World War 2

My father at the tender age of 17, joined the Partisans during World War 2 to protect his country which at that time was called Yugoslavia. This photo shows him in his uniform with what my husband Alex believes is a British Sten gun (my father cannot recall the name of the weapon he was given to use).

I can remember many stories my father told me about the period he spent fighting with the Partisans and I distinctly remember him talking about a forest with cabins set up as hospitals and underground bunkers which were used to house and protect injured soldiers.

In 1988 I was very fortunate to not only travel to Petrova Gora to see the Partizanska Bolnica (Partisans Hospital) hidden in the forest, I got to see it with my parents. The last time my father had seen this place was during the war as a Partisan when he contracted TB and had to be hospitalised himself.