The Battle of Zvornik ( bs, Bitka u Zvorniku) was the 1943 capture by the 1st Proletarian Brigade of the occupied Bosnian town

Zvornik Zvornik ( sr-cyrl, Зворник, ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in Republika Srpska, on the left bank of the Drina river. In 2013, it had a population of 58,856 inhabitants. The town of Mali Zvornik ("Little Zvornik") lies ...

from the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

and the Ustasha troops of the occupying

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

Operation

Preparation for the offensive on the occupied town of

by the 1st Proletarian Brigade began in June 1943. On the order of the brigades commander

Koča Popović Konstantin "Koča" Popović ( sr-cyrl, Константин "Коча" Поповић; 14 March 1908 – 20 October 1992) was a Yugoslav politician and communist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, 1937–1939 and Divisional Commander of the Fir ...

, the troops began their attack on the night of 4 July 1943. The idea of the attack was that during the night the sudden, powerful onslaught could takeover the Zvornik Fortress (Kula grad) on Mount Mlađevac. Mlađevac and Zmajevac were also successfully captured in the initial attack. The Ustasha troops, legionnaires and civilians fled across the

Drina river The Drina ( sr-Cyrl, Дрина, ) is a long Balkans river, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps whic ...

into Serbia. Many people died crossing the Drina. Filip Kljajić, the political commissary of the 1st Proletarian Brigade, was shot accidentally on a hill on the outskirts of Zvornik during withdrawal. His body was taken to the

Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...

village Liplje on a mountain near Zvornik and buried. Kljajić's body was later taken from that spot by his family and reburied in a family plot elsewhere. A memorial was erected on the spot where his corpse was originally buried. Following the ethnic cleansing of Liplje in 1992 at the start of the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

, the memorial suffered and became overgrown with shrubbery.

Aftermath

Rodoljub Čolaković Rodoljub "Roćko" Čolaković ( sr-cyr, Родољуб Чолаковић; 7 June 1900 – 30 March 1983) was a Yugoslav politician and writer who served as the 1st Prime Minister of PR Bosnia and Herzegovina and as the Minister for PR Bosnia ...

, who participated in the capture on the Partisan side, wrote in his 1962 memoir ''Winning Freedom'': "We had reached a grand and most significant victory in eastern Bosnia. We had liberated Zvornik, an important junction of communications along the

Drina The Drina ( sr-Cyrl, Дрина, ) is a long Balkans river, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps whic ...

References

{{Wars and battles involving Serbs Zvornik History of Zvornik

1943 in Yugoslavia

July 1943 events