From Enemy Captive to Partisan Hero-WWII Saga of My Grandfather
Surviving torture, betrayal, and death camps, he emerged a decorated captain—A tale of resilience, loyalty, and an unlikely savior
Introduction
Hello, my dear readers and loyal followers!
Today I have prepared something completely different, something that doesn’t have anything in common with my blog’s topic, but the story is so incredible and so good that I had a compelling need to write it and present it to you.
This story will keep you tied to the article and reading until the end because it is unbelievable, but it is the true story of how one guy cheated death more than once and managed to come home almost unscratched.
This is the most incredible war story I’ve ever heard, and it’s about my grandfather who fought in WWII on the partisan side in Yugoslavia.
Going to War
My grandfather went to war on the side of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which capitulated after two weeks of war. However, he did not give up. Instead, he gathered all the weapons he could and joined the partisan movement to fight against the Germans.
He fought on all the important battlefields and battles and was wounded in the leg at Sutjeska, where he was captured by the Germans. They treated his leg in the hospital, and when he was better, they handed him over to the Gestapo for interrogation.
The Gestapo tortured and flogged him, and when they were done, they handed him over to the Ustaše in Bosnia, who also tortured, flogged, and interrogated him.
After the Ustašas were done, they handed him back to the Germans, who sent him to a death camp in Germany.
Death Camps of Germany
Upon arrival at the camp, he was immediately called by name and taken to the commandant. Grandfather thought this was his last hour, but the opposite happened. One of the commanders in the camp was a Croat who had joined the German special forces. He was, in fact, my grandfather’s former foreman, who had worked on his farm and supported his family before the war.
The German commander singled out my grandfather and another acquaintance, also a partisan, saving them from certain death. All the others who arrived at the camp with them were soon executed.
The Big Escape
The German commander organized the escape of my grandfather and the other partisan, hiding them in a cattle train under cow dung traveling to Zagreb.
Upon arrival in Zagreb, the Ustaše caught them again and took them for interrogation and torture.
However, they claimed they were Ustaše who had come from the battlefield.
Unable to establish the truth, the Ustašas took them to the prison hospital until their identities were confirmed. In the hospital, one of the main and responsible doctors was actually a partisan spy who recognized them and organized their transfer to the partisan squads.
The Big Escape For The Second Time
After long hikes and night shifts through hills and forests, they finally reached the partisans but were arrested on suspicion of being Ustaše spies, as it was believed they both died in the battle at Sutjeska.
Now, they had to prove their identity once again, as they were threatened with a firing squad after a summary military trial.
Luck smiled at them again because the courier who had just arrived was from their squad, and he identified them as partisan fighters.
Decorations, Medals, and White Horse
Grandfather managed to survive the war and achieved the rank of captain first class. He received numerous decorations, rode a white horse victoriously, and, most importantly, received recognition, decorations, and a fighter’s monument personally from the commander-in-chief, Marshal Josip Broz Tito.
Conclusion
He was one of the most respected persons in his town and he performed important duties until the end of his interesting and not-so-ordinary life. He died of cancer and was smoking cigarettes until the end. Neither did Germans, Ustašas or Partisans could kill him, but the cigarettes finally got him!
That was the story of my grandfather and if you like it you can support me any way you like!
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Greetings and until my next article!
Neo77
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