12.04.2018.

Drava sinking anniversary marked

Members of the River Fleet celebrated today the seventy-seventh anniversary of the heroic resistance to the fascist aggressor and the sinking of the Royal Yugoslav Navy river monitor Drava with its complete crew led commanded by a Royal Navy officer Lieutenant Commander Aleksandar Berić.

With the sound of ship sirens from Šabac ship and the honorary salute of the ship's guard, in the position of the sinking, commander of the River Fleet, Captain Navy Andrija Andrić and the granddaughters of the celebrated commander Berić, Aleksandra and Biljana, laid the wreath into the water

Captain Selimir Vagić, a military priest of the River Fleet, in concelebration with Captain Đorđe Stojisavljević, a military priest of the First Brigade, held the memorial service for the commander and sailors of the ship on the deck. Lieutenant Commander Dragan Spasojević spoke to the participants about the opposition of the ship's crew to the far more powerful aggressor and the dignified sacrifice when Aleksandar Berić, commander of the monitor, along with his boat and 78 crew members sank to the bottom of the Danube River, at 1287th kilometer of the navigable part of the Danube River, on 12 April 1941.

- He discharged his commander's duty honourably, defending his country's liberty and officer's honour by fulfilling the oath he gave. He fulfilled the vow never to surrender the ship to the enemy and, saluting the state flag and standing at attention, he sank with his ship - Spasojević said.

- This event, which took place seventy-seven years ago, represents a serious history of this country of which it should be very proud, so I think it should be marked and remembered. Members of the River Fleet do this in the most beautiful and most solemn way possible - Aleksandra, one of Berić's granddaughters said.