On this day 17 April 1941

SERGEJ MAŠERA

 

On this very day 85 years ago, 17 April 1941, Sergej Mašera (11 May 1912 – 17 April 1941), naval officer, Lieutenant Commander, national hero and holder of the Partisan Commemorative Medal, mined, after the capitulation of the Yugoslav army, together with Lieutenant Commander Milan Spasić, the destroyer Zagreb in the Bay of Kotor and lost his life on it.

With this heroic act, he became part of Slovenian and world naval history. An act that raised the soldiers’ morale, had a reputation both at home and abroad, and which was recognized, considering that it was carried out in agreement with international military ethics, as a great achievement, an exploit of heroism and sacrifice. After the attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, the Yugoslav fleet headquarters consented to the unconditional capitulation on 16 April and ordered the crews to surrender their ships, submarines and hydroplanes to the approaching enemy. After the announcement of the Yugoslav Army’s capitulation, the crew of the destroyer Zagreb abandoned the ship in great disorder on the captain's order. In line with the military doctrine and honour they had been taught, neither Sergej Mašera nor Milan Spasić acknowledged the capitulation of the Yugoslav Army and Navy. After the crew left, the two officers who remained on board expertly mined the ship, detonated it, and sank together with it.

 

 

Sergej Mašera sent his last message to his family in Ljubljana from Tivat on 9 April 1941, saying that everything was fine with him. His family received his postcard after Sergej’s death.

 

The postcard is held by the Maritime Museum Piran (P 12962).