Tomšič Janez

Janez Tomšič (March 16, 1909, Postojna – April 14, 1987, Split), partisan mariner, Rear Admiral of the Yugoslav Navy (JVM), author of the book The National Liberation Struggle in the Adriatic Sea and Slovenian Mariners.

 

 

After graduating from a secondary school in Novo mesto, he attended the Naval Academy in Dubrovnik from 1928 to 1931. After concluding his studies there, he served on ships of the Yugoslav Royal Navy and in the River Flotilla, and lectured in various military schools. After the capitulation of the Yugoslav Army in April 1941, he was exiled. He settled in Novo mesto, until interned on 19 March, 1942 (Gonars and Chiesanuova near Padua). He was released in April 1943.

 

He joined the national liberation struggle on August 26, 1943. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Slovenian National Liberation Strike Brigade "Tone Tomšič" and eventually sent with a group of sailors to the islands of Vis and Hvar to join the Partisan Navy Command. He was Commander of the armed ships of the IV Maritime Coastal Sector, Chief of Staff of the IV Maritime Coastal Sector, Commander of the Yugoslav National Liberation Army Naval Base in Monopoli, Italy, Commander of the III Maritime Coastal Sector, Head of the Naval Group of the IX Corps and Commander of the Northern Adriatic Naval Command.

 

After the liberation, he held high positions in the Yugoslav Navy (Commander of the Navy Fleet, then Commander of the Yugoslav Navy Hinterland, Head of the Naval Training Centre, Head of the Naval Technical Institute, Head of the Naval Academy and Head of the Operational Department of the Military Naval Area Command). On November 29, 1958, he was decorated with the rank of Rear Admiral of the Yugoslav Navy. He retired in 1965.

 

Janez Tomšič held several war and peacetime decorations and awards (Order of Courage - 1944, Order of the Partisan Star 3rd Class, Order of Merit for the People 3rd Class, Order of Merit for the People 2nd Class, Order of Brotherhood and Unity, Order of War Merit with Silver Swords, Medal of Courage, Recognition of the Liberation Front, Order of Military Merit, Order of the Partisan Star 3rd Class, Order of the People's Army 2nd Class, Decorations bestowed on the occasion of the 10th and 20th anniversaries of the Yugoslav People's Army, and several commemorative decorations ...). He was also decorated with the Italian Partisan Garibaldi Star and the Egyptian Order of Merit for the Republic.

 

He wrote the monograph The National Liberation Struggle in the Adriatic Sea and Slovenian Mariners (1974), in which the Maritime Museum Piran and the Association of Slovenian Partisan Mariners also took part by collection the requisite material. The monograph earned him the Uprising of the Slovenian Nation Award in 1975. He had his professional articles on maritime affairs published in various magazines and books (Vojna enciklopedija, Mornariški glasnik, Vazduhoplovni glasnik ...). 

 

Source: PMSMP, NOB documentation

 

Nadja Terčon