80 years ago today, the Axis executed roughly 522 civilians (over 100 of which were children) in the Doli village in Piva region, NW Montenegro
80 years ago today, the Axis executed roughly 522 civilians (over 100 of which were children) in the Doli village in Piva region, NW Montenegro
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Known as the “Fifth Enemy Offensive” or “Case Black”, the plan Axis commanders devised was to flush the Partisans out of their bases in present-day northern Montenegro along the Piva river valley (which they had escaped to after the failed “Fourth Enemy Offensive” of the Battle of Neretva. The plan then called to push the Partisans northwards into the Sutjeska Valley in the Zelengora mountains of Bosnia, at which point they would form a perimeter to trap him (a series of events that eventually led to the Battle of Sutjeska).
Towards these efforts, the particularly notorious unit named the 7th SS Division “Prinz Eugen” (which was comprised of both Nazis and Ustaše) was in charge of pushing Yugoslav Partisan forces north out of the Piva River Valley towards Sutjeska, which began in late May of 1943. As the Partisans were driven north, the SS Division took it upon themselves as they pass through the Piva region to terrorize the local civilian population who were suspected of aiding the Partisan forces. While the SS Division committed such atrocities up and down the Piva River valley over the course of 10 days, the most horrific of these attacks occurred on June 7th, 1943 at a site referred to as “Dola”, where the SS Division commanders ordered the execution of roughly 522 innocent civilians (over 100 of which were children). The bodies were then thrown into pits. Sources relate that this massacre was finished as quickly as an hour’s time. Furthermore, some sources even include grisly accounts that a newborn baby who was born here at the massacre site during the killing was also subsequently killed as well.
Over the course of these 10 days which the SS Division “Prinz Eugen” terrorized the Piva River valley, sources indicate that well over 1,000 people were killed in total (the majority of whom were ethnic-Serbs), which, at that time, was approximately 10% of the valley’s population. In addition to these executions, many villages were also burned to the ground (Photo 1), sometimes with people still inside their homes as the buildings burned. This grisly series of events is sometimes locally referred to as “Piva’s Bloody Fairytale” (Pivska krvava bajka). In 2015, a documentary series about these events called “Kad se Piva na nebo selila” (When Piva Moved to Heaven) was aired on a BiH television, which can be watched in full on YouTube.
I don’t understand how someone can take the life of a child.
Quick, post pictures of sad looking Germans standing in their bombed out cities