DOLENJSKE TOPLICE - MEMORIAL TO THE 1ST BRIGADE OF THE YUGOSLAV PEOPLE'S ARMY

MEMORIAL OF LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE

Among the events of the fighting in 1944 also falls the establishment of the 1st Brigade of the State Security Army (VDV). They established it on 15 March 1944 in Dolenjske Toplice. Since the State Security Intelligence Service (VOS) had been abolished at the beginning of 1944, the Presidency of the State Security Organization on 1 March issued a decision on the establishment of the State Security Army, whose main task was to fight against the fifth column, while at the same time cooperating with other units of the People's Liberation Army and Partisan Army in the fight against the enemy.

The commander of the 1st VDV Brigade became Jože Mirtič – Zidar, the political commissar Anton Kranjc – Mirko, and his assistant was Janez Japelj. The brigade had five battalions, deployed from Trieste to White Croatia, which operated completely independently. The first battalion was at the brigade headquarters near Novo Mesto, the second battalion was in White Croatia, the third north of Novo Mesto, the fourth in Notranjska, and the fifth in Primorska.

For the first time, all battalions gathered in the second half of December 1944 in the area of Črmošnjiško-Poljanska Valley and Dolenjske Toplice. In mid-December, the brigade was renamed the 1st Brigade of the 2nd Division of the People's Defence.

The memorial was erected on 30 June 1956 by patrol units of the VDV Brigade and the Municipality Assembly of Novo Mesto, which also awarded the brigade its domicile in Dolenjske Toplice on 23 October 1969.

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