The next day - Sunday, June 15, 1943 - perhaps the most significant success in the Yugoslav anti-fascist war was achieved. Partisan formations led by the First Proletarian Division Koča Popović, broke through the multiple enemy encirclement. This ended the battle, saved the bulk of the Partisan forces and continued the war of liberation. However, the cut-off rear formations, the Third Division Sava Kovačević which was securing the Central Hospital, was decimated, Commander Sava was killed, and almost all of the wounded in the Hospital were killed.
The Golgotha that the Partisan units experienced at Sutjeska (May 15 - June 15, 1943) was, above all, a consequence of the disproportionate balance of forces. 120.000 soldiers: German, Ustasha, Chetnik and Bulgarian troops, with a large number of armored vehicles and over 300 aircraft, against around 22.000 Partisan fighters. In addition, they were insufficiently armed, exhausted from previous marches, and burdened, at the same time, with the task of protecting the Central Hospital and the wounded.
History has, to a large extent, confirmed the epic story of Sutjeska. Details are being revealed and will continue to be revealed. Some details, by chance or by design, I recorded with the camera of Television Sarajevo. For example. About the destruction of the Partisan Children's Home in Sutjeska. Or, a detail from the complicated story about the presumed place of death Ivan Goran Kovačić. Or the saying of a famous painter Cross of Hegedušić about how his cycle of frescoes on the interior walls of the Memorial House in Tjentište was created.
Feat and echoes
The partisan feat on Sutjeska became a symbol of the invincibility of the righteous in the conflict. It inspired, in addition to historians and analysts, also artists, members or supporters of the anti-fascist movement. Among them are the architect Ranko Radovic, who designed the Memorial House building in Tjentište, and Krsto Hegedušić, who painted Sutjeska in 13 frescoes.
It is written about the Memorial House of the Battle of Sutjeska that it is a masterpiece by Prof. Ranko Radović. “With its low, but steep roof, it is reminiscent of mountain houses and katuns, which are characteristic of the area located in the Sutjeska canyon, between the mountain massifs of Zelengora, Volujko and Maglić...”
The famous painter Krsto Hegedušić presented the drama of Sutjeska with 13 large-format frescoes on an area of 124 square meters of the interior walls of the Home. The names of 7454 killed and identified partisan fighters are inscribed on the pillars.
The exploits of the partisan anti-fascist war, from the very beginning, on July 13, amazed the European public. From the anti-fascists Sartre i Aragon, from PicassoWhen he read Goran's poem Jama, Picasso said: “If Spain had such a magnificent work during the fight against fascism (Frank's), one Gernika would look different”. (“Blood is my light and my darkness./They dug a blessed night for me/With happy vision from the sockets of my eyes...”).
Killing the wounded
The prophetic foreboding of Goran's poem, My grave came true. He was killed after the end of the Battle, in early July 1943, in the wilderness of the village of Vrbnica near Foča (east of Sutjeska). The killer was also recorded, Borislav Boro Blagojević, the leader of one of the quisling groups that immediately after the Battle ended searched for surviving partisans and liquidated them. "In the dark mountain, let there be a hum for me, Above it the howl of a wolf..."
As a journalist for Television Sarajevo, I filmed my first documentary in 1968, on the subject of Sutjeska. At that time, among other things, I visited the presumed place of death of the poet Ivan Goran Kovačić. A wooden marker with a couplet from Goran's poem still stands there. My grave: “Let no one come, except a dear friend,/And when he returns, let him smooth the path.”
Deep in the forest, there were no more traces of the beast. The leaves covered it. Or maybe the memory of the poet of the great human drama, Ivan Goran Kovačić, has already been covered.
Krsto Hegedušić on frescoes
Upon completion of the Memorial House in Tjentište, Hegedušić, after thorough preparations, covered the walls of the interior of the House with 13 frescoes. It was a complicated process for Television Sarajevo to present this magnificent work to the public with an interview with the author. Because, at that time, Hegedušić did not agree to interviews, not even with Zagreb Television. When we convinced him, he analytically presented the process of preparing and painting this extremely complex project. He emphasized that “The crimes that were committed there are beyond human understanding. They even used dogs to gather children in one place to make it easier to kill them. That is the theme of my most significant fresco People and dogs... “
The destruction of the Partisan Children's Home
(Story of the Home's educator)
There is not enough official information about the tragedy of the Partisan Children's Home. While filming a program in Tjentište in 1968 (my first professional TV report), I received some testimonies from the Home's teacher. She led a large group of children to the Sutjeska River. (I lost her name, but an employee of the Belgrade Archives with the last name DobrašinovićCoincidence, son of a champion Miloje Dobrašinović, the director of my Bijelo Polje gymnasium.)
A teacher, an elderly lady. A calm face, a gentle gaze. Obviously, she has experienced the drama of children many times... She says that before arriving at the Sutjeska River, on the long journey through forests and ravines, some of her children died. Exhaustion, illness, hunger. And that the biggest problems began on the river itself. At that moment, a spasm appeared on her face and she stopped. She continues and says that a group of children, held by the hands and with the help of two soldiers, tried to cross the river at the beginning and at the end. Her weak hands could not hold it and she watched helplessly as the children disappeared in the frenzied waves of the Sutjeska... Calmly, after a long pause, she says that a courier then came and announced the command's decision that no one was responsible for anyone anymore, and that everyone, in groups or individually, was to disperse into the forest. To my surprise at such a command, she repeated: “Nobody is responsible for anyone. I guess the separation was a chance for someone to survive.” She and her two children reached a village and left them there. She heard that there were still some survivors.
One of the residents of the Partisan Children's Home was a boy Djordje Kreća, who, by some chance, got separated before the journey to Sutjeska. Later, living and creating in Zagreb, he would become the most famous sculptor of Croatian naive art. However, his war and post-war drama is a special story. I once filmed that topic in a documentary show for Television Sarajevo.
Victims at Sutjeska
The Supreme Commander, Tito, is not discussed in this text, because the facts about his role are well known, not only at Sutjeska, but in the war in general. However, regarding the strategic decision on when to break through the encirclement, he allegedly disagreed with Koča Popović's position. Should he wait a few more days to help Sava Kovačević's Third Division, which was securing the Central Hospital, which Tito allegedly demanded, or save what could be saved, which Koča did on his own. With the First Division, he broke through the encirclement, pulled out the bulk of the military formations with the Supreme Headquarters. And so the war of liberation continued. After the breakthrough, the rear with Sava Kovačević's Third Division was cut off. The fighters were decimated, the wounded were almost killed. Commander Sava was killed. The legend and the song "What's the roar of Sutjeska..." remained.
After the war, the word "sacrificed at Sutjeska" was hard to pronounce. I attended the celebration at Tjentište and a closed conversation with the leadership of the State, when Tito said that there were various interpretations of the outcome of the Battle, but that he would clarify these issues one day. It is little known that he ever did so. A great nightmare, dilemma and enigma remained. Can it all be covered by the phrase "It is war".
Partisans were killed twice at Sutjeska (Tjentište). The first time in 1943. And the second time during the war of the nineties by supporters of an ideology that did not appreciate the anti-fascism of the Partisan movement. The Memorial House was damaged and part of the frescoes were devastated. They then realized that these projects had universal values and, thanks to the cultural institutions of the Republika Srpska, large funds were invested in the reconstruction of the House and the restoration of the frescoes.
In the end. Still, the truth and legend about the great feat of the partisans at Sutjeska endure. And the song "Divizija Savina bije ljuti boj...".
(The author is creator and publicist)
Bonus video:
