CROATIAN MILITARY TRADITION

Field marshal Svetozar Boroević (1856 – 1920) He was born in the village of Umetić next to Hrvatska Kostajnica and committed him-self to the army at a young age. Having been born to an Orthodox family, he was later considered to be a Serb. He declared himself as a Croat and was undoubtedly a Croatian officer and a general. He joined the armed forces of the then Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1872 and as a well-educated officer he advanced for decades and was promoted to his first general rank having become a major general in 1904. He was in command of the 6th Corps in Košice and a vice marshal when World War I started. His war path started with the aforementioned 6th Corps in Galicia and he proved himself in the autumn of 1914. In early September 1914, he became the commander of the Third Army and not only did he stop the Russian breach, but he also denied the Russians and established a battlefield line. Boroević was trans-ferred to a newly opened battlefield as a commander of the Fifth Army after Italy at-tacked Austria-Hungary at the end of May 1915. Despite the thinking of the Austro-Hungarian highest-ranked officers that defending the attacked territory is impossible as well as their plans to surrender a significant part of the present-day Slovenian territory, Boroević thought that the defense is possible and accepted the battle. In doing so, he especially relied on Slovenian, but also the Croatian soldiers, who were determined to battle against the Italian claim over their territory. That brought him great popularity among the Slovenes and Croats. At the established Isonzo front, Boroević managed to deny 11 Italian rushes in fierce and especially bloody battles despite having a significantly weaker army. He was nicknamed "Lion of Isonzo" due to his feats. On 1 February 1918 he was promoted to the highest rank – field marshal. During the collapse of Austria-Hungary at the end of October and the start of No-vember 1918, Boroević was still the commander on the battlefield against Italy. The only thing left for him to try on such occasions was to ensure a safe retreat of his troops back to the old Austria-Hungary borders after which he retreated to Koruška. After the Empire collapsed, he submitted an application for acquiring citizenship of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but it was declined and he was also forbidden to return home because he was an unwanted high-ranking officer of the former Empire. Shortly thereafter on 23 May 1920, he died from the ef-fects of a stroke. His final resting place is the arcades at the Central Cemetery in Vi-enna.