Gata massacre
Gata massacre | |
---|---|
Location | Gata, Croatia |
Date | 1 October 1942 |
Target | Croat civilians |
Attack type | War crime |
Deaths | 96 |
Perpetrators | Dinara Chetnik Division assisted by Italian 12th Infantry Division Sassari |
The Gata massacre was the murder of 96 villagers in the Croatian village of Gata in 1942.[1] The perpetrators of this massacre were members of the Dinara Chetnik Division,[2] under the leadership of Chetnik Commanders (vojvoda) Petar Baćović, Momčilo Đujić and Mane Rokvić.[2]
Background[]
At the end of September 1942, the Yugoslav partisans in Dalmatia intensified their actions against the Axis forces and caused disturbance among Italian officers in charge of the region. Italian General , commander of the XVIIIth Army Corps, was particularly frustrated with the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia because he felt they were not cooperating enough with the Italians,[3] 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.[4]
The massacre[]
Shortly before entering the village, the Chetniks met a group of Croatian women carrying milk to Omiš.[4] The Chetniks murdered the women by cutting their throats.[citation needed] 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.[5] 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."[6]
Pivčević survived the massacre by pretending to be dead and after the war he testified in the trial of Draža Mihajlović.[6] After the mass killings were over, most of the village houses were set on fire by the Chetniks. [7] The youngest victim of this carnage was a nine-month-old baby, while the oldest victim was an 87-year-old woman.[8]
Remembrance[]
On the 70th anniversary of the massacre the commemoration was held. One of the notable people present there was the Croatian president Ivo Josipović.[9]
An elementary school in Gata is named "1st October 1942" in the remembrance of this event.[10]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ "Gata: vijenci za žrtve četničkog pokolja". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "KOMEMORACIJA U ZALEĐU OMIŠA ZA ŽRTVE TALIJANSKO-ČETNIČKOG POKOLJA Bio i živući svjedok zločina, koji je 1946. svjedočio na suđenju Draži Mihajloviču". jutarnji.hr. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ Tomasevich, Jozo (October 2002). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia: 1941 - 1945. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804779241.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "OSVRT NA MASOVNE FAŠISTIČKE ZLOČINE NAD MOSORSKIM CIVILIMA U VIŠE SELA NA POČETKU LISTOPADA 1942.G." www.antifasistisplit.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ "Republika - Glasilo gradjanskog samooslobadjanja". www.republika.co.rs. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "SVJEDOČIO PROTIV DRAŽE 'Molija sam četnika da me poštedi, on me devet puta izboja nožen...' > Slobodna Dalmacija". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ "Obilježena 75. godišnjica pokolja u Gatima". Hrvatska radiotelevizija. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ "1. listopada 1942. Omiš – četnički pokolj u Gatima – narod.hr". narod.hr (in Croatian). 1 October 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ Administrator. "Gata: Komemoracija na 70 godišnjicu pokolja civila u Gatima". www.dugirat.com (in Croatian). Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ "73. obljetnica pokolja u Gatima :: Hrvatski radio". radio.hrt.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- 1942 in Croatia
- October 1942 events
- Massacres in the 1940s
- Chetnik war crimes in World War II
- Croatia in World War II
- Mass murder in 1942