81st Anniversary of the Igman March: 'I am coming to BiH to my brotherly people!'

Today marks the 81st anniversary of the "Igman March", one of the most significant operations during the People's Liberation Struggle in World War II, reports N1.

(Patria) - The anniversary of one of the most significant operations during the People's Liberation Struggle (NOB) in World War II was marked today with a traditional march and laying of wreaths and flowers by a delegation at the Memorial to the members of the First Proletarian Brigade on Veliko polje on Igman.

Ibrahim Čomić, Secretary of the Management Board of the Union of Associations of Anti-fascists and Fighters of the People's Liberation War in Sarajevo Canton (SABNOR), said that people from nine countries gathered on Igman today.

“We expect around seven to eight thousand announced participants in the 'Igman March' event. Today is a day of remembrance of the heroic feat not only of the Igman March, but of the entire People's Liberation Struggle”, Čomić stated.

He conveyed a message to all people to strengthen the anti-fascist front.

“We, the Montenegrin fighters and anti-fascists, have been here on Igman for 50, 60 years, to pay tribute and remember those who, under impossible conditions, found their way to freedom, to remember not only the Igman fighters, but all those who gave their lives on the territories of the former Yugoslav republics for their own good, for the good of their peoples”, said Dragan Mitov Đurović, Secretary General of SUBNOR and Anti-fascists of Montenegro.

As he stated, they are on Igman again this year to once again take an oath, to protect an independent and indivisible Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“That we from Montenegro offer support to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has always been desired by everyone, but has never been conquered and will not be”, added Mitov Đurović.

The "Igman March" was carried out on the night between January 27 and 28, 1942, in deep snow and extreme cold of minus 38 degrees Celsius, and 800 members of the First Proletarian Brigade marched for 17 hours.

Members of the First Proletarian Brigade were surrounded by strong German forces on Romanija. The brigade's Staff made the decision to carry out a dangerous, but the only possible, maneuver.

The participants of the march passed by Sarajevo and, via Igman, broke through towards Foča, then a free territory.

It was one of the most important partisan campaigns in the former Yugoslavia during World War II, and anniversaries of that event have been traditionally marked for decades with the message that anti-fascism has not been eradicated.