Aleksandar Berić
Yugoslav naval commander / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Aleksandar Berić (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Александар Берић; 13 June 1906 – 12 April 1941) was a Yugoslav naval officer who was killed during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941.
Aleksandar Berić | |
---|---|
Native name | Александар Берић |
Born | 13 June 1906 Novi Bečej, Austria-Hungary |
Died | 12 April 1941(1941-04-12) (aged 34) Belegiš, Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
Allegiance | Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
Service/ | Royal Yugoslav Navy |
Years of service | 1929–1941 |
Rank | Poručnik bojnog broda |
Commands held | Malinska Drava |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Awards | Order of Karađorđe's Star (posthumous) Medal of Honour (posthumous) |
During the 1930s, Berić served in various capacities aboard several Royal Yugoslav Navy vessels. In December 1940, he was appointed as the captain of the river monitor Drava. On 6 and 8 April 1941, during the Axis invasion of his country, he ordered the shelling of an airfield near the Hungarian city of Mohács. Several days later, Drava engaged four Hungarian patrol boats coming down the Danube from the direction of Mohács and managed to drive them back. Although initially imbued with a high level of morale, as the monitor's crew members became aware of the Royal Yugoslav Army's poor performance in the face of the invasion, several deserted. On 12 April, Berić oversaw the downing of three Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers by his anti-aircraft gunners. Drava was eventually overwhelmed by the dive bombers, one of which scored a direct hit against her engine room. The ensuing explosion resulted in Drava's destruction, killing most of her crew. Berić did not survive the monitor's sinking.
In 1942, Berić was posthumously awarded the Order of Karađorđe's Star with Swords, 4th Class by the Yugoslav government-in-exile. In 2002, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honour of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A memorial bust of Berić was unveiled in the village of Belegiš, near Stara Pazova, in April 2015. The headquarters of the Serbian River Flotilla in Novi Sad is also named after him.