Branko N. GAŠIĆ 

BRANKO GAŠIĆ, son of NIKOLA, born on March 4, 1923, in Baćevići near Mostar. A farmer, a candidate for membership in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) since 1942, in the Battalion since October 1941, a fighter, lance corporal, severely wounded in a clash with the Chetniks, transferred to the Central Hospital, where he contracted abdominal typhus and died as a wounded soldier and typhus patient in Ulog (Kalinovik) in March 1943.

EXCERPT FROM LITERATURE:

He provided cover during the unsuccessful attack on the Ustasha station in Vrdolje near Konjic on January 22, 1942: “The squad, in collaboration with the water from Spiljani, launched an attack on Vrdolje on the morning of January 22, 1942. It was a brutally cold mountain morning, with temperatures dropping below minus 25 degrees Celsius, freezing the hands and feet of the people, rifles, and machine guns, and raising doubts about the execution of the combat mission. Neither the incursion of the unit into the upper part of the village, nor the capture of the militiamen Mile Pađen and Alija Novalić, improved the situation of the half-dead group around the village, where the armed forces, fortified in warm houses, had received reinforcements the day before the attack. While retreating, we suffered heavy losses.* Vaso Gašić and Čedo Ćećez were killed, while Ilija Kuljanin, Rade Šinik, Omer Buljubašić, Mile Serdarević, and Drago Soknić from the Igmanska unit were wounded (…)”. *Providing cover during the retreat of our fighters from the houses they entered was done by Boro Radan, Branko Gašić, and Božo Škoro from a house where they disarmed two militiamen. In the end, they took the weapons of the disarmed militiamen and withdrew under fire.”

During the Chetnik coup in 1942, he refused to join the Chetniks: “On the night of June 9/10, Božo Skoro and Branko Gašić arrived at the squad command and informed us that Krsto Sušić from Čelebići, the platoon commander at Prijevorac, had gathered the fighters late yesterday afternoon and said: ‘From now on, the platoon is part of the Chetnik forces, and during the night, we need to cleanse Zijemlje of newcomers, Muslims, and Croats, especially the members of the KPJ.’ Shortly thereafter, the platoon set off towards Dnopolje. Under the cover of darkness, Božo and Branko separated from the platoon and, almost running, made their way through the forest, reaching the squad command.”