15.12.2017.
Anniversary of the Battle of Kolubara celebrated
State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, Negovan Stanković has led today the state ceremony marking the 103rd anniversary of the Battle of Kolubara in the Memorial Church with the ossuary of St. Dimitrius in Lazarevac, with the crypt where over 40,000 Serbian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers rest.
At the Monument to the Serbian warrior in the center of Lazarevac, a wreath-laying ceremony was held to pay tribute to the soldiers who were killed in the Battle of Kolubara .
The organizer of the national ceremony is the Committee of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for preserving traditions of Serbian liberation wars in cooperation with the municipality of Lazarevac.
Apart from the state sectretary, wreaths were laid and tribute paid also by representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, President of the Municipality of Lazarevac, representatives of the Embassies of Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic in the Republic of Serbia, numerous municipalities and non-governmental organizations commited to cultivating the traditions of the liberation wars of Serbia.
After the wreath-laying and tribute-paying ceremony, those present were addressed by the President of the Municipality of Lazarevac Bojan Sinđelić and State Secretary Negovan Stanković, after which a special artistic programme was held.
The Battle Kolubara is not only the greatest allied victory achieved in 1914, but it is also a textbook example of a skillful strategic action of a weaker and less equipped armed force, which managed to redirect the fight from the defensive in a rapid and sudden offensive action.
The tactics, applied by General Živojin Mišić, decorated with the rank of Field Marshal after the victory at Kolubara, is a unique example of a military strategic turn that brought the most significant victory in the First World War to the almost defeated army, the communication of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs stated.
