Partisans (from several days ago)

BRac wa a vicious place during Worldwar II.  THe Nazi's were firmly established atop Vidova Gora (the highest mountain in the Croatian Adriatic) and from there they terrorized the island.  THat the Partisans under Tito, who was headquartered only two islands away, were active here in Milnais evidenced by the memorial next to the old school and near the present day kindergrten.  THe are similar memorials about the island.  THe greatest evidence is to be found in the many village graveyards around the island with so many headstones bearing the faces of young men and young women who died in the early 1940's.  I sent a photo of the Milna memorial to Charles who noted that one family had 9 names on the stone.  THat was the Bonacic family.  IN fact, the woman who owned our home here before us -- Luca Bonacic -- was a hero from WWII.  THere is a story of howthe Nazi's were rounding up village men and boys when she intervened, telling the Germans, "Stop.  YOu don't have to do this."  Even when a bayonet was pressed to her neck and she was told to shut up, she appealed to their humanity.  THat day the Germans walked away without incident.JUst before the close of the war, Brac played a part in the attempt to deceive the Germans into thinking that the D-Day invasion was to be from the south, through the soft underbelly of Europe, as they said.  AS a part of the orchestrated movement of ships and men around the area, in Operation Flounce, the British invaded Brac to retake it from the Germans.  I believe they parachuted onto the island, and that in the subsequent fighting a son of Winston Churchill was killed on Vidova Gora.  (I could be wrong, but someone else can check the facts!)THere are known caves where the Partisans hid weapons in the area.  MY neighbor displays an old trenching tool with German labelling that he said was taken from a German soldier.WHen digging up my yard to put in our sewer line when we first purchased our house, the diggers found an old canteen from WWII, which I have on display in my artifacts nook.