Milan Tepić

Milan Tepić's monument in his street in Belgrade

Milan Tepić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Тепић, 1957 - September 29, 1991), was a major of former Yugoslav People's Army, ethnic Serb from village Komlenac near Kozarska Dubica (then Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia, now Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina) under Kozara mountain. He is the last person that was given Order of the National Hero of Yugoslavia.

Bjelovar events

In July 1991, Major Tepić was given command of central YPA ammunition depot in village Bedenik near Bjelovar. Like in other parts of the country, the YPA refused to withdraw from Bjelovar and instead sent tanks out to support armed action in other areas of the country.^[1] Many of the conscripted soldiers in the YPA objects (which included many Kosovo Albanians) deserted from the barracks to the Croatian side, refusing to fight for the Yugoslav cause.^[1]

In September, the YPA barracks in Bjelovar, including the central ammunition depot, were attacked by Croatian forces.^{[citation needed]} The attack was ordered by colonel Josip Tomšić, ethnic Croat who defected from YPA to Croatian army.^{[citation needed]}

The barracks, which weren't supplied with electricity and water for weeks, were captured after heavy fighting.^{[citation needed]} YPA conscripts were given direct order from Major Tepić to retreat to a safe distance from the base.^{[citation needed]} Soldier Stojadin Mirković refused this direct order, and from his APC he fired at the enemy until he was hit by anti tank projectile.^{[citation needed]} Major Tepić and seven officers under his command, retreated to the ammunition depot and destroyed the facility when first of the Croatian soldiers entered the depot. He did not want to surrender weapons and ammunition to the enemy.^[2]

According to Croatian sources, 11 Croatian soldiers and 20 Serbian reservists (members of the YPA, including Tepić himself) were killed in the explosion.^[1] The explosion devastated the surrounding 200 meters of wood area and the shock wave caused material damage in nearby houses. The explosion was heard as far as Bjelovar were some windows were broken.

Serbian sources claim that more than 200 Croatian soldiers died in explosion, but were declared MIA by the Croatian Army.^{[citation needed]}

Aftermath

Hero Milan Tepić's street sign in Belgrade

Major Milan Tepić was declared for National Hero of Yugoslavia.^[2] He is the last person that received this order.

Streets in Belgrade, Banja Luka,^[3] Vršac,^[4] Zrenjanin,^[5] Sremska Mitrovica^[6] are named after him. There is also a monument of Milan Tepić in his street in Belgrade. One street in Novi Sad was also named after him until being changed in 2004.^[7] Army of Republika Srpska introduced Order of Milan Tepić for bravery in Bosnian war [1].

Some Serbs link Tepić's act to Stevan Sinđelić, who did a similar act almost 200 years before during the First Serbian Uprising. Others in Serbia see Tepić's entire fame as being an experiment of Slobodan Milošević's failed propaganda attempt to mythologize the "new Serbian hero".^[7] A parallel is drawn to Vladimir Trifunović, the commander of the Varaždin barracks who refused to have his men killed in a needless fight and surrendered to Croatian Army, leaving large quantities of arms and many fully functional T-55 tanks. He was trialed and sentenced by Serb military courts to 11 years for treason.^[7][8]

Despite Tepić's sacrifice, Croatian forces captured over 100 T-55 tanks, many Armoured personnel carriers and other weapons and ammunition from YPA's Bjelovar objects, which is the largest number of captured tanks during the war, except those captured in Varaždin.^[9][10]

See also

• Battle of the Barracks
• Yugoslav People's Army
• Croatian War of Independence
• Stevan Sinđelić
• Moment of the explosion, video taken from YouTube.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_AsvlDmIj0&feature=related

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} (Croatian) Vjesnik.hr: U granatiranju iz bjelovarske jugovojarne srušene su cijele ulice u gradu i ubijeni civili
2. ^ ^{a b} Sikavica, Stipe (1997). "Republika - Skromne pocasti jedinom heroju". yurope.com. http://www.yurope.com/zines/republika/arhiva/97/175/175_17.HTM. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
3. ^ "Oficijelna internet prezentacija grada Banjaluke". http://www.banjaluka.rs.ba/vijesti/newsDetail.aspx?newsID=5783&catID=7. Retrieved 2008-08-27. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Mapa: Narodnog heroja Milana Tepića". http://www.aladin.info/maps/index.php?id=824111759&street=Narodnog%20heroja%20Milana%20Tepi%C4%87a. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
5. ^ Subić, Petar. "Kompletni spisak ulica u Zrenjaninu". Nazivi ulica u Zrenjaninu. Istorijski arhiv Zrenjanin. http://arhivzrenjanin.org.rs/eulicegrbovi/spisak_ulica.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-07. 
6. ^ "Sremska Mitrovica, Milana Tepica 6a". http://www.enekretnine.com/prodaja-nekretnina-sremska-mitrovica-kuca-stari-most-milana-tepica-n38277-o529931.html. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
7. ^ ^{a b c} Teofil, Pančić (2004-07-15). "Tehnološki višak istorije". Vreme. http://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=385436. Retrieved 2008-08-27. .
8. ^ (Croatian) Nacional news report on Trifunović
9. ^ "ZLOCINAC IZ BJELOVARA IMA ULICU U BEOGRADU". Vecernji List. 2006. http://www.camo.ch/u_srbiji_ulica.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-08. 
10. ^ Antun Tus, Rat u Sloveniji i Hrvatskoj

Persondata
Name	Tepic, Milan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1957
Place of birth
Date of death	1991-09-29
Place of death