Čeče, fallen Revirska čete

December 25, 1941, a member of the revirska četa from Zgornje Rečice left and attacked the Germans in Hrastnik. They heavily damaged the mining equipment, emptied the stores of ammunition, and withdrew back into the woods without losses. The Germans pursued them and the partisans withdrew from place to place. Nine partisans of this group were captured on January 4, 1942, at Vrharjevi domačiji above the Čečas. Among them were fighters Ciril Curk, Rudi Knez, Jože Umek, Vili Vresk, Frido Čebin from Trbovelj and Ivan Mitnjak, Franc Tršek, Oto Medved and Slavko Bajde from Hrastnik. They set up guards around the house, camped in the shed and slept there.

The next day in the morning, the house owner secretly crossed over the German border through Bauerheim, the innkeeper near St. Katarina, and reported to the Germans about the partisans. Shortly after twelve o'clock, a group of twenty men from the police and Gestapo surrounded the house. The partisans immediately noticed them and started shooting at them and throwing bombs. Three partisans, Rudi Knez, Jože Umek and Vili Vresk, managed to get through the ring at the beginning of the battle and escaped into the nearby woods. The other six partisans continued fighting.

At three in the afternoon, a water guard from the protective police in Trbovelj came to the aid of the police, and a group from Zagorje.

In a fight for life and death, individuals tried to get through the ring, but it was too late. The Hrastnik miner Franc Tršek ran out of the shed, but he fell immediately. Since the partisans did not want to surrender, the Germans set fire to the shed at night. The partisans did not yield even then. They fought until they fell under fire or the wounded committed suicide. They died heroic deaths.

The next day in the morning, the Germans found six burned bodies of fallen fighters of the revirska četa, Ciril Curk, Ivan Mitnjak, Frido Čebin, Oto Medved, Franc Tršek and Slavko Bajde, at the place of the battle.

Source: TRBOVLJE POMNIKI NAŠEGA BOJA, Ado Naglav, collaborators Hinko Kamnikar, Karel Forte, Lojze Ribič, Trbovlje 1983, page: 89

Dedicated to six fighters of the revirska četa, who fell in battle with the German police on 5. 1. 1942.

EŠD 20793