Branislav R. Milosavljević (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Бранислав Р. Милосављевић; 2 August 1879 – 17 April 1944) was a poet and a colonel of the Army of the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia ( sr-cyr, Краљевина Србија, Kraljevina Srbija) was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Princi ...

, the first mayor of Durrës within

Drač County Drač County ( sr, Драчки округ/Drački okrug) was one of the counties of the Kingdom of Serbia established on 29 November 1912 on the part of the territory of Albania taken from the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War. Drač C ...

and author of numerous patriotic poems, most notably the famous war poem ''Izgnanici'', better known as ''

Kreće se lađa francuska ''Kreće se lađa francuska'' ( sr-Cyrl, Креће се лађа француска; ) is a Serbian war song from the First World War, first sung in a Salonika harbor, where the Serbian army was recuperating after a long and painful withdrawal t ...

'' (The French Ship is Sailing). During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, his patriotism inspired him to write stirring war songs, one which, ''Kreće se lađa francuska'', was printed by the order of King Peter I of Serbia and distributed in the thousands. It was immediately transcribed into music. In 1940, Milosavljević retired to his property at Belgrade, where he, by his vast library of books, devoted himself to literature for the rest of his life. Milosavljević's dramatic talent was characteristically Serbian, his poems were well constructed and effective, arousing emotions. After returning from Nazi captivity, he was killed in Belgrade on 17 April 1944 as a result of the Allied bombing of Yugoslavia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milosavljevic, Branislav 1879 births 1944 deaths Military personnel from Požarevac Royal Serbian Army soldiers Serbian military personnel of the Balkan Wars Serbian military personnel of World War I Royal Yugoslav Army personnel of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Serbian male poets Mayors of Durrës 20th-century Serbian people Deaths by airstrike during World War II Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery Serbian civilians killed in World War II Yugoslav prisoners of war Poets from the Kingdom of Serbia