Savo Lazarević nicknamed Batara (1849 — 1943) was Montenegrin and Yugoslav military officer.
Family
Lazarević was born in Lipovo. His father's name was Džajo. According to
Ratko Parežanin
Ratko Parežanin ( sr, Ратко Парежанин) was Austrian, Yugoslav, British and Western German writer and journalist of Serb ethnic origin.
Family
The father of Ratko Parežanin, Vidak Parežanin, was Serb Orthodox priest hanged by ...
, Lazarević had a son, Ljubo.
First Balkan War and First World War
From 1912 to 1916, Lazarević was the commander of the Montenegrin gendarmerie in
Metohija, whose members were known as the ''winged men'' ( sr, Крилаши) because of the insignia they wore on their hats, which depicted an eagle with open wings. Those who were shot at by Lazarević nicknamed him Batara, which means '
salvo' in
Albanian ( sq, Batare). According to some sources he subjected many Albanians from Metohija to forcible Christianization.
Lazarević was one of the most important Serb heroes of Albanian poetry, besides Marko Miljanov and
Radomir Vešović.
Lazarević was the commander of the Montenegrin Royal Gendarmerie which was part of the Čakor Detachment during the
Battle of Mojkovac
The Battle of Mojkovac was a World War I battle fought between 6 January and 7 January 1916 near Mojkovac, in today's Montenegro, between the armies of Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Montenegro. It ended with a decisive Montenegrin victory ...
. According to some Albanian newspapers, the Gendarmerie under Lazarević's command killed
Isa Boletini
Isa Boletini (; 15 January 186423 or 24 January 1916) was an Albanian revolutionary commander and politician and rilindas from Kosovo.
As a young man, he joined the Albanian nationalist League of Prizren and participated in a battle against Ot ...
in January 1916.
World War II
According to pro-Chetnik sources, Lazarević supported Chetniks during the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. During short-lived communist rule in Montenegro in 1941, Lazarević resisted to communists in his
kulla Kulla may refer to:
*Kulla (god), god of builders in the Mesopotamian mythology. He is responsible for the creation of bricks and restoration of temples.
*Kulla (goddess), an alternate name of Ukulla, a goddess regarded as the wife of the Mesopot ...
in Lipovo with several of his relatives. The Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović stayed in Lipovo from mid-1942 to the beginning of 1943.
The house of Lazarević was perfect choice of Chetnik headquarter ( sr, Горски Штаб) because it was situated on a hill which dominated whole of its surrounding. According to report of the Commander of Communist Durmitor Detachment, Partisans attacked Gornje Lipovo and performed cleansing operation which included the house of Savo Lazarević. The communists had an order to establish their own headquarter in the house of Savo Lazarević.
The communist forces tried to kill him because they concluded he was "irreversible reactionary and enemy of
People's Liberation War". Their first attempt in March 1942 was not successful. They succeeded in June 1943.
Savo Lazarević was 93 when, together with his brother Vučeta and Gligorije Puletić from Gornje Lipovo, defended his house from the attacking communist forces. They resisted three days to attacking communist forces and killed 5 Partisans.
When they spent all their ammunition, they committed suicide with hand grenades.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarevic, Savo
1849 births
1943 deaths
Montenegrin military personnel of World War I