Milunka Savić
Koprivnica near Raška 1890 – Belgrade, October 5, 1973
Milunka Savić was born in 1890 in the village of Koprivnica near Kraljevo. In her native village, she did housework and worked as a shepherdess. When the First Balkan War began in 1912, as a volunteer, disguised as a man and under the name Milun, she reported to the military command of the Toplica District. She fought in the Drina Division near Shkodra and participated in the Battle of Bregalnica. While treating the wounds she received during the Battle of Bregalnica, the hospital staff discovered that she was a woman. For her bravery, she was awarded the rank of corporal, but was discharged from the army. With the outbreak of World War I, Milunka re-registered as a volunteer, but the officers rejected her. After she appealed to higher military authorities, General Petar Bojović assigned her to the Iron Regiment of the Toplica District, commanded by General Dimitrije Matić, which already included the Scotswoman Flora Sands. For her services as a bomber in the Battle of Kolubara, she was awarded the Miloš Obilić Order of Courage. During the retreat of the Serbian army in 1915, she was seriously wounded and, after crossing Albania, was transferred to Bizerte for treatment.
After several months of recovery, she returned to the Salonika Front, where she distinguished herself in the fighting at the bend of the Black River (Kajmakchalan), where she captured 23 Bulgarian soldiers. The word about the woman “the miracle of a hero” soon spread through the army. Among her war decorations, she received two French Legion of Honor orders, and the French order: the Croix de la Marguerite with the Golden Palm. The great Allied generals Maurice Saray and Franche d’Eperret personally congratulated her and awarded her the Legion of Honor order, while Admiral Geprat insisted on meeting her and congratulating her. She was the only woman in the world to be awarded the French Croix de la Marguerite with the Golden Palm.
After the end of World War I, Milunka was forgotten. She became a cleaner at the State Mortgage Bank in Belgrade. She lived as a tenant on Skadarska Street. She married Veljko Gligorović, a poor postal clerk, and gave birth to four daughters (or, according to some reports, she gave birth to one and adopted three). After World War II, as a disabled pensioner, Milunka helped out in a tavern as a cleaner. She lived in a rented apartment in Voždovac. She raised 32 children. In 1970, the city authorities granted her, after 52 years of living in rented apartments and rooms, an apartment in the Belgrade neighborhood of Braće Jerković. In 2013, with full honors, the mortal remains of Milunka Savić from plot 101 were transferred with military honors to the Alley of Giants at the New Cemetery in Belgrade.
Sofija Jovanović Krsmanović
Belgrade, 1895 — Belgrade, December 20, 1979
Serbian heroine, fighter in the Balkan and World Wars Sofija Jovanović was born in Belgrade in 1895, the daughter of the famous butcher Dušan Jovanović from Dorćol. Her father was surrounded by female children, and he fervently wanted a “heroic son, the avenger of Kosovo”. When the First Balkan War broke out in 1912, Sofija appeared before the National Defense Commission as a volunteer. The members of the commission did not take her seriously, but Sofija did not allow herself to be swayed, and she passed the test and became the first female soldier in the volunteer detachments of the Serbian army. For her heroism, she was awarded the Order of the “Avengers of Kosovo”. French reporters called her the “Serbian Joan of Arc”, and her character appeared in the Parisian “Mali žurnal” in 1912 with the caption “Serbian heroine – Miss Sofija Jovanović”. With the outbreak of World War I, she volunteered again. She participated in the first battle of World War I, between 28 and 29 June 1914, in which the Serbian army repelled the Austrian landing on Belgrade. She participated in the battles on the Drina and Kolubara, and in October 1915 in the battles from Ada Ciganlija to the last defense of Belgrade, at Dorćol, under the command of Major Dragutin Gavrilović. She survived the retreat through Albania and participated in the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki Front. She received 13 decorations for her heroism. After the armistice and victory in World War I, she married her fellow soldier Tihomir Krsmanović. She died in 1979, was given a military honors and was buried at the New Cemetery in Belgrade in plot number 74, grave number 202.
Natalija Bjelajac, born Antonija Javornik
Maribor, May 13, 1893 - Belgrade, August 16, 1974
Serbian heroine, fighter in the Balkan and World War I Antonija Javornik (Natalija Bjelajac) was born in Maribor in 1893, then Austria-Hungary. From an early age, she was influenced by her uncle, a former lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army, who crossed the Drina River into Serbia and the Serbian army. She crossed into Serbia at the time on her third attempt, and the Serbian authorities provided her with the means and secured her passage to Kragujevac, where her uncle Martin served as a captain in the Serbian army in the 11th Infantry Regiment of Karađorđe. At the beginning of the First Balkan War, Antonija Javornik volunteered and changed her name to Natalija Bjelajac, out of concern for her family who remained in Maribor. She was first a nurse, but when the Second Balkan War broke out in 1913, she again volunteered, but this time as a soldier.
After her baptism of fire at Drenka, she captured a Bulgarian cannon battery and was awarded the Miloš Obilić Medal for Courage for this. For her merits in the battles at Cer and the surroundings of Šabac, she received a second Miloš Obilić Medal. Her further war journey took her to Belgrade, where she participated in the defense of the city. After crossing Albania, she participated in the battles at Kajmakčalan, where she alone captured 30 Bulgarian soldiers, and was again awarded the Medal for Courage. She was wounded twelve times, and was decorated as many times. In addition to several medals for courage and the Order of the White Eagle with Swords, the Russian Order of St. George, 3rd degree, she also became a Knight of the Karađorđe Star with Swords and a French Knight of the Legion of Honor. She lived off her salary, not wanting to ask anything from the state. She passed away at the age of 81, on the sixtieth anniversary of the Battle of Cer. Her urn was placed at the New Cemetery in Belgrade in columbarium number 4, transena 3, cassette 1 – I.
