Kern Ivan

Ivan Kern (3 October 1898 – 26 June 1991) is one of the officers who during the April War of 1941 bravely decided, in spite of defeatism and disorder at the top of command hierarchy,  to defy the coalition of Nazi and fascist occupiers. He was born in Žužemberk and as the son of a financial official made a brilliant career as a naval officer. After graduating from a secondary school in 1916, he enrolled in the Naval Trainees School in Pula, and eventually passed the naval officer course. In 1917, he was drafted on the battleship Prinz Eugen. At the end of 1918, when the Yugoslav state was formed, he was stationed in Sisak.

 

In 1919 he was assigned to serve with naval aviation units, specifically to the Seacraft Command in the Bay of Kotor. He served as a Navy pilot until 1922, when passing a course for communication service in Šibenik. Soon after, he enrolled at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Paris, where he graduated in 1923 in radiotelegraphy engineering. Thereupon, he was appointed member of the Commission for Contracting Communications Material in Berlin, where he worked from 1924 to 1925. From 1925 to 1928, he served at the Naval Military Academy in Dubrovnik as a class senior teacher and lecturer in nautical science, electrical engineering and radiotelegraphy. In 1928, he was transferred back to the Bay of Kotor, where he remained in charge of reconnaissance activities and the naval radio station until 1931. Afterwards, he was appointed torpedo boat commander and eventually commander of the destroyer Dubrovnik.   
In 1934 he was transferred to the General Headquarters in Belgrade and in 1935 sent to Paris, where he enrolled at the Naval War College and consequently graduated as Admiralty Staff Officer. Upon his return from France, he lectured once more at the Naval Military Academy in Dubrovnik in 1936-1937, where he taught officers on several subjects from the field of naval warfare. In 1937 he joined the Naval Command in Zemun, and was a year later appointed commander of warships composition. He retained this position until 1940, when he was yet again sent to Dubrovnik, where he became Director of the Naval Academy.

 

Here he stayed till the outbreak of war in April 1941, when owing to his great personal composure and cunning he successfully led the torpedo boats Durmitor and Kajmakčalan, which were part of  the Second Torpedo Division, through the Gate of Otranto despite the blockade by an Italian convoy. In Souda Bay, the two boats joined an Allied convoy sailing for Alexandria. This daring action carried out by Royal Yugoslav Navy sailors met with great approval by the Allies. In exile, the Structure of the Yugoslav Naval Forces was created and led by Kern from 27 April to 28 May 1941. In September 1941, the exiled Prime Minister Dušan Simović summoned Ivan Kern from Alexandria to London to take command of the Merchant Navy. When Božidar Purić was appointed Prime Minister in August 1943, he too invited Kern to take part. Kern accepted, but resigned no later than in the following month. When Tito's representative, General Vladimir Velebit, arrived in London in May 1944, Kern promptly joined the Yugoslav National Liberation Army. In September 1944, Dr Ivan Šubašić, the President of the (then still) Royal Government, announced that he had been appointed Commander of the Navy. Under Kern's command, thirty Navy units returned to their homeland, and Kern was retired at his own request with the rank of Rear Admiral.

 

Text: Dr Andrej Rahten, Science and Research Centre, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2010