The Sisak People's Liberation Partisan Detachment ( sh, Sisački narodnooslobodilački partizanski odred), also known as the 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment (''1. Sisački partizanski odred''), was the first Partisan armed

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers wer ...

resistance unit formed in occupied Yugoslavia following the

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was ...

by the

Axis powers 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 ...

in April 1941. It was formed by the outlawed Croatian Communist Party in 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 (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

established on 10 April 1941, in the

Brezovica Forest Brezovica may refer to: Croatia * Brezovica, Osijek-Baranja County, a settlement in the municipality of Marijanci * Brezovica, Virovitica-Podravina County, a village in Gradina, Virovitica-Podravina County * Brezovica, Zagreb, a city district ...

near

Sisak Sisak (; hu, Sziszek ; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavin ...

(in today's

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

) on 22 June 1941, the day

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. It had 79 members, mainly

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic ...

with the exception of one notable Serb woman,

Nada Dimić Nada Dimić (6 September 1923 – 17 March 1942) was a Yugoslav Partisan who died in World War II and was proclaimed a People's Hero of Yugoslavia. Nada Dimić was born in Divoselo near Gospić, Kingdom of Serbs, Croat and Slovenes (modern Cr ...

, and was commanded by Vladimir Janjić-Capo. This event marked the start of armed

resistance in occupied Yugoslavia. In modern Croatia, 22 June is commemorated as a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history ...

— the Anti-Fascist Struggle Day. The detachment began resistance activities the day after its creation; launching sabotage and diversionary attacks on nearby railway lines, destroying telegraph poles, attacking municipal buildings in surrounding villages, seizing arms and ammunition and creating a Communist propaganda network in Sisak and nearby villages. The uprising of the Sisak People's Liberation Partisan Detachment was largely ignored in official Yugoslav historiography that instead claimed that the first uprising in Yugoslavia was the one launched two weeks later in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

, led by

Tito Tito may refer to: People Mononyms *Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman *Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journal ...

. In the post-war

Socialist Republic of Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Socia ...

, the date of the Srb uprising (27 July) was declared a public holiday, known as the "Day of the Uprising of the People of Croatia", also sidelining the uprising of the Sisak People's Liberation Partisan Detachment. Janko Bobetko, who 50 years later became one of the most prominent Croatian generals in

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yug ...

, joined the unit in July 1941.https://www.vecernji.hr/enciklopedija/janko-bobetko-18263

References

{{Yugoslav Partisans military units Detachments of the Yugoslav Partisans Military units and formations established in 1941 Croatia in World War II

See also

References