Английская Википедия:Ignjat Kirhner
Ignjat Kirhner (Шаблон:Lang-sr-cyr, Шаблон:Lang-de; 30 May 1877 – 18 May 1944) was an Austro-Hungarian officer, Serbian World War I volunteer, and Yugoslav brigadier-general. He deserted the Austro-Hungarian Army by the start of World War I and joined the Royal Serbian Army as a guerrilla fighter in the Belgrade area. After the war he rose in the Royal Yugoslav Army to the rank of brigadier-general.
Early life
There are differing accounts on his origin. He has been described as: a Banat Swabian (ethnic German);Шаблон:Sfn an ethnic Serb, born in Ruma, Austria-Hungary (now Serbia), who adopted the surname Kirchner from his stepfather who adopted and raised him;Шаблон:Sfn an ethnic Serb, born in Klein-Betschkerek, Austria-Hungary (now Becicherecu Mic, Romania), who adopted the surname from his stepfather, whom his mother remarried.Шаблон:Sfn Ruma was a town which had a Serb majority and minorities of Germans, Hungarians and Croats, while Klein-Betschkerek was a village which had a German majority and minorities of Serbs and Romanians.
He grew up speaking German, and only learnt Serbian while serving in the Austro-Hungarian army.Шаблон:Sfn
Austro-Hungarian service
Kirhner finished the Military Academy in Vienna, then served in the Austro-Hungarian army as an officer in Vinkovci in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (now Croatia) for seven years.[1] Here, he learnt Serbian;[1] it is said that he learnt to speak fluently, but with a likable German accent.Шаблон:Sfn
He deserted from the Austro-Hungarian army in 1914 and crossed into the Kingdom of Serbia.Шаблон:Sfn According to unconfirmed stories of his comrades, he had deserted after killing a superior officer who, knowing of Kirhner's ancestry or not, had talked very insulting and degrading about Serbs.Шаблон:Sfn
World War I
Kirhner joined the Serbian Army, being accepted by decree by King Peter I of Serbia.Шаблон:Sfn According to unreliable stories, Kirhner fled to Serbia swimming across the Sava river to Belgrade in the summer of 1914, and was the first to bring news that the Austro-Hungarian government was ready to declare war regardless of the response to the July Ultimatum.Шаблон:Sfn
Kirhner began his service in the World War I campaign as a Chetnik volunteer.Шаблон:Sfn In 1914 he participated in the capture of an Austro-Hungarian military post on the left shore of the Sava, during which he was wounded in the right foot, but declined to go to hospital.Шаблон:Sfn He gathered youngsters from Syrmia and Banat who had managed to escape to Belgrade and wanted to join the Serbian Army, but as they were too young, they joined as volunteers.[2] At first, his volunteer unit numbered 15, but quickly rose up to 400.[2]
During the defense of Belgrade in fall 1915, Kirhner commanded the Srem Volunteer Detachment.Шаблон:Sfn In late September, when the state in Belgrade was critical, he led his unit which defended the railway embankment from the "Zlatni šaran" kafana to Knez Mihailova Venac from the incoming Austro-Hungarians.Шаблон:Sfn The volunteers suffered great losses.Шаблон:Sfn The detachment participated in the assault led by major Dragutin Gavrilović on 7 October.Шаблон:Sfn Kirhner was seriously wounded in the same foot, and was saved by his comrades who took him away from the first line of defense.Шаблон:Sfn The command of the detachment was taken over by Živko J. Kezić.Шаблон:Sfn The detachment was ordered to retreat to the heights south of Belgrade, which was the beginning of the large and organized departure of the army towards southern Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania.Шаблон:Sfn
Kirhner was treated in Niš, and was with other wounded transferred to Corfu.Шаблон:Sfn His nurse was Bosiljka "Bosa" Čajkanović, the sister of reserve captain Veselin Čajkanović, the later academic.Шаблон:Sfn During the retreat to Corfu, Kirhner and Bosiljka fell in love, and they later married.Шаблон:Sfn From Corfu, he was sent to treatment in Toulouse.Шаблон:Sfn There he was healed, but his two woundings in the same foot left him disabled with a 6 cm shorter foot.Шаблон:Sfn He finished electro-technical faculty in France.Шаблон:Sfn
He was described as a 'great Serbian patriot'.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn As a Chetnik commander, he received the title of vojvoda.[3]
Interwar period
After the war, he held high offices in the Military-Technical and Engineering Department of the Army and Navy.Шаблон:Sfn He married Bosiljka, his war-time love.Шаблон:Sfn In the Yugoslav Army, Ignjat Kirhner had the rank of an engineering technical lieutenant,Шаблон:Sfn then rose to the rank of brigadier-general (1939).Шаблон:Sfn For a period of time, he was the President of the "Association of Belgrade Defenders 1914–1915".Шаблон:Sfn
Last years
At his personal request, he was retired shortly before World War II.Шаблон:Sfn He declined an offer from Nazi Germany to be employed in the occupation government in Serbia in 1941.Шаблон:Sfn He was killed on Easter 1944 in Belgrade during Allied bombardments.Шаблон:Sfn
References
Sources
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- Английская Википедия
- 20th-century Serbian people
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- Chetniks
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- 1877 births
- 1944 deaths
- Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to Serbia
- Immigrants to the Kingdom of Serbia
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