20.09.2014

Marking centenary of Battle of Mackov kamen

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has attended today the event of marking the centenary of the Battle of Mackov kamen and laid a wreath at the Memorial Chapel.

The wreaths were also laid by delegation of the Serbian Armed Forces led by Chief of General Staff Ljubisa Dikovic.
President Nikolic said that there was no bloodiest battle in the Great War that was remembered as it was the one that took place on Mackov kamen.

- In that one September week, in the area slightly larger than 500 square meters, field smaller than the one which every Serbian farmer plows in spring to plant it with his joy and anguish, both armies were losing every day, according to the history books, thousands of people. There is no memory of a battle in which more Serbian officers died, 115 of them with 176 wounded, the Serbian President said.

He added that it was not a clash of the armies, but two historical concepts, concepts of civilisation – one wishing to win something belonging to someone else and another defending something of its own.

- Mackov kamen is the Serbian Thermopylae, a battle that any nation would raise on a pedestal of sanctity and pride, a national legend that is a lofty historical example of sacrifice for the salvation and defence of the homeland and the people long before this day. Today we are doing that by returning our ancestors by keeping memory and honour, telling descendants that this place is a sanctuary, classroom of history and pride, President Nikolic concluded.

Marking the centenary began with memorial service to the fallen soldiers in the battles on Mackov Kamen, then the present delegations laid wreaths, which was followed by cultural programme.

Central event in the Mt Jagodnja was attended by the State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence Zoran Djordjevic, Minister of Labour, Employment, Veterans' and Social Issues Aleksandar Vulin, representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, Serbian National Assembly, municipalities of Ljubovija and Krupanj, church, diplomats and many citizens.