06.04.2020.

Minister Vulin: Serbs have won wars, but they will have to win in peacetime as well

The Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin, the Envoy of the President of the Republic and the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, laid a wreath today at the Monument to the pilots, defenders of Belgrade in April 1941 at the Zemun quay, accompanied by a delegation of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.

- On 6th April, 1941, Serbs were the only anti-fascist nation in Europe. Serbs were the only ones who had the courage to say that they would not be part of the Tripartite Pact or a part of the fascist new order. That is why we paid a terrible price, but that is why our gratitude is immense: On 6th April, 1941, the Nazis joined the place where they belonged, among the beasts, and we stayed where we always were - among people and victors - Minister Vulin said after the wreath-laying ceremony.

The Minister of Defence stressed that the generation of 1941 won us the right to be victorious and to be proud to say that we belong to the better side of the world, both then and today.

- Even today, Serbia is on the better side of the world, and it is always where freedom is, where justice is. Serbs do not lose wars, but they have to stop losing in peacetime, in order to be able to live on and win - said Minister Vulin.

According to him, this affliction that we are facing today, that is trying to destroy us, will be defeated and will be defeated in peace, because the Serbs are who they are - the people of freedom, the people of the victors, the people who can confront anyone who tries to destroy them.

State Secretary Nenad Nerić laid the wreath on behalf of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, while the Deputy Mayor Goran Vesić laid the wreath on behalf of the City of Belgrade. The delegation of the Air Force and Air Defence of the Serbian Armed Forces also attended the wreath-laying ceremony.
Deputy Mayor Vesić recalled that today is one of the saddest days in the history of our country and city, because on this day Belgrade was brutally bombed and destroyed by Adolf Hitler’s aviation 79 years ago, and more than four thousand people were killed by bombs.

- What we are particularly proud of is the resistance of our armed forces in the defence of Belgrade, that is, the members of the Sixth Fighter Regiment, the pilots for whom this monument here was erected because they fought valiantly for their city, even though our city was bombed by the total of more than 600 German bombers - emphasized Vesić, adding that the brave pilots shot down dozens of planes, showing the proper way to fight for one’s country, and 145 pilots of the Royal Air Force were killed at the time.

The wreath-laying ceremony at the Monument to the pilots, defenders of Belgrade commemorates the 79th anniversary of the bombing of Belgrade on 6th April, 1941, which was the beginning of the Nazi Germany's attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in World War II.