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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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95th anniversary of Kolubara battle observed in Lazarevac

Lazarevac, 15 December 2009

A celebration of the 95th anniversary of the battle of Kolubara was held today at the Saint Dimitrije temple and charnel house in Lazarevac, whose crypt contains the remains of some 40,000 Serbian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers.

The celebration of the anniversary was continued by paying state and military honours at the Monument to the Serbian Soldier in the centre of Lazarevac.

The ceremony was attended by Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Army Lieutenant General Miloje Miletic, and the organisers of the event are the Sector for Veteran and Disability Protection of the Serbian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Ministry of Defence and the Lazarevac municipality.

Wreaths were laid in the crypt of the Saint Dimitrije temple and next to the Monument to the Serbian Soldier by representatives of the Serbian government, the Serbian Army, the Lazarevac municipality, embassies of Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Russia and Great Britain, and of non-governmental organisations dedicated to cherishing the tradition of Serbia's wars of liberation.

Miletic said that the battle of Kolubara was one the greatest victories, not only of the Serbian Army, but of allied forces in the First World War.

That is why we are here today, to pay tribute to those great strategists, known and unknown, those who gave their lives for this victory, which took the international credibility of the Kingdom of Serbia to a high level, in a world that was caught in the hurricane of a large-scale war, Miletic said.

He said that members of the Serbian Army still learn from the examples of the great strategists of the Kolubara battle. He added that the Army and the defence system are in the process of continued transformation and that the Serbian Army will continue with professionalisation in the years to come.