Franc Bric, Pokopališče Šmartno ob Dreti

Franc Bric, Sistory:
date of birth: 27. 05. 1926, place of birth: Šmartno ob Dreti, military status: NOV and POS, date of death: 11. 02. 1945, place of death: Radehova, cause of death: suicide, cause of death: German (occupational) units

»On the home of Konrad Vutje in Radehova, a partisan post had already been known since 1943. On the night of 11. 2. 1945, two fighters, August Jeršek-Smiljan from Ljubljana and Franc Bric-Franjo from Šmartno ob Dreti, announced themselves on the house. Because they were exhausted from the difficult journey, they wanted to rest at the home, and then continue their way. Probably, someone had noticed them. Thus, around 30 German soldiers and Gestapo officers surrounded Vutje's home early on the morning of 11. 2. 1945. The partisans accepted an unequal battle. They tried to escape, but they failed. They decided to fight until the last bullet. When they had used up all their ammunition, they left the last bomb for themselves, since they did not want to fall alive into the Germans' hands.
The heroic fight of two partisans resonated strongly throughout all Slovenian highlands.«

Drago Novak, Ivo Orešnik, Herman Šticl, Memorials of NOB in the Slovenian Highlands and Prekmurje, Murska Sobota: Pomurska založba Murs, 1985, pp. 118–119.

Photograph: Bric Franc, Geneanet, Cemetery Šmartno ob Dreti, p. 13.