On 2 September 1973, a dignified memorial was erected at Robeže / Robesch near Apače / Abtei, commemorating the first battle of the partisans against SS troops in Carinthia on 25 August 1942. The then commander of the partisan battalion, Franc Poglajen-Kranjc, described the battle:
"By mid-afternoon, we had enough food in the camp and the battalion cooks started preparing dinner, which was to be the only meal of the day. At around 6 p.m., the well-prepared dinner was ready … Suddenly there was heavy automatic weapons fire; the camp was suddenly attacked. How could this have happened apart from the well-placed security? Later we realised that there had probably been no betrayal, that our patrol's lack of vigilance had been to blame. The Germans had attacked from the very side from which the patrol had returned not half an hour before.
Apparently the patrol had not noticed the Germans, but probably the Germans had noticed the patrol and crept up behind it unnoticed in the immediate vicinity of the camp, deployed and suddenly attacked. What happened was what is worst in such cases, complete surprise and the evil consequence of this panic and the impotence of organised resistance. The battalion retreated in disorder from the camp into the depths of the forest. But something even worse happened. Around twenty fighters, while taking their supper, left their weapons next to their bunks, where two machine guns were also left. It seemed that the battalion was not only going to be badly defeated, but was in danger of being destroyed, as almost a third of the fighters had no weapons…
The battalion's high combat quality and valuable moral qualities made the turnaround possible. The battle lines were quickly formed, the battalion stood still and took the fight at point blank range, when we were barely 100 metres apart. We pinned the enemy to the ground, forced them to close combat, and in the meantime had already prepared a good trick which they did not realise. Two groups of three fighters each, led by Rajko on the left wing and Groga on the right wing, went unnoticed around the German positions and then attacked them with loud shouts on both wings. When partisan fighter Sulc from the centre of the battalion position hit another German commanding officer and the order to charge was given, the outcome of the short but fierce battle had already been decided. The panic flight of the entire German battle line began. The battalion rushed after them and drove them into the valley. They left their dead soldiers on the battlefield, among them the SS-Commander who had commanded them. Among the confiscated rifles were a machine gun, a large quantity of ammunition, a radio and a document - an order to this SS company - which stated, among other things, that a 'gang' was roaming around these parts, which had been starved and demoralised, and that this company had to track it down and destroy it. The first observation turned out to be quite accurate, but that the battalion was not demoralised proved to be even more so confirmed …"
The spark of resistance
The political success of the struggle at Robeže / Robesch was of paramount importance. It was the first battle and the first victory of a partisan battalion in Carinthia. The event quickly spread among our compatriots throughout the whole of Carinthia and gave a strong impetus to the formation, spread and strengthening of the national liberation movement and struggle in Carinthia. The Battle of Robeže / Robesch was also the first armed confrontation between an anti-fascist partisan unit and a Nazi unit on the soil of the Ostmark within the framework of the Greater German Reich. The effect of this struggle was that Ivan Županc-Johan experienced even greater success in his political work in various villages. Soon afterwards, he set up the first committees of the Liberation Front.
Erected and blown up
The inscription on the monument is bilingual and reads:
In Carinthia, the first battle of the Slovenian
partisans against German Nazi troops.
The memorial was erected on 2 September 1973
and blown up on 16 September 1973,
rebuilt on 24 October 1976.
As the inscription shows, the first monument was blown up just a fortnight after its discovery. The new memorial is an exact replica of the first one.
A large crowd of Carinthian compatriots, many Slovene fighters and Italian anti-fascists gathered at the unveiling of the restored monument. Karel Prušnik-Gašper, then President of the Association of Carinthian Partisans, responded to the desecration and blowing up of partisan graves and memorials by saying:
"We were soldiers with sharp weapons against the fiery violence of Hitler's Germany and with dynamite in our backpacks, but at that time it never occurred to us to blow up a single historical monument in Carinthia, but we did not do anything like that, even though we did not like certain monuments in Carinthia. I am trying to show the moral difference between us, the liberation soldiers, and the Nazis, whose remnants are still using dynamite today, thirty years after the war, in an era of peace in Europe, they are demolishing partisan monuments on Carinthian soil and are not ashamed of even going so far as to touch and pollute the tombstones of fighters in cemeteries."
Location:
Robeže / Robesch lies on the left side of the road connecting Galicija / Gallizien and Borovlje / Ferlach. A small signpost at about the height of Apače / Abtei points you to this remote place.