23.11.2016.
Screening of series Kaimaktsalan - Gates of Freedom
In the Grand Hall of the Central Military Club today, hosted by the Association of Descendants of Serbian Warriors 1912-1920, Odbrana Media Centre and Serbian Broadcasting Corporation, a screening of the series called Kaimaktsalan – Gates of Freedom was organized, which the team of SBC Educational and Scientific Programme made passing the roads of battles from the top of Kaimaktsalan to Bitola.A team consisting of the author of the series Milica Bajic Djogo, cinematographer Hadji Vladan Mijailovic, sound engineer Nenad Misic, with editors Tihomir Dukic and Goran Mijic, directed by Jelisaveta Janic, who is also the author, managed to shoot for the first time in an extremely difficult terrain the unrecorded historic sites where battle took place, whose centenary is marked this autumn.
In his opening address, on the eve of the festive screening, president of the Association of Descendants of Serbian Warriors 1912-1920, Ljubomir Markovic, thanked the authoring team "because of the extraordinary achievement", reminding the audience that in 1916 a fight between good and evil took place, in which our heroes, bright figures of Serbia participated...- They casted and forged the weapons called morale and gave a shining example of how to love the fatherland to all our generations that are lucky enough to be descendants of those generations of patriots, Markovic said.
Director of the Institute for Contemporary History, Momcilo Pavlovic, PhD, talked about the importance and historical circumstances that preceded the Battle of Kaimaktsalan, for which he found to be the permanent basis for the Serbian collective memory.
The author of the series, Milica Bajic Djogo, who, along with other deserving individuals for evoking Serbian heroic epic in 1916, was presented a plaque by president of the Association, pointed out that the project was carried out with scarce resources, but with a lot of desire and faith.
- There were obstacles that we thought to be insurmountable, but we went ahead and invested a lot of love, knowledge and experience – the author said, adding that the series was made with respect to all the heroes who have remained forever "over there at Kaimaktsalan”.The first phase in the breakthrough of the Salonika front and the final victory of the Allies in the Great War is associated with Kaimaktsalan. The Supreme Command of the Serbian Army knew that without conquering that peak at an altitude of 2525 m there can be no final victory. That is why this battle is one of the largest in the entire Serbian history, and remained in military annals described as a remarkable warriors’ feat.
Experienced military experts, both the allied and the hostile ones, considered that peak impregnable. Severe trench battles to conquer this mountain fortress lasted day and night, during the whole second half of September 1916. Finally, in a violent assault, the Drina Division won Kaimaktsalan suffering heavy losses. The victims on both sides were enormous. Many remained there on the doorstep of the fatherland forever.The recorded material testifies that around the peak itself there are still visible remains of trenches and gun emplacements. Even after a hundred years, nature has not been able to erase the traces of the crucial battle. The team was lucky enough to capture the interior of the fort and find the remains of German and French munitions used by the Serbian army.
Slopes of Kaimaktsalan and Nidze mountain are seeded with graves of Serbian soldiers. There is almost no church or area of the church ruins without Serbian cemetery. But the cemeteryies are deep in the forests, as well as individual graves, or several in groups. The team came across one such cemetery, where there still are visible inscriptions on preserved tombstones. Direct descendant of the warrior from Kaimaktsalan, who is also a descendant of Milunka Savic joined the team of SBC. His testimony was also permanently recorded in this series.
A special part of the series is dedicated to the chapel at the very top, which is near the bell tower with Pupin’s bell, and below the elevation 2,525 there is a crypt where the Kaimaktsalan giants rest today.
