22.09.2024.

Minister Gašić attends commemoration of 108th anniversary of Battle of Kaymakchalan

Minister of Defence Bratislav Gašić attended today the state ceremony commemorating the 108th anniversary of the Battle of Kaymakchalan.

Minister Gašić, accompanied by Brigadier General Goran Momčilović and Colonel Dejan Stanišić, laid a wreath outside the Memorial Chapel and near the Memorial Ossuary housing the remains of Serbian soldiers killed on Mt. Kaymakchalan.

The state delegation was headed by the Minister for Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, Nemanja Starović.

Minister Gašić said that Kaymakchalan was a sacred place and a symbol of the Serbian people’s heroism, sacrifice and unwavering fight for freedom.

- This mountain, soaked in the blood of our ancestors, is more than a place of memory for us. It is a lasting monument to honour and pride, but also a reminder of the price we had to pay to become masters of our own destiny. Serbian heroism left a deep mark here, for eternity, clear and clean like a mark in the snow. Here, our great-grandfathers paid with their lives for the right to stand next to the Christ-loving knights of the Holy Prince Lazar at the hour of last judgment - emphasized the Minister of Defence.

Minister Gašić recalled the order by the Supreme Command of the Serbian Army for a breakthrough of the Macedonian Front.

-"All commanding officers, officers commanding and soldiers should be driven by the idea that the success of the offensive depends on the speed of penetration. We should advance boldly, without rest, to the extreme limits of human endurance and horses’ strength. With an unwavering will and hope in God, heroes, forward to the homeland!" - quoted Minister Gašić.

The Battle of Kaymakchalan, he said, was one of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the First World War, which determined its final course.

- Almost 5,000 of our soldiers laid down their lives on these slopes in late September 1916, not living to see Serbian land again from Prophet Elija’s Peak or the Gate of Freedom, as they called it. Historical data indicate that another 2,000 of them went mission during the fighting. Can we, their descendants, more than a century later, grasp the magnitude of their sacrifice? Can we imagine these slopes and peaks covered with the bodies of soldiers who died charging towards bullets and bayonets? Are we aware that the blood of Serbian heroes might have been spilled on the very stone we are stepping on - said the Minister of Defence.

“Every sacrifice, every life laid on the altar of freedom is built into the foundations of our country," emphasized Minister Gašić, pointing out that Kaymakchalan “is a symbol of an indomitable spirit that even the greatest powers and fiercest enemies could not break”.

- Kaymakchalan is a pledge never to bow down to a conqueror no matter how powerful they may be, never to give up our right to being free on our own piece of land. May this place live forever in our hearts and memories. May it always remind us of the most valuable thing we have - our freedom and honour. And may it compel us, despite all the challenges, to remain faithful to our homeland, our people and the ideals that were defended here. Take a small stone with you today and place it somewhere on the sacred Serbian soil. Perhaps that way you will bring to Serbia a few drops of blood of the heroes who shed their blood dreaming of homeland - said Minister Gašić.

Minister Starović expressed his belief that every Serb should visit this sacred place at least once in his or her lifetime, breathe the air, feel the constantly blowing wind and the stony ground under their soles.

- Only then will they fully understand our great heroes, the courage and determination of those who, in the last days of September 1916, were advancing daily towards these unconquerable positions of "Boris's Town", as the enemy called it. Positions that changed several times until our heroes finally pushed back the hated enemy and stepped onto the soil of the Kingdom of Serbia - emphasized Minister Starović.

The conquest of the fortified Mt. Kaymakchalan, standing 2,525 m above sea level, which the Serbs called the Gate of Freedom, was paid for with great sacrifices. The Battle of Kaymakchalan was the first major victory of the reorganized Serbian army.