site.bta79th Anniversary of Bulgaria's Stracin-Kumanovo Operation in WW II Marked in North Macedonia
For the first time priests from Bulgaria and North Macedonia co-celebrated a prayer service here on Friday in memory of the Bulgarian soldiers who fell in the battles at the Strazhin Ridge and the Stracin Village 79 years ago, in October 1944.
The delegation that arrived from Bulgaria for the commemoration was led by Major General Yavor Mateev, Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and included JSOC personnel members, WW II veterans and commissioned and non-commissioned reserve officers. Also attending the ceremony were Bulgaria's Ambassador in Skopje Angel Angelov, the Consul General in Bitola Nikolay Dimitrov, the Bulgarian Defence Attache, Lieutenant Colonel Asen Lambev, and the Deputy Defence Attache, Major Dian Dinev, representatives of the Association of Veterans and Military Reserve in the Republic of Macedonia, diplomats of Bulgaria's missions in North Macedonia and members of the Bulgarian community and associations in that country.
"This is acknowledgment and respect for the heroism that the soldiers of the Paratroopers Battalion showed in the combat operations near Stracin and Strazhin during a WW II operation of dislodging the Nazi forces and securing access to Kumanovo and Skopje," Major General Mateev said, addressing the commemoration.
"There is nothing more terrible than war, we can see it now in what is going in Ukraine, in Israel and Gaza. By setting up the battlegroup in Novo Selo, which includes soldiers from Bulgaria and North Macedonia, we demonstrate that, as NATO member countries, we stand together and can guard each other's back," Ambassador Angelov said for his part.
A floral tribute was paid on the site on behalf of Bulgarian Defence Minister Todor Tagarev, the Chief of Defence, Admiral Emil Eftimov, the JSOC Commander and personnel, the Bulgarian Embassy in Skopje, the Consulate General in Bitola, the Union of War Veterans, the Union of Paratroopers, and the relatives of the Bulgarian war dead at Stracin and Strazhin.
The Bulgarian Armed Forces conducted the Stracin-Kumanovo offensive operation between October 8 and November 14, 1944, sustaining over 1,000 casualties. The Paratrooper Battalion of the Bulgarian First Army distinguished itself in the battles for capturing the strategic Strazhin position blocking the road to Skopje.
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