Maks Bace Milic
Encyclopedia
Maksimilijan "Maks" Baće, also known as Milić (October 12, 1914, near Zadar
– 2005), was a Croatia
n and Yugoslav
revolutionary.
Born in Pakoštane
(near Zadar) and raised in Split
, he studied philosophy in Zagreb
, became a student organizer and a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1934. While a student, for his anti-state activities, he was convicted and imprisoned for six months in Belgrade
. After graduating in 1937 he left for Spain
where he took part in the Spanish Civil War
on the Republican side
until its conclusion. He was wounded twice, and after the republican defeat interned in Southern France
and Germany
where he worked in a Nazi airplane factory. He escaped and returned to Zagreb in the summer of 1941.
Experience gained in Spain proved valuable after the Axis
invasion of Yugoslavia
in 1941. His native Croatia
was carved up between Italy
and the Independent State of Croatia
, with Italy fielding a strong occupation force in Dalmatia
and Istria
. Italian forces were supported by the pro-royal Chetniks
in Serb-populated areas. The occupation led many Dalmatians to join the resistance organized by Tito's Partisans
. The first detachments formed in Summer 1941 and manned by idealistic but inexperienced youths from coastal towns were poorly led and decimated by Italian units even before they began to operate in the Split hinterland in the vicinity of Sinj
. This was a major blow to the resistance movement in Dalmatia. On his return to Zagreb Maks Baće was directed by the Party to travel to Split to discover the causes of that failure. He was then given the task of starting a new uprising which he organized in the region of the Biokovo
mountain. He used the war pseudonym "Milić" in order to protect his family in Split and throughout the war people knew him only under that name.
Baće believed that the partisans should rely on the support of rural people in the hinterland, referred to by citifolk as "peasants," and his strategy began to bear fruit in early 1942 when the new partisan detachments proved to be more resilient and more effective in their battles with the Italian, Ustasha and Chetnik forces. "Milić" became a popular name among the peasants of the region and he created thousands of new soldiers as the volunteers joined the partisans in large numbers. During an operation in the vicinity of the Dalmatian village Tugare Maks Baće was shot through the chest and left by his comrades as dead. He survived thanks to the care of a local peasant family and then smuggled himself into Split where he reconvalesced. In 1943 he was appointed the commander-in-chief of Partisan Detachments in Dalmatia.
After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943 Maks Baće was the partisan officer who accepted the surrender of the Italian forces in Split, and the Partisans briefly took control of much of Dalmatia. However, they were soon expelled by the vastly stronger German forces which replaced the Italians. As one after the other of the Dalmatian islands fell to the Germans, partisan units withdrew to the most distant of them, the island of Vis
. Maks Baće commanded the island and sent a controversial telegram to Josip Broz Tito
requesting an order from him to defend the island. This he received, along with the reinforcement of another brigade of Partisan forces. A free Vis was later critical to Tito's own escape from German airdrop
encirclement in Bosnia (called "Operation Knight's Leap") of his Drvar
headquarters, as well as the locus of early negotiations between partisans and the Allies
. Liberated Vis also served as moral support for the partisans in the many periods of almost hopeless struggle with the militarily superior Germans. In 1944 Baće was one of the founders of OZNA
. For his war service, Maks Baće received the coveted medal of the People's Hero of Yugoslavia
.
After the war Maks Baće was a minister in the government of Yugoslavia, its ambassador to Japan
and Sweden
and then a member of the Federal Parliament
and its Secretary. He was a free thinker viewing party dogma critically and gradually became disillusioned with Communism
and the ideological (as opposed to experience-based) political thinking of the regime. In 1971 during Croatian Spring
he made the significant political statement of resigning from the Communist Party, and retired to Split, at which point he began to be viewed as a dissident. His absence from public life continued even after the arrival of democracy in the 1990s. When the Croatian media interviewed him at his 90th birthday, he revealed that he was working on a book critical of Karl Marx
's thought. He died of natural causes in his family home at age 91.
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
– 2005), was a Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n and Yugoslav
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
revolutionary.
Born in Pakoštane
Pakoštane
Pakoštane is a municipality in Croatia in the Zadar county. According to the 2001 census, there are 3,884 inhabitants, 98% which are Croats.North of the Vrana Lake, 6 km from Pakoštane, there is historic settlement of Vrana.-Attractions:...
(near Zadar) and raised in Split
Split (city)
Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
, he studied philosophy in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, became a student organizer and a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1934. While a student, for his anti-state activities, he was convicted and imprisoned for six months in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. After graduating in 1937 he left for Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
where he took part in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
on the Republican side
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
until its conclusion. He was wounded twice, and after the republican defeat interned in Southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
where he worked in a Nazi airplane factory. He escaped and returned to Zagreb in the summer of 1941.
Experience gained in Spain proved valuable after the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
invasion of Yugoslavia
Invasion of Yugoslavia
The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...
in 1941. His native Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
was carved up between Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
and the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, with Italy fielding a strong occupation force in Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
and Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
. Italian forces were supported by the pro-royal Chetniks
Chetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
in Serb-populated areas. The occupation led many Dalmatians to join the resistance organized by Tito's Partisans
Partisans (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...
. The first detachments formed in Summer 1941 and manned by idealistic but inexperienced youths from coastal towns were poorly led and decimated by Italian units even before they began to operate in the Split hinterland in the vicinity of Sinj
Sinj
Sinj is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The town itself has a population of 11,448, while the population of the administrative municipality which includes surrounding villages is 24,832 ....
. This was a major blow to the resistance movement in Dalmatia. On his return to Zagreb Maks Baće was directed by the Party to travel to Split to discover the causes of that failure. He was then given the task of starting a new uprising which he organized in the region of the Biokovo
Biokovo
Biokovo is the second-highest mountain range in Croatia, located along the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea, between the rivers of Cetina and Neretva...
mountain. He used the war pseudonym "Milić" in order to protect his family in Split and throughout the war people knew him only under that name.
Baće believed that the partisans should rely on the support of rural people in the hinterland, referred to by citifolk as "peasants," and his strategy began to bear fruit in early 1942 when the new partisan detachments proved to be more resilient and more effective in their battles with the Italian, Ustasha and Chetnik forces. "Milić" became a popular name among the peasants of the region and he created thousands of new soldiers as the volunteers joined the partisans in large numbers. During an operation in the vicinity of the Dalmatian village Tugare Maks Baće was shot through the chest and left by his comrades as dead. He survived thanks to the care of a local peasant family and then smuggled himself into Split where he reconvalesced. In 1943 he was appointed the commander-in-chief of Partisan Detachments in Dalmatia.
After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943 Maks Baće was the partisan officer who accepted the surrender of the Italian forces in Split, and the Partisans briefly took control of much of Dalmatia. However, they were soon expelled by the vastly stronger German forces which replaced the Italians. As one after the other of the Dalmatian islands fell to the Germans, partisan units withdrew to the most distant of them, the island of Vis
Vis (island)
Vis is the most outerly lying larger Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, and is part of the Central Dalmatian group of islands, with an area of 90.26 km² and a population of 3,617 . Of all the inhabited Croatian islands, it is the farthest from the coast...
. Maks Baće commanded the island and sent a controversial telegram to Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
requesting an order from him to defend the island. This he received, along with the reinforcement of another brigade of Partisan forces. A free Vis was later critical to Tito's own escape from German airdrop
Airdrop
An airdrop is a type of airlift, developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible troops, who themselves may have been airborne forces. In some cases, it is used to refer to the airborne assault itself. Early airdrops were conducted by dropping or pushing padded bundles from...
encirclement in Bosnia (called "Operation Knight's Leap") of his Drvar
Drvar
Drvar is a town and municipality in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, located on the road between Bosansko Grahovo and Bosanski Petrovac, also near Glamoč. It is administratively part of Canton 10 of the Federation....
headquarters, as well as the locus of early negotiations between partisans and the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
. Liberated Vis also served as moral support for the partisans in the many periods of almost hopeless struggle with the militarily superior Germans. In 1944 Baće was one of the founders of OZNA
OZNA
The Department for the Protection of the People was a security agency of the FPR Yugoslavia.-Founding:...
. For his war service, Maks Baće received the coveted medal of the People's Hero of Yugoslavia
People's Hero of Yugoslavia
The Order of the People's Hero was a Yugoslav gallantry medal, the second highest military award, and third overall Yugoslav decoration. It was awarded to individuals, military units, political and other organisations who distinguished themselves by extraordinary heroic deeds during war and in...
.
After the war Maks Baće was a minister in the government of Yugoslavia, its ambassador to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and then a member of the Federal Parliament
Federal Assembly of the SFRY
The Parliament of Yugoslavia was the deliberative body of Yugoslavia. Before World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was known as the National Assembly , while in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia the name was changed to Federal Assembly...
and its Secretary. He was a free thinker viewing party dogma critically and gradually became disillusioned with Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and the ideological (as opposed to experience-based) political thinking of the regime. In 1971 during Croatian Spring
Croatian Spring
The Croatian Spring was a political movement from the early 1970s that called for greater rights for Croatia which was then part of Yugoslavia as well as democratic and economic reforms.-History:...
he made the significant political statement of resigning from the Communist Party, and retired to Split, at which point he began to be viewed as a dissident. His absence from public life continued even after the arrival of democracy in the 1990s. When the Croatian media interviewed him at his 90th birthday, he revealed that he was working on a book critical of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
's thought. He died of natural causes in his family home at age 91.