THE ATTACK ON SOROVICH

One day before the start of the attack on the town of Sorovich, the main intelligence officer of the division, Skutidas had handed himself over to the monarcho-fascists. Commander Skutidas knew very well and with his own eyes saw the enemy forces approach from neighbouring villages. In that moment a big army along with a military police force armed with the most modern weaponry was stationed in Sorovich.

Certainly Skutidas well knew that the battle for Sorovich was lost before it was started but nobody knew then and nobody knows now whose command he was following in starting the battle that was lost before it was started.

On 11 April 1949 near twilight, Skutidas's division was sent to Sorovich, 15 kilometres from where it had been stationed. Even though it was a flat plain and road they had to travel all night and in the dawn, exhausted, they reached their goal. They still had not reached the town of Sorovich when they were greeted with a powerful enemy fire. The air force had arrived at the same time and began mercilessly to kill the partisans who were in the plain without any shelter or defence. The partisans were forced to quickly withdraw but they did not have much capacity to escape because they were tired from traveling all night.

In a short time Skutidas' division was completely beaten and destroyed. The bodies of the dead partisans covered and filled the plain.

After this evil attack which Stukidas undertook with his division, the daylight on the flat plain was a graveyard for the fighters. Only a small number of lucky fighters managed to save themselves from the hell.

According to eyewitness accounts of those who traveled through that area two days after the battle, the reek of the dead bodies decaying could be smelt from far away. Nobody could move and bury these bodies. The bodies were in the position where they fell when shot by the enemy bullets, and remained there until fully decayed.

Whether this attack on Sorovich on the part of Skutidas with his division was planned upfront and betrayed by the commander or whether it was a result of following an order from higher up, no-one to this day knows!

Following this catastrophic destruction in Sorovich, Skutidas took no responsibility and was not court marshalled or given a serious penalty. He took no responsibility at all. He was not court marshalled because those who gave him the command would be the ones who would have had to court marshall him. Instead, destiny itself decided to give him what he deserved.

Skutidas died with Krste Risto Mango in the village of Breznitsa. At that time, the village was flown over by monarcho-fascist spy planes which recorded the military positions of DAG. The two of them sat outside a bunker. Instead of hiding in the bunker they calmly sat and watched the flyover by the plane. This spyplane as called the "Milkman'' by the local people and partisans because it never shot at the partisans. Nobody knows why that day the pilot decided to throw a bomb from the window; it fell on Skutidas and Krste Risto Mangov and killed them. Destiny achieved justice.

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