Bela pri Podkraju

A marble block, above which is a carved block, has a stone plaque attached. A machine gun is placed next to the block. The monument is dedicated to 8 fighters of the Vipavska četa, who fell in the battle at this location on 15. 2. 1943. The author is Anton Tratnik, and it was unveiled on 22. 7. 1977.

EŠD 24087

JSNP 105 (here also literature on the monument)

»                                                                                                      202.5
    That evening before the terrible morning, the boys celebrated in the tavern in Vrhpolje … They joined the partisans, the Slovenian army, and it seemed as if joy accompanied them on this path … Joy, mixed with fear and courage; which makes you stumble and at the same time gives you the strength to perform extraordinary actions.
    They spent the night above Bela, in the hollow on Brežcah, high up towards Višnje. They were already surrounded before they woke up in the morning …
    Eight thousand, they say, Italians, from all the military barracks on Vipavska. In three long columns they cautiously moved towards the hidden partisans - along the road by the river Bela, along the ridges on the right side of the river and along the opposite bank between the river and Višnje. They descended from the top of the hill and climbed up from below. The lower ones felt the upper ones, they replaced the partisans and bombarded their own. These fired back. Both sides fired at the partisans in the middle. The fighting continued from the top from the other side of the river.
    Sixty-seven Italians dead, and all the partisans. Except Janez Petrovčič - Metnga from Bela. He had always gone from the village to join the partisans. In the Ruštava farmhouse he realized that Italians were everywhere around him. Where? 'On the tree,' he thought, and looked at three rows of birches. 'Between the branches they won't see me …' But the Italian officer, who was going to the side of the tree, didn't start right there! Janez aimed at him, but the bullet from the old Austrian rifle didn't fire. The Italian turned around for the sound, jumped back and immediately fired back with a pistol. Slowly, from branch to branch, Janez fell from the tree …
    He was still alive when they dragged him to Bela. They tied his legs to a truck and dragged him to Podkraje. He was still alive …
    The fallen partisans were taken to be buried in Miren. They still rest there, on the Italian side of the cemetery … (Tone Kobal - Jurčku)
                                                                                                           202.4
A dry winter was it, and we were gathering leaves above the house. Even in the afternoon it was snowing, but we didn't know what it was. It just seemed strange to us - all the time military trucks were going up and down, up and down. Blood was curling on the road … (Matija Ukmar - from Plavža)

Franc Černigoj, Znamenje na Gori, Ajdovščina: [samozal.] Franc Černigoj, 1999, pp. 566−568.