The Gata massacre was the murder of 96 villagers in the Croatian village of

Gata Davionte Ganter, known professionally as GaTa, is an American rapper and actor known for his role in the FXX TV series ''Dave'', as well as for being the hype man for rapper Lil Dicky throughout his career as well as on the show. Early life an ...

in 1942. The perpetrators of this massacre were members of

Momčilo Đujić Momčilo Đujić ( sh-Cyrl, Момчилo Ђујић, ; 27 February 1907 – 11 September 1999) was a Serbian Orthodox priest and Chetnik . He led a significant proportion of the Chetniks within the northern Dalmatia and western Bosnia r ...

's Dinara Chetnik Division, under the leadership of Commander ( vojvode)

Mane Rokvić Mane Rokvić ( sr-Cyrl, Мане Роквић) was a Serbian guerrilla commander during the Second World War. Rokvić briefly commanded of the Yugoslav Partisan 4th detachment of the ''Sloboda Battalion'' during the 1941 Drvar uprising, a spontane ...

Background

At the end of September 1942, the Yugoslav partisans in Dalmatia intensified their actions against the

Axis forces The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

and caused disturbance among Italian officers in charge of the region. Italian General

Umberto Spigo Umberto Spigo ( Patti, 4 June 1883 – Turin, 26 August 1954) was an Italian general during World War II. Biography Born in the province of Messina in 1883, he joined the Academy of Artillery and Engineers of Turin, graduating as artillery seco ...

, commander of the XVIIIth Army Corps, was particularly frustrated with the authorities of the

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. It was established in p ...

because he felt they were not cooperating enough with the Italians, and because they could not obtain information about recent Communist sabotages from the local Croatian population. Therefore, the Italians devised a plan of action against Communist activities in the Omiš area. About 150 Chetniks were carried by Italian transport trucks as additional reinforcements. On October 1, 1942, at around 6 in the morning, parts of the Chetnik forces began moving towards the Dalmatian village of Gata.

The massacre

Shortly before entering the village, the Chetniks met a group of Croatian women carrying milk to Omiš. The Chetniks murdered the women by cutting their throats. After Gata was surrounded by Chetnik and Italian forces, the initial ones started massacring the villagers. A nine-year-old boy named Maksim saw his cousin Ante run away covered in blood and with a knife sticking out of his throat. Maksim then alarmed the rest of his family who began to flee towards the Mount Mosor. The then 12-year-old survivor Andrija Pivčević remembers the witnessed events:

''" I was in a group of twelve. I've seen with my own eyes how they killed people. I saw them slaughtering Danica Miloš, her 10-year-old son and how they tossed her 1-year-old daughter in the air and impaled her on a bayonet. They shot me with a rifle in my buttock and then one of the Chetniks approached me and asked if I prefer to be finished by a bullet or a knife. I was begging him not to kill me because I was my mom's only son. After that he started stabbing me with his knife. He stabbed me 9 times."''

Pivčević survived the massacre by pretending to be dead and after the war he testified in the trial of

Draža Mihajlović Draža or Draza is a given name. Those bearing it include: * Draža Mihailović (1893-1946), Yugoslavian ethnic-Serbian general * Draza Mihajlovic, namesake of Draza Mihajlovic Cup basketball tournament in Australia See also * Dražan {{giv ...

. After the mass killings were over, most of the village houses were set on fire by the Chetniks. The youngest victim of this carnage was a nine-month-old baby, while the oldest victim was an 87-year-old woman.

Aftermath and remembrance

On the 70th anniversary of the massacre a commemoration was held. One of the notable people present there was the Croatian president

Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović (; born 28 August 1957) is a Croatian academic, jurist, and politician who served as President of Croatia from 2010 to 2015. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ), and played a key ...

. An elementary school in Gata is named "1st October 1942" in the remembrance of this event.

References

{{coord missing, Croatia 1942 in Croatia October 1942 events Massacres in 1942 Chetnik war crimes in World War II Croatia in World War II Mass murder in 1942 Massacres of Croats Massacres in Croatia 1942 murders in Europe