Today is Anti-Fascist Struggle Day in Croatia. It marks the beginning of the uprising of Croatian anti-fascist Partisans against German and Italian occupying forces.
On April 6th 1941, during the Second World War, the Wehrmacht (German armed forces) and their allies (Italy and Hungary) invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Meeting little in the way of organized resistance, within 11 days the country was fully under Axis control.
Despite this initial capitulation, it wasn’t long before the Yugoslavs started organizsing themselves and resistance movements started to emerge. On June 22nd 1941 in the Brezovica woods outside Sisak in central Croatia, the First Sisak Partisan Detachment was formed. This was the first military unit formed by a resistance movement in occupied Europe. Of the 77 fighters who formed the first Partisan unit, 38 survived the war. Most of them were from the Sisak area and were mostly members of the Communist Party.
The anti-fascist movement in Croatia grew from this first detachment into a nationwide resistance in which more than 500,000 Croatian citizens actively participated, including 230,000 armed fighters and is considered to be the most effective resistance movement active during the war.
Today is the birthday, in 1944, of Peter Asher, Peter &Gordon, who had the 1964 UK & US No.1 single ‘World Without Love’, written by Lennon & McCartney. Asher was a producer and Head of Apple Records in late 60s and went on to become James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt’s manager. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdx6lLvvRyg
Comments