05.11.2018.
Minister Vulin: We have preserved the truth about the World War I
- Over the past four years, the world has intensely remembered what was called the Great War, hoping that the second Great War would never be. The world spent four years in another battle about World War I - the battle for the ultimate truth about the Great War. Over the past four years, Serbia has worked hard to preserve the truth as it was - the truth that Serbia did not even cause or demand World War I, and that it was part of it as it was forced to survive – Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin said opening the International Scientific Conference “Historical-Comparative Analysis of Operations on the Salonika Front 1916-1918” in the Guards Club at Topčider, today.
Minister Vulin stressed that Serbia is proud of the fact that at the Salonika Front and throughout the war it mixed flags and blood with France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy and Greece.
- Proud of the ancestors, proud of allies, but equally stubbornly resolved not to let a hundred years later, because our bones and ashes are mixed, the values of all the victim be also mixed together. Not every victim is the same, nor a member of the 42nd devil regiment, who died on Mačkov kamen and on Gučevo, can be equal as the one who had been born on Gučevo and on Mačkov kamen and left his head there because he did not understand that it was possible to live and die but only at the very place where he had been born - Minister Vulin said, stressing that a hundred years is not enough time to forget who went to war for what reason and who and why left their bones in numerous theatres of the Great War.According to him, Serbia has spent the past four years fighting not to allow the defenders and those who wanted to divide others’ country to get mixed in the fog.
- You will study how generals and field marshals thought, how soldiers behaved, how the resources were used, how geography was used, what was commanding like. You will also study political mistakes and misconceptions and see how much everything has changed steadily and fundamentally - Vulin said, reminding the participants in the gathering of the recent war events and the fact that the Serbian army during the NATO aggression had a 4M strategy - mobility, manoeuvre, masking and morale.
He stressed that everything has much changed, except for one thing that represents the essence of all the success and victory of the Serbian army, and that is morality.
- The Serbian soldier, convinced of what he was fighting for, beat numerously and technically more superior ones, not because he wished to die, but because he did not see any other opportunity in front of him, but courageously to break through the hills and invincible slopes to come home – Minster Vulin said.
Wishing the conference participants success in the work, Minister Vulin stressed that they should not forget that the word has yet to define a Serbian soldier and to find the essence and reason for the existence of the Serbian army in it.
- Serbia is proud of its allies and the battles that we have won together. There are few countries that can, like Serbia, boast having such big friends and such big enemies and who, like Serbia, know the value of peace, because they have participated in so many wars - Minister Vulin said, adding that few peoples like us appreciate friends who died with them, but who value freedom above all.
The participants of the conference were greeted by French Ambassador Frédéric Mondoloni, and stressed that his country, like other countries who were among the winners in the Great War, marked the centenary of that event with a series of manifestations, and that the breakthrough of the Salonika Front was one of the events marked in France before the Armistice Day.- When the Saloniki front broken through, on 15th September, there was a withdrawal of central forces, which accelerated the loss and withdrawal of Germany. This proved that it was not a secondary front, but a central one, that made a significant contribution to the end of the World War I - Ambassador Mondoloni said, adding that marking the centenary also provides opportunity for marking the anniversary of “fraternity in arms” between Serbia and the allies.
Rector of the University of Defence, Major General Goran Radovanović, emphasized that the parallel consideration of the past and the present, based on the acquired knowledge and experience and the projections of the future, is the right way to examine the security environment, modern armed conflicts, and strategic trends.
- Convening this gathering is a great opportunity for the scientific and professional public from Serbia and abroad to present their views on a historical period that was essential for the world and Europe, while for Serbia and its people it was crucial, General Radovanović said.
Colonel Dr. Rade Slavković, Head of the Department of Operations of the National Defence School, which is office of main responsibility for the implementation of the scientific-research project, pointed out that the project, which focuses on the operations at the Salonika Front 1916-1918 and its comparison with other operations from the near future continues to be a unique opportunity to analyse strategic conditions, operational skills, tactical procedures, command and control, logistic support and international humanitarian law in operations, in order to exchange experience and improve the existing and future theory and practice of science in the defence system.After the opening of the international conference, the minister of defence opened the exhibition dubbed “Historical and Comparative Analysis of Operations on the Salonika Front 1916-1918” in the Hall of the Guard Club, which shows a part of the World War I weapons, used on the Salonika Front.
This is a two-day conference, held in honour of the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War and which, besides Serbian experts, gathered representatives of Greece, Russia, the United Kingdom and France.
