GERŠIČI-Memorial on the field between Geršiči and Dol. Dobravicami

January 1942 saw the Italian guard occupying Geršiče, which protected the passage across Lahinja and the passage across the railway line. By the end of March, this guard moved to a bunker above the line near the railway station on Dobravicah.

In February 1942, fascists from the Underground arrived in the village and began looting without any reason. On their return to the garrison, they were attacked by partisans.

In June of the same year, two Italian patrols clashed near the line, each mistaking the other for partisans. The same day, Italians arrived in the village, arrested six men, and the next day shot three of them under the accusation that they had attacked the Italian patrols.

The following month, Italians, in order to prevent partisans from crossing Lahinja, burned the bridge on Lahinja near Geršiče. However, they soon realized that this had no effect and that they themselves had problems, so they repaired the bridge. Nevertheless, partisans destroyed this bridge in the spring of 1943, because they had a passage across the river near Žuničev mill in Krivoglavice. In the spring of 1944, the bridge was rebuilt, but this time by partisans, and it was again destroyed by German and Home Guard forces in Črnomelj on 14 November 1944.

An OF committee was established in Geršiče in June 1942, which, among other things, ensured a safe passage across Lahinja and across the strongly fortified railway line until the Italian capitulation.

The memorial made from partly worked stone is dedicated to three locals, who were shot by the Italian occupiers at this place in the summer of 1942. It was erected in 1978, designed by Milan Bajc and Vinko Kepic.

Guide 74

EŠD 11214

Murder of three locals

In retaliation, because partisans near the village had mined the railway line Gradac-Metlika, an enemy source speaks of an attack on their detachment at the railway station Dobravice, Italian soldiers from the garrison in Metlika surrounded the village on 2 July. They drove the villagers together, beat them, and robbed their meager belongings. Men and boys over 15 years old were tied up and taken away. Near the railway line, they singled out Alojz Kuret, Franjo Papič, and Nikolaj Šimč and shot them, reporting that they had fallen during an attack on 1 July 1942. With the other seven, they continued on to Metlika, from where they were driven to a concentration camp. In 1942 and 1943, six of them died there.

The memorial stone stands about 300 meters north of the village at the site where the locals were shot. It was unveiled in April 1978.

Source: ZB NOB Metlika archive (25)

Guide to Partisan Paths, Ljubljana: Založba Borec, 1978, p. 139.