The Serbian world celebrates the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and National Flag
Today, on the anniversary of the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki Front in 1918, in which the Serbian army played a decisive role, which subsequently liberated Serbia and the lands of other Yugoslovenian peoples, one holiday is celebrated in different parts of the Serbian world.
In the Republika Srpska the holiday is celebrated officially; in Serbia, the new government must give it official status.
Today, the head of the Serbian Ministry of Defense, Aleksandar Vulin, on behalf of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, presented the President of the Republika Srpska Zeljka Cvijanovic with 130 copies of Serbian military flags, which will be used for festive events.
“These flags are in the heart of our people, our citizens,” Cvijanovic emphasized. – This is how we start the celebration, because this is a big event for the Republika Srpska and Serbia…. It is important that we respect the iconic moments of our common history, so that we always know what our traditions and identity are – unity, freedom and the flag.”
“We intend to honor this day for years, decades and centuries,” said Milorad Dodik, a Serbian member of the BiH Presidency, speaking at a gala event in honor of the holiday. – Let's celebrate and remember this day. This is the day when the suffering Serbian army on the Thessaloniki front passed through Golgotha and liberated all these peoples in the Balkans, including Banja Luka (the capital of the RS - ed.) ... The Serbian people today have two states, and no one can ever take them away from us. We are not “Bosnian Serbs”, but only Serbs.”
The First World War was a dramatic episode in the history of the Serbian people. After the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian army that attacked the kingdom of Serbia, German troops invaded the country, which in turn, with their aggressive actions against the civilian population (according to some historians, every third Serb died as a result of the actions of the Second Reich) provoked a mass exodus of Serbs and the retreat of the Serbian armies through the mountains, where frostbitten and starving soldiers were attacked by Albanian gangs.
Serbian troops on the Thessaloniki Front
The remnants of the royal army, after the personal intervention of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who put pressure on the allies, were evacuated to the Greek island of Corfu.
It was there that a force was formed (six Serbian divisions became part of the allied Army of Thessaloniki), which took direct part in the counterattack on the occupiers. During the offensive and breakthrough of the Thessaloniki front on September 15, 1918, the allied forces defeated the 11th German army and the troops of Bulgaria, after which Bulgaria capitulated, and the victory itself became the beginning of the defeat of the Austro-German coalition.
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