet 22. aprila 1913. godine) i u Bregalničkoj bici (30. juna do 8. jula 1913. godine). Na Bregalnici je dobila kaplarski čin i prvu medalju za hrabrost. No tu je ranjena i u bolnici je otkriveno da je - žena.

U Prvom svetskom ratu se Milunka Savić naročito istakla kao bombaš u Kolubarskoj bici. Tu je, za višestruko herojstvo, dobila Karađorđevu zvezdu sa mačevima. Premda je prilikom povlačenja srpske vojske 1915. godine teško ranjena, ona je, preneta kroz Albaniju, dospela na Krf i, posle lečenja i oporavka u Bizerti, ponovo staje u prve borbene redove srpske vojske, u kojoj se i danas ističe hrabrošću. U bici na Crnoj reci zarobila je 23 bugarska vojnika... Dobila je mnoga, i najviša, odlikovanja, među kojima i dva Francuska ordena Legije časti i medalju "Miloš Obilić". Umrla je u Beogradu 5. oktobra 1973. godine, zapostavljena, kao i svi solunci. Ali njenu legendu ne može ništa da zatamni.

Source link:

http://www.srpsko-nasledje.rs/sr-l/1999/01/article-9.html

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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Armistice Day 2009 marked in Serbia

2009-11-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

The following is from http://www.b92.net/

Tanjug

November 11, 2009

BELGRADE -- A ceremony for the anniversary of Armistice Day in World War I was held at the New Cemetery in Belgrade.

British, Russian, German and French ambassadors attend the ceremony (Beta)

The anniversary was organized with high state and military honors and the laying of wreaths at a memorial dedicated to the World War I liberators of Belgrade, and the ceremony was attended by Culture Minister Nebojša Bradich.

The minister noted in his address that on this day in 1918 World War I ended, adding that “the curtain fell on the butchering of many people, especially Serbs.”

“91 years ago marked the end of a great bloodshed which threatened to exterminate us from this earth,” he said, adding that the heroics of the Serb army were "bordering on self-destructive" and that only “faith in ourselves and unity with our allies saved us from catastrophe”.

The Kingdom of Serbia fought the war on the side of the Allied Powers, and Bradich mentioned some of the most illustrious military leaders, such as Radomir Putnik, Stepa Stepanovich, Zivojin Misich, and Petar Bojovich.

The ceremony was attended by government and military officials and ambassadors and defense envoys from Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Canada, Hungary, Germany, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=11&dd=11&nav_id=62958

THE FOLLOWING ARE COMMENTS THAT FOLLOWED THE ABOVE STORY ON B92.NET:

Was a ceremony for the anniversary of Armistice Day marked in Croatia & Albania? (JohnnySRB, 11 November 2009 19:50)

Or in the narco-terror stillborn entity that nobody wants? (milan, 12 November 2009 07:21)

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A great victory of our Serbian army against our eternal enemies,the Germans,Austrians,Croatians and Albanians. Unfortunately our stupid politicians wasted this chance to create a Greater Serbia. But we will achieve it. (CG, 11 November 2009 20:48)

I agree with you. At the end of WWI Serbia should have created its own nation and since it was emerged victorious at WWI it could have Krajina,parts of Bosnia,Macedonia and entire Kosovo,but instead Serbia ended up joining the Kingdom of Croats and Slovenes which later became Yugoslavia, this was catastrophic move for Serbs to this day.Also I believe Constantinople should have been returned to Greece at the end of WWI (brazilskifarmer, 12 November 2009 01:56)

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Aleksandra's Note:

The meaning of "Greater Serbia" has been grossly misrepresented throughout the decades (going back as far as the 19th century) as a pejorative for the purposes of deliberately misleading people about the objectives of the Serbs to establish a "Unified" state under which ALL Serbs of the former Yugoslavia are protected.

Because different groups of Serbs found themselves living in various (sometimes very unfriendly) locations in the former Yugoslavia, such as Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Voyvodina, Montenegro and Macedonia, they would often find themselves separated from Serbia proper (their "Piedmont") which was to their detriment.

"Greater Serbia" stands for one thing and one thing only: The unification of all the Serbs in all the Serbian lands under one flag. The best analogy that I can provide for the true motivation and intention and goal behind the desire to form a "Greater Serbia" is "The United States of America":

*Serbs living in different Serbian lands united and protected under one national flag.

*Americans living in different states united and protected under one national flag.

________________

To get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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"Veceri Slobode" // Srpska Narodna Odbrana - Serbian National Defense // Chicago

2009-11-07T10:48:00.001-07:00

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Italian World War One postcards highlight Serbia

2009-11-06T17:26:00.001-07:00

Serb fighting an Austrian and a German,

while the Bulgarian stabs and the Greek stands

WWI Italian postcard

The Lion of Serbia

Italian WWI Postcard

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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Rare WWI Postcards highlight Serbian role in Allied Victory

2009-10-17T12:16:00.001-07:00

The following three images are great vintage postcards of the Serbian Army during WWI.

Above: The Serbian Infantry WWI

Above: The Serbian Army in trench at Deshchanski Kladenac WWI

Above: King Peter I and the Serbian Army WWI

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

*****

King Alexander I Karageorgevich of Yugoslavia 1888-1934 // Remembering a Royal Legacy

2009-10-11T18:05:00.001-07:00

Portrait of King Alexander I Karadjordjevich of Yugoslavia

By Kosta Hakman

Prince Regent of Serbia Aleksandar Karadjordjevic

World War One

King Alexander I Karageorgevich of Yugoslavia 1888-1934

Remembering a Royal Legacy

By Aleksandra Rebic

October 9, 2009 marks the 75th anniversary of the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. This assassination of the Serbian king by a Macedonian terrorist working with Croatian separatists never garnered the notoriety that the June 28, 1914 assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip did. However, the impact of the assassination of King Alexander I and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou in Marseille, France, though not as “immediate” as the Sarajevo assassination in 1914 that precipitated World War I, was a harbinger of the even greater cataclysm that was coming. Given the climate in Europe in 1934 and what was brewing in Germany, the assassination in Marseille was one of those singular moments that should have served as a red flag that the “peace” being enjoyed in 1930s Europe was in peril. Who was King Alexander I Karageorgevich of Yugoslavia and why did his life and death matter?

This was a man who was born into a family with an already incredible legacy and a legendary name. Alexander I Karageorgevich was born the second son of King Peter I of Serbia and Princess Zorka of Montenegro in Cetinje, Montenegro on December 16, 1888. His grandfather was Prince Alexander Karageorgevich who had ruled the Serbian state from 1842-1858. His great grandfather was George Petrovich, “Karageorge” (“Black George”), founder of the Karageorgevich dynasty and leader of the First Serbian Uprising against the Turks of the Ottoman Empire in 1804.

Alexander’s childhood was spent in Montenegro and Geneva, Switzerland, where his family was living prior to their return to Serbia. His grandfather, Prince Alexander, had abdicated in 1858, leaving Serbia and taking his family into exile. His son, Peter, would return from exile to his Serbian homeland in 1903 to become the first elected constitutional monarch of Serbia, King Peter I. The Karageorgevich’s return to Serbia followed the death of King Alexander Obrenovich during a violent coup in Belgrade on June 11, 1903 that ended the reign of the Obrenovich dynasty. Unlike his father Prince Alexander who had abdicated in 1858, King Peter I would become one of the most respected and beloved figures in the history of the Serbian people. His oldest son George would have been first in line to King Peter’s throne, but because George was involved in incidents and scandals that forced him to renounce his inheritance of his father’s throne, Peter’s second son, Alexander, came to the head of the line in 1909, becoming Crown Prince Alexander Karageorgevich.

Crown Prince Alexander’s military training began in 1904 when he joined the Russian Imperial Corps in St. Petersburg, Russia. He would distinguish himself in the two Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War of 1912 he fought victorious and significant battles at Bitola and Kumanovo as commander of the First Army. During the Second Balkan War in 1913 his army was victorious once again at the Battle of Bregalnica. The Balkan Wars would be good training for what was coming just around the corner.

Because King Peter I was in ill health, he was persuaded to name his son as Prince Regent of Serbia on June 24, 1914, handing over royal power to Alexander. Peter I would, however, remain King and, despite his ill health, would conduct himself over the course of the next four years in such a way that would forever endear him in the hearts and minds of his people. Less than two months later, upon the onset of World War I, Prince Regent Alexander would inherit the role of Supreme Commander of the Serbian Army, the commander in chief, although in reality the true command of the Serbian Army would lay in the hands of four men who would distinguish themselves valiantly in the annals of warfare – Stepa Stepanovic, Radomir Putnik, Petar Bojovic, and Zivojin Misic.

The Serbian government would once again find itself in exile, this time leaving Belgrade and finally settling on the island of Corfu, where it would remain for most of the duration of the war. The Serbs, though brutally attacked by the superior Austro-Hungarian forces, immediately distinguished themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the Battles of Cer and Kolubara in 1914, successfully evicting the Austro-Hungarian invaders from their country. This success, however, was fleeting, for in 1915 the vicious onslaught of the combined alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria against the Serbs forced them to withdraw in order to survive and regroup. The Serbs had no choice, and survival was not guaranteed. Things were very bad. Many would fall, never to rise again, as they withdrew through the difficult Albanian mountains. Finally, those who survived the “Albanian Golgotha” of the winter of 1915/1916 reached the Greek Island of Corfu. King Peter I, despite his health, had marched right along with his people, remaining with them no matter what. Despite their huge human losses, both military and civilian, the unforgiving terrain and weather, the diseases that ravaged them, the lack of adequate arms, and the paucity of necessary reinforcements during their long and difficult march, the Serbs were able to regroup on Corfu in 1916. Those that survived would ultimately be victorious over the enemy, contributing splendidly to the significant and decisive Allied breakthrough on the Salonika Front at Kajmakcalan in September of 1918 that forced Bulgaria’s surrender and signaled the beginning of the end of WWI.

As it became increasingly evident during the war that the Dual Monarchy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, might become relegated to history and that the peoples who lived on its territories would be liberated and finally have the opportunity to enjoy autonomy and self-determination, the issue of the post war reality and political organization of these peoples and territories had to be dealt with. Even as World War One raged, Prince Regent Alexander found himself having to contend with how things would be established and organized once the war was finished. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the precursor to “Yugoslavia”), formally established on December 1, 1918, was born out of the combined desire for unification manifested during the war between the parties for whom the postwar fate of the southern Slavs was relevant, and this included the Americans. King Peter I, who survived the war, would be King of this new “country” and would remain so until his death in 1921. Upon his death, Prince Regent Alexander would take the throne on August 16th. At that time, Alexander was seen as the channel by which Yugoslav (southern Slav) unification and solidarity could be achieved most effectively.

It can be argued, and has been passionately, whether or not this new “unified Yugoslav state”, comprised of specific groups of southern Slavs who now found themselves liberated from both the Ottoman and the Austro-Hungarian Empires, was a good idea based on the best of intentions and principles, or the making of a tragedy whose consequences would be far reaching. King Alexander I Karageorgevich would soon learn that this new Kingdom of which he was now the supreme ruler was not going to be the postwar Utopia that some had hoped for.

On January 6, 1929, due to internal political conflicts that were escalating, King Alexander took the decisive measure of establishing a sort of necessary “dictatorship” in order to restore order. He abolished both the parliament and the constitution. It was impossible to assume that a cohesive and stable government could function given the conflicts that had developed between all the different political factions that existed within it. Despite the now proven difficulties, Alexander would continue attempting to unify the various elements in Yugoslavia. The measures he took included outlawing religious, ethnic, or regionally based political groups. Anyone knowing the make-up of the southern Slavs who comprised Yugoslavia would have appreciated the difficulty inherent in trying to enforce such measures.

On October 3rd of that year he also formally changed the name of the country to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which, in light of developments in the future, would become known as “The First Yugoslavia”.

Among the diplomatic goals King Alexander I would accomplish during his reign was bringing his country into the “Little Entente” with Czechoslovakia and Romania in 1933. It was a time when the nations of Europe were once again seeking to establish alliances. These alliances would have great bearing on future events.

King Alexander I Karageorgevich’s merits as ruler of Yugoslavia have been argued and debated and will continue to be. What would have become of Yugoslavia as the peaceful 1930s progressed into the nightmare years of the Second World War that would begin at the end of that decade had King Alexander I continued his reign was left to conjecture on October 9, 1934.

One of the smart men of Europe, who was trying to organize an effective proactive front in the early 1930s against Germany’s new leader Adolf Hitler early enough when it was still possible, was French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou. His foreign policy was to create an anti-Hitler defense ring to be achieved by what was known as the Eastern Pact - binding the Soviet Union and Poland and the Little Entente, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania, to France. But while he was trying to organize a defense against German territorial expansions three months after he became foreign minister, the British were going in the opposite direction. In May of 1934 the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sir John Simon, insisted that Germany should be permitted to rearm even though re-armament had been expressly forbidden by the Versailles Peace Treaty.

Barthou went to Belgrade, Serbia at the end of June 1934 for successful introductory talks regarding a Franco-Yugoslav alliance, and it was agreed that King Alexander would pay a two week state visit to France starting on October 9th to lay the groundwork for an anti-Hitler alliance. French support against the terrorist activities of the Croatian separatists and their sponsor, the fascist dictator of Italy Mussolini, was also going to be negotiated. But as soon as Alexander’s planned visit to France was announced, Mussolini began working with his Italian Military Intelligence Service and the Croat and Macedonian terrorists to plan King Alexander’s assassination. The plan for the assassination was finalized by Vancha Mihailov, the leader of Macedonian terrorists, and Ante Pavelic, the leader of the Croatian terrorists.

On October 9, 1934 the terrorists made their move and succeeded. King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Jean Louis Barthou were assassinated in Marseilles, France. This assassination, though never assigned the significance that Gavrilo Princip’s assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 was, turned out to be a precursor of the events to come in 1939. With the Franco-Yugoslav bond now weakened with his and Barthou’s deaths, Germany would tighten her economic hold in the Balkans. This would further augment Hitler’s growing confidence and the Balkans would provide more resources for Nazi Germany. It is said that Hitler watched the film that was taken of the assassination that day and upon observing the panic of the crowd and the inability of the police to deal with it effectively, he was reassured that France was weak and that she could be beaten. Whether he watched the film or not, there is no question that he grew more confident. Every subsequent action he would take in the following years would reflect a hubris that only grew with the parallel incompetence of the democracies to stop it from manifesting.

Without having to worry about Britain or France or Italy, Hitler was able to proceed with enhancing his war machine. Seeing an opportunity to side up with an obvious future victor, Mussolini distanced himself carefully from England and France to eventually join Hitler. When the free world woke up to the reality of what was evolving it was too late to change the course of the future of Europe. The greatest war machine ever built up to that time was poised to march and conquer the world.

King Alexander I established his legacy during pivotal times in the history of his people in the Balkans. He participated in war after war and survived as a successful hero who went on to become King. An assassin’s bullet ended his reign, and we will never know how he would have handled the events that led his country into yet another war just a few short years later, this time the biggest and baddest of them all. His young son, Peter II Karageorgevich, would be the one to inherit that legacy.

Church of St. George on Oplenac in Serbia

Photo by Katarina Stefanovich

What we do know is that he is well remembered and remains honored in the hearts of his family and his people on this, the 75th anniversary of his death, October 9, 2009. He is buried in the beautiful Church of St. George Mausoleum on the hill of Oplenac in Serbia, where so many of the other members of the Karageorgevich dynasty lay as well. The record of the final decisive event in King Alexander’s life remains one of the most significant pieces of history captured on film that exists to this day.

Aleksandra Rebic

October 2009

*****

From the Office of HRH Crown Prince Alexander II of Serbia
October 9, 2009

THE ROYAL FAMILY PAID RESPECTS TO THE MEMORY OF HM KING ALEXANDER I

Belgrade, 9 October 2009 – A Memorial Service was held at Oplenac today, on the occasion of 75th Anniversary of the assassination of His Majesty King Alexander I of Yugoslavia.

The Holy Liturgy in the blessed memory of HM King Alexander I was served by His Grace Bishop of Sumadija Jovan and clergy of Sumadija Diocese in the Church of St. George in Oplenac. HRH Crown Princess Katherine attended the Holy Liturgy service, and afterwards she was guest at lunch that His Grace Bishop of Sumadija Jovan, HM King Peter I Foundation and Mr. Dragan Jovanovic, Mayor of Topola have organized for distinguished state and clergy guests.

With church bells ringing, Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II (grandson), Prince Philip (great grandson), Prince Vladimir (grandson), Crown Princess Katherine and Princess Brigitta, together with members of the Crown Council laid wreaths at HM King Alexander I tomb in the mausoleum of the Church of St. George in Oplenac. Wreaths were laid by members of the diplomatic corps, HE Mr. Dragan Sutanovac, Minister of Defence and by H.E. Mr. Boris Tadic, President of the Republic of Serbia on behalf of the State.

After the commemoration, an exhibition “Statesman and warrior path of King Alexander I Karadjordjevic” was officially opened at HM King Peter I house in Oplenac by H.E. Mr. Dragan Sutanovac, Minister of Defence. Academician Prof. Dr Slobodan Perovic, member of the Crown Council, H.E. Mr. Dragan Sutanovac, Minister of Defence and HRH Crown Prince Alexander II addressed the guests.

Following the ceremony in Oplenac, Their Royal Highnesses, together with the members of the Crown Council and H.E. Mr. Nils Krister Bringeus, Ambassador of Sweden, went to Avala, where they laid wreaths at the Monument of Unknown Hero. Members of the Crown Council who went to Avala were Mr. Matija Beckovic, Prof. Dr Dragoljub Kavran, Mr. Dusan Babac, Prof. Dr Miroslav Gasic, Mr. Djurdje Ninkovic, Prof. Dr Slobodan Perovic, Mr. Vladan Zivulovic, Mr. Predrag Markovic, Mr. Milan Parivodic, Dr Igor Georgijev, Mr. Darko Spasic, Ms. Ana Godjevac and Mr. Milan Markovic, counsellor to Minister of Economy.

Earlier today in Marseilles, Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II and Prince Philip attended a commemoration for the Late King and the late Monsieur Louis Barthou, Foreign Minister of France in Marseille, France, together with H.E. Mr. Vuk Jeremic, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and H.E. Dr Dusan Batakovic, Serbian Ambassador to France and member of the Privy Council.

HM King Alexander I of Yugoslavia was assassinated on 9 October 1934 in Marseille at the beginning of his State Visit to France. The French Foreign Minister Mr. Louis Barthou was also killed.

The King’s death deeply moved the whole of Yugoslavia and sent shockwaves throughout Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people paid their respects all along the funeral route through Yugoslavia to the Royal Crypt at Oplenac. HM King Alexander I was buried in the Mausoleum of the Church of St. George, built by his father HM King Peter I.

In recognition of his greatest accomplishments, namely the fact that the King Alexander I led the Serbian Army during the Balkan War and World War One and was the key person in the unification of Southern Slavs into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the National Parliament and the Senate of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia named him Knight-King Alexander I the Unifier.

HM King Alexander I was the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Army in the First World War. On 24 June 1914 he was appointed the Regent of Serbia. After the death of his father, HM King Peter I in 1921, he ascended the throne and became King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In 1929 he became King of Yugoslavia. HM King Alexander I and HM Queen Maria had three sons, HM King Peter II (father of Crown Prince Alexander II), HRH Prince Tomislav and HRH Prince Andrej. In 1934 HM King Peter II succeeded HM King Alexander I as King of Yugoslavia.

The Royal Family would like to thank all those who came to Oplenac today and paid their respects to HM King Alexander I of the blessed memory.

www.royalfamily.org

*****

In France:

October 9, 2009

CROWN PRINCE ALEXANDER II, PRINCE PHILIP AND H.E. MR. VUK JEREMIC AT MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HIS MAJESTY KING ALEXANDER I IN MARSEILLE

Marseille, 9 October 2009 – A wreath laying ceremony was held this morning in Marseille, France, on the occasion of 75th Anniversary of the assassination of His Majesty King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Monsieur Louis Barthou, Minister of Foreign Affairs of France.

The official state ceremony was organized by the French Government at the location where the assassination took place in Marseilles, France of HM King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Monsieur Louis Barthou the French Foreign Minister. The ceremony was attended by HRH Crown Prince Alexander II, grandson of HM King Alexander I, accompanied by his son HRH Prince Philip, great grandson of HM King Alexander I, H.E. Mr. Vuk Jeremic, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, who laid a wreath on behalf of the State of Serbia and H.E. Dr. Dusan Batakovic, Ambassador of Serbia to France.

HRH Crown Prince Alexander II said it was a day of sorrow for him, and added that his grandfather was a first victim of fascism. “I came here with my son Philip to mark this sad day”, said HRH Crown Prince Alexander II. HRH Crown Prince Alexander II thanked H.E. Mr. Vuk Jeremic, the Government of Serbia and H.E. Boris Tadic, President of Serbia, as well as France and Marseille, for making this commemoration possible.

“Laying a wreath at my great-grandfather’s monument is very special moment for all of us, and makes us think where we were 75 years ago, and where we are today”, said HRH Prince Philip and went on that he was very moved by today’s ceremony and warm welcome.

“We were together in wars, victories and losses, and today we are together in peace, with desire to live in united Europe”, said H.E. Mr. Vuk Jeremic, minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and added “Bullets fired at King Alexander, who was a victim of fascist and ustashe terrorism were fired at our country and European peace. King Alexander I was a Unifier, a man with deep respect for the history of his nation and profound vision of unity and integrations, which made him a first European leader in our history”.

In the afternoon following their return from France, Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II, Crown Princess Katherine and Prince Philip will lay a wreath on His Majesty’s tomb in the Church of St. George in Oplenac.

www.royalfamily.org

*****

BELOW ARE THREE VERSIONS OF THE FILM OF THAT FATEFUL DAY,
OCTOBER 9, 1934:

***************

"Ubistvo i sahrana Kralja Aleksanda I Karadjordjevica (tonski video zapis)"

Posted by "123Nemanja" on "You Tube"

With Serbian narration

*****

"Assassination! King Alexander and Louis Barthou 1934"

Posted by UniversalNewsreels

With English Narration

*****

"The Assassination of the Yugoslavian king Alexander, video 3"

"Music Video"

Posted by "bugarash"

*****

If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

*****

Truba za uzbunu sa Kajmakčalana

2009-10-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

Autor:

Jeromonah Naum, manastir Crna Reka

October 10, 2009

http://www.srpskadijaspora.info/vest.asp?id=12461

"Internet Srpske Novine"

Na stranicama istorije o proboju Solunskog fronta zapisano je:

Proboj Solunskog fronta bila je jedna od najvećih i najuspešnijh operacija u Prvom svetskom ratu u kojoj je srpska vojska, najbrojnija u ukupnim operacijama (150 000 vojnika), odigrala glavnu ulogu.

Borbe su počele 14. septembra artiljerijskom paljbom savezničkih topova da bi u zoru 15. septembra Druga srpska armija krenula u juriš i to na potezu Soko – Veternik – Dobro polje. Vodila se borba prsa u prsa, bajonetima na bajonete o čijoj strahoti svedoči i zapis Ogista Albera, francuskog oficira za vezu:

"Ono što sam video na Veterniku pamtiću do kraja života. Izmešali se francuski i srpski vojnici. Rasturene desetine pentraju se po kamenjaru. Ljudi poderane obuće, iskrvareni, osvajaju metar po metar. Najednom sve zamuče, ni puška da opali, čuju se samo jauci. To se vodi borba prsa u prsa, oružje više ne pomaže. Sudbinu ovog dela fronta rešavaju nož i srce junačko. Moj mitraljez ćuti, nemogu da gađam, pobiću srpske vojnike koji su se izmešali sa bugarskim i nose se, nose. Kraj mojih nogu nađoše se dvojica. Uhvatili se u koštac, pobacali oružje i survavajući se niz masiv planine kidišu jedan na drugog. Gledam užas, čas je Bugarin odozgo hoće da udavi Srbina, čas je Srbin gore pokušavajući da zadavi Bugarina. A obojica snažni, škrguću zubima, ne malaksavaju. Zbunjen sam, hteo bih da okončam ovaj dvoboj, ali nemam snage. Sad je na jednom Srbin jači, udara Bugarinovom glavom o tle i viče – ovo je moja zemlja, ovo je moja zemlja, upamti. Najzad malaksao Bugarin ne može ništa da upamti, čuje se njegov ropac i tu, ispod Veternika, završi ratovanje. A srpski vojnik strese prašinu sa odeće i viknu mi – hajde Francuz napred"...

Uz pomoć saveznika, iako nedovoljno opremljena i u teškim uslovima, srpska vojska je od 15. do 17. septembra, u nezadrživoj ofanzivi, probila Solunski front. Ogromna želja za oslobođenje otadžbine vodila je srpske vojnike posle proboja fronta iz pobede u pobedu. Za 46 dana prešla je neverovatnih 600 kilometara i stigla u domovinu, na Savu i Dunav. Taj podvig istoričari i vojskovođe od ugleda svrstali su među najpoznatije primere gonjenja neprijatelja u svekolikoj istoriji ratovanja. O tom podvigu komandant Solunskog fronta – francuski general Franše de Pere kazuje: "Srpsku pešadiju i francuska komora na konjima je jedva stizala".

Tako je srpska vojska, od gubitnika u većem delu Prvog svetskog rata, kada je napuštala otadžbinu, krećući se gudurama u nepoznato, stigla do trijumfa. Sjajna pobeda srpske vojske, ostvarena uz pomoć saveznika na Balkanu, imala je presudni uticaj i na ishod rata u Evropi. Rezultati uspešne operacije bili su kapitulacija Bugarske, Austro – Ugarske i Nemačke, oslobođenje Srbije, prelazak srpske vojske u prekodrinske krajeve i naša katastrofalna greška, čije gorke plodove danas kušamo, stvaranje nove grobnice Srpskog naroda – Kraljevine Srba Hrvata i Slovenaca.

O ulozi srpske vojske u Prvom svetskom ratu Robert Lesing, ministar spoljnih poslova SAD rekao je: "Kad se bude pisala istorija ovog rata njen najslavniji odeljak nosiće naziv Srbija. Srpska vojska je učinila čuda od junaštva, a srpski narod pretrpeo je nečuvene muke i takvo požrtvovanje i hrabrost ne mogu proći nezapaženo – oni se moraju nagraditi".

Viljem Drugi, nemački car, u telegramu bugarskoj vrhovnoj komandi piše: "Šezdeset dve hiljade srpskih vojnika odlučilo je o ishodu rata. Sramota!".

Srpska vojska je u oktobru 1915. godine brojala 420.000 ljudi, a strahote rata preživelo ih je samo 150.000, dovoljno da i tada, prilikom proboja Solunskog fronta, zadive svet. Srbi su i tu pobedu platili nemerljivim žrtvama, gubljenjem, samo na oporavku u Bizerti i na Krfu i na lečenju u Francuskoj, do avgusta 1916. godine, oko 7.000 vojnika. Za srpskim vojnicima su ostajala rasuta po svetu groblja, a umrli junaci sahranjivani su i u more.

Za vreme boravka i borbe Srpske vojske na Solunskom frontu, od leta 1916. do jeseni 1918. godine, poginuli vojnici i starešine sahranjivani su neposredno iza borbene linije, na tzv. "pukovskim grobljima", bez sanduka, sa drvenim krstačama uz grobna uzglavlja nakojima su upisivani lični podaci svakog pojedinca (čin, ime i prezime, jedinica). Umrli ranjenici i bolesnici, koji su lečeni u zavojištima i poljskim bolnicama, sahranjivani su u mestima tih ustanova. Ranjenici i bolesnici, koji su lečeni u Centralnoj poljskoj bolnici na Zejtinliku sahranjivani su na improvizovanom groblju nedaleko od bolničkog bivka. Tako je nastalo prvo Srpsko vojničko groblje na Zejtinliku. Na Srpskom vojničkom groblju počivaju posmrtni ostaci 7.565 ratnika sa Solunskog fronta. U trogodišnjim borbama stradala su 9.303 vojnika i oficira. U Bitolju je sahranjeno oko 1.500 Srba poginulih ili umrlih od rana.

U blizini Bitolja, na planini Nidže, u podnožju Kajmakčalana, po nezvaničnim podacima, postoje 44 manja srpska vojnička groblja. Neka od njih je, povodom obeležavanja 91. godišnjice od proboja Solunskog fronta, posetila grupa vernika sa Kosova i Metohije. Poseta je obavljena 24, 25 i 26 septembra 2009. godine. Putovanja su organizovali Planinarsko-skijaško društvo "Kopaonik" iz Leposavića i Pokrajinski odbor Saveza potomaka ratnika Srbije Kosova i Metohije 1912 – 1920. Grupu je predvodio Radoljub Knežević iz Leposavića.

U toku tri dana manja grupa srpskih rodoljuba obišla je spomen kosturnicu u selu Koraslari u blizini Velesa, mesto gde je poginuo podpukovnik Vojin Popović – Vojvoda Vuk, Kajmakčalan, vojnička groblja u Bitolju i podnožju Kajmakčalana i to na lokacijama Grunište, Reder (dva groblja) i Skočivir (dva groblja). Na svakom groblju odslužen je mali pomen, pripaljene su voštanice i okađeni su grobovi. Pomene je služio jeromonah Naum iz manastira Crna Reka.

Treba naglasiti da su sva groblja, osim groblja u Bitolju, u veoma žalosnom stanju. Teško su pristupačna, bez putnog prilaza, maskirana gustom višegodišnjom šumom. Za neka groblja znaju samo stariji lokalni žitelji - Makedonci koji ta šumska mesta posećuju radi lova. Srpska noga pojedina mesta nije pohodila duži niz godina, a da ne govorimo o parastosima ili pomenima srpskih sveštenika na njima. Mali je broj spomenika na kojima se jasno mogu pročitati podaci o poginulom ratniku. Zub vremena je na skoro svim spomenicima oštetio uklesana slova u kamenu. Samo na par spomenika je bilo moguće pročitati podatke i njih ćemo, radi potomaka poginulih ratnika, i obznaniti na kraju ovog priloga. Mnoge spomenike je nevreme oborilo a do mnogih nije bilo moguće doći zbog gustog spleta granja i trnja. Žalosno je bilo videti kako se iz samih grobova srpskih mučenika u visinu gordo uzdižu stabla stara i po pedeset – šezdeset godina – upravo kao i trajanje komunističkog bezumlja. U tom su periodu i zalivana vodom namernog zaborava kao i sav korov antisrpskog i antipravoslavnog rastinja kojim je taj period bezumlja obilovao.

Da se više govorilo o Solunskom frontu nego o partizanskim ofanzivama, o vojvodi Vuku i rasformiranom 17 puku Drinske divizije više nego o Titovim herojima, sigurno bi ta sveta mesta, svedoci nezapamćenog junaštva i masovne žrtve srpskog naroda, bila u svetlijem stanju nego što su sada. To stanje je toliko teško da teže ne može biti. Ono je odraz našeg odnosa prema sopstvenoj svetloj prošlosti. To srpski junaci nisu zaslužili!!!

Ne zaboravimo, njihovi grobovi su izvori naše slobode, njihova prolivena krv - seme novih generacija Srba. Sve što imamo danas kao narod izgrađeno je na njihovim grobovima. Zato, ne budimo neblagodarni, zaboravni i nemarni prema tim svetim mestima, jer se mogu u gnevu potresti i srušiti sve što je na njima sagrađeno.

Da do toga ne bi došlo pomolimo se Gospodu da i ovom naraštaju Srba podari jednog "Vojvodu Vuka", koji bi poveo četu srpskih rodoljuba u probijanje "novog fronta nemara i zaborava prema našim vojničkim grobljima i junačkoj vojničkoj prošlosti uopšte". Onaj slavni Vojvoda Vuk je sa svojim dobrovoljcima osvojio Kajmakčalan i „na potpis“ ga predao jednom od srpskih komandanata, a ovaj novi Vuk bi imao zadatak da srpska vojnička groblja u podnožju Kajmakčalana oslobodi skoro vekovnog zaborava i nemara i preda budućim generacijama Srba kao bescen blago na spomen i čuvanje. Saveznik u toj "novoj bici podno Kajmakčalana", nadamo se, bile bi makedonske vlasti, koje bi trebalo da izdaju odgovarajuće dozvole za takav poduhvat.

Neka bi dao Bog da ovaj prilog, kao svojevrsna truba za uzbunu, pokrene srpske Arhijereje, nadležne ministre, sve rodoljube i sve ljude dobre volje da urade ono što je u njihovoj moći da se srpska vojnička groblja u Makedoniji dovedu u pristojno stanje, dostojno velike mučeničke žrtve srpskih vojnika. Amin, Amin, Amin.

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Почаст краљу Александру // "Radio Television Serbia" Oct. 9, 2009

2009-10-09T14:15:00.001-07:00

Почаст краљу Александру

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Precious Memorabilia testifies to Serbia's WWI contributions to the Allied Cause

2009-10-08T06:10:00.004-07:00

The following are precious pieces of World War One Memorabilia that showcase the Serbian contribution to the Allied Victory in the Great War.

"Albanian Golgotha" 1915 // The Serbian march for survival

"Glitter" postcard from the Milana Bizic personal collection

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THE FOLLOWING SHOWCASES THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF MILANA BIZIC OF PENNSYLVANIA, WHO HAS FOUND A REAL TREASURE IN WORLD WAR ONE MEMORABILIA THAT SHOWCASES SERBIA AS ONE OF THE GREAT ALLIES THAT WON THE GREAT WAR.

Dr. Victor J.W. Christie and Milana Bizic 2009

Mim writes:

"Luckily for me, I was able to add to my own collection of Allied WWI postcards Thursday, September 24, 2009 at the Renninger Flea Market near Kutztown, PA. I purchased ten additional WWI beautiful "Silks" (embroidered postcards) from Dr. Victor J.W. Christie, Appraiser and Author, and owner of THE CHESIRE CAT, LTD. The kind and knowledgeable Dr. Christie was a teacher, Superintendent of Schools, and a recognized authority on the works of Bessie Pease Gutmann. Each one of the flags I purchased from him shows the flag of Serbia (Serbia), the red/blue/white banner so familiar to us all.

Dr. Christie said that the embroidered "Silks" were first produced in 1914 through 1918 and declined greatly from 1919 onwards. The cards were hand embroidered on strips of silk mesh with as many as 25 on a strip. Mostly they were produced by French and Belgian women refugees who worked in their homes and refugee camps, and then sent the finished stirps to factories for cutting and mounting on postcards.

Because of their beauty and uniqueness, Dr. Christie said, the WWI Silks became wildly popular with British and American servicemen on duty in France. This is why the themes for most of the silks produced are patriotic and feature the British, French and American flags, symbols and greetings.

Some of the cards purchased had the central portion cut as a flap so that a tiny printed greeting card could be inserted in a pocket behind the silk front and the stiff back. One of these said, "To my Sweetheart" and definitely showed the Serbian flag...The cards became treasured mementos from "the boys over there" and are excellent examples of front-line patriotic art quite unique to that specific period in history. Dr. Christie estimates that as many as 10 million handmade cards were produced during the WWI period. In 1930 through 1945 a machine made card was produced which was simpler and plainer with less variations. These "silks", he said, never regained the popularity of their WWI predecessors."

The following images showcase Milana Bizic's beautiful new collection of WWI "Silk" postcards featuring Serbia as one of the Allied victors of the Great War.

Bizic WWI Silks Collection

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Aleksandra's Note:

PLEASE VISIT MILANA BIZIC'S WONDERFUL WEBSITE

"SERBIAN HISTORY 101" AT:

www.babamim.com

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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at heroesofserbia@yahoo.com

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Са лица места о поразу и победи

2009-09-29T06:46:00.001-07:00

Вера Кондев

[објављено: 29/09/2009]

Politika Online

Изложба посвећена сликарима из епопеја Балканских и Првог светског рата и за добре зналце српског сликарства 20. века право је откриће

Васа Ескићевић: „Излазак српске војске на море”

Балканско полуострво на коме су Срби истрајавали више од једног миленијума било је поприште небројених ратова, освајања, крвавих буна и сукоба, али је епопеја Балканских и Првог светског рата једна од најтрагичнијих, али и најславнијих. Том периоду од 1912. до 1918. године, виђеном очима наших уметника, посвећена је изложба „Са лица место о поразу и победи”, која се отвара вечерас у 19 часова у Продајној галерији „Београд” (Косанчићев венац 19), а аутор је историчар уметности Здравко Вучинић.

Вишедеценијски рад на месту кустоса прве и годинама једине продајне галерије у Србији омогућио је Вучинићу да се упозна са највећим бројем колекција у целој земљи и сада је тај његов труд крунисан изложбом коју, вероватно, нико други не би могао поставити пошто је од 74 изложена рада само десетак из Војног музеја док су сви остали у приватним рукама, а велики број никада није био изложен у јавности. За добре зналце српског сликарства 20. века изложба, која ће бити отворена до 28. октобра, право је откриће јер се Вучинић постарао да обезбеди не само дела 34 уметника већ да то буду она најбоља што су они урадили током шест судбоносних година, било да су то били портрети сабораца, сцене из војничког живота, рањеници, колоне ратника који су прелазили голготу преко Албаније, било да су пејзажи предела кроз које су пролазили, који по ликовним квалитетима спадају у најбоља остварења српске уметности прве три декаде 20. века.

Вучинић је трагао за делима која би на најбољи начин илустровала то „време смрти” али и актуелне домене српске уметности која је у првој деценији 20. века тек запловила у главне токове европске уметности преко уметника школованих у Минхену, Паризу, Бечу, Петрограду, који су тек открили сликарство „пленера”, улазећи у воде постимпресионизма и експресионизма да би, неки од њих, створили своја најзрелија и најважнија дела баш у ратном вихору из кога се неки никада нису вратили или су убрзо умрли од последица рањавања и ратних страдања.

Истовремено аутор изложбе је за студиозно написани каталог истраживао грађу у вези са тим временом и уметницима и тако нас увео у архиве Штаба Врховне команде где се чува одлука да се установи звање „ратног сликара”, термин први пут употребљен 21. септембра 1912. године на путном налогу са потписом команданта српске војске Живојина Мишића, којим се сликар Петар Раносовић упућује у војне јединице да својим ликовним записима сачува од заборава важне догађаје. Чува се и налог са потписом начелника генералштаба Петра Бојовића да се сликар Драгомир Глишић упути у рејон Дунавске дивизије јуна 1913.

Бета Вукановић: „Француски војници”

Коначно, 20. августа 1914. у Ваљеву војвода Радомир Путник потписује „Упут за коришћење ратних сликара придодатих штабовима виших јединица на бојишту” на основу кога се број ратних сликара, са 20, колико их је пратило Балканске ратове, попео на 40. Нека имена попут Глишића и Раносовића позната су и широј јавности као и имена оних уметника који су се већ афирмисали пре периода о коме је реч (Надежда Петровић, Бета Вукановић, Паја Јовановић) или су имали срећу да се, после ратова, врате кући и буду активни као сликари низ година (Живорад Настасијевић, Никола Бешевић, Милош Голубовић...). Међутим, оно што овој изложби даје посебну вредност су слике оних уметника који су или умрли током рата или одмах после, а чија имена је прекрио заборав иако су заслужили угледно место у српској историји уметности. Рат нису преживели Александар Лазаревић, Видосава Ковачевић, Малиша Глишић, Бранко Јефтић, Милорад Ђекић, Цвијетин Јоб…

Посебно место припада сликарима који су се родили и образовали изван Србије али су се, понети идејом југословенства, јавили као добровољци, а неки су, попут Николе Џанга, фалсификовали датум рођења да би могли да се прикључе српској војсци. Из Сплита је дошао Пашко Вучетић који се, почетком века, прикључио уметницима окупљеним око новооснованог Уметничког друштва „Лада”, а најзрелија дела насликао је током ратних година бележећи пејзаже и призоре који су током војних операција завели његово сликарско око. Његов неоспорни таленат није имао прилику да достигне пуну зрелост јер је умро убрзо по завршетку рата.

Вучинићева изложба је највећа, најкомплетнија презентација стваралаштва ратних сликара (могла би се означити као визуелни пандан Ћосићевом „Времену смрти” и „Српској трилогији” Стевана Јаковљевића). Слике из рата су драгоцени визуелни траг о једној од судбоносних, херојских епопеја које се треба сећати са поносом и од које нас деле скоро цели век и дуги период присилног заборава.

Вера Кондев

[објављено: 29/09/2009]

From: http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Kultura/Sa-lica-mesta-o-porazu-i-pobedi.sr.html

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