Blaž Verbuč

Blaž Verbuč. Sistory.
date of birth: 1. 2. 1917, place of birth: Lepa Njiva, military status: NOV in POS, military unit, rank: Kurir TV S 23, date of death: 9. 1. 1945, place of death: Rečica ob Savinji, place of burial: Šmihel nad Mozirjem, cause of death: Shot, perpetrator of death: German (occupational) units

»During the German offensive in December 1944, a large amount of German troops was pushed into the Upper Savinja Valley. They occupied all surrounding hills and blocked all entrances and exits from the valley. All courier links were thus interrupted in December.
On 8th January, they received a message at the post that the Germans were again attacking. The sound of machine gun fire could be heard from Dol Suhe. The couriers were then in the old Brenkska hut in Trnavče, and in the evening they went to Žekovc to the farmer Orla. They were frozen and exhausted, and decided to stay overnight by the warm fire. However, at eleven in the evening, the Germans arrived at Orla. The windows of the house were barred, so the couriers could not escape. They locked themselves in the room and hoped that the Germans would leave the village at night, since they did not know that the partisans were in the house.
In the morning, they were discovered. From seven to ten, they were interrogated, then tied with a rope and taken towards Suhe, where they were placed against the wall of Hrstel’s house. The officer from the cone headquarters, who was with them, couriers Vinka Mazej and Franc Drofenik-Vikic, were separated and taken to the house of Bažet. Blaž Verbuč-Pankrac, locally known as Vauherski from Ljubiški Grabnik above Mozirje, Alojz Podgoršek from Rečica ob Paki, and Alojz Atelšek, locally known as Drežovec from Mozirje, were shot in the village of Suhe Dol on the same day.«

Rado Zakonjšek, Partizanski kurirji, Ljubljana: The IV Brigade of the VDV Editorial Board published the partisan couriers of Slovenia, 1985, p. 375.

Photograph: Verbuč Blaž, Geneanet, Cemetery Šmihel nad Mozirjem, p. 5.