Zupic: Kosare Defended by Serbian Stubbornness and Brotherhood of Border Guards

Former member of the 53rd Border Battalion and one of the guards who spent the entire war at Kosare, Dimitrije Zupic, assesses for Kosovo Online that memories of this battle have not faded over the years, and that this outpost was defended by Serbian stubbornness and the brotherhood of the border guards. "Familiarity with the terrain, Serbian stubbornness, and brotherhood. We encouraged each other because if you leave your position, that space remains empty, since we were spaced 10-15 meters apart from each other. If you leave, then someone can pass through, approach you from behind. That’s why you trust the person next to you the most. He was your brother, sister, mother, and father, everything. We still nurture this brotherhood today, we meet, see each other every year, organize gatherings. That keeps us going," says Zupic.

He says that memories of the war have not faded even after 25 years, and anniversaries are periods when both he and his comrades relive everything they experienced on the very border with Albania in 1998, especially during the war in 1999.

"From March 24th when it starts, then it all comes back, you remember every day, more and more. Then, when it passes, and it lasts until May-June, it quiets down, and you're calm for six months and so it goes. In a way, that’s both good and bad. Fortunately, we meet often. There are five or six of us from Belgrade and then we talk. No matter how much we sit in a tavern and agree not to talk about Kosare, but about cars, football, women... it's enough for someone to mention a detail from Kosare, it automatically switches back and the story about Kosare begins again. It's a kind of vent. Then you let off steam and it becomes much easier," says Zupic.

He explains that the war left consequences for many.

"There are guys who started to drink, all of this has its consequences. We have it too, it's just that maybe we skillfully hide it or it's something else," he points out.

Born in Belgrade, Zupic was a conscript soldier during his mandatory military service, in the 1998/1999 conscription.

"I went to Zajecar for military service, then to Đakovica, and then to the Kosare outpost. From there, I descended when the war ended," he shares.

Along with a hundred of his peers from the Kosare outpost, from the 53rd Border Battalion, they resisted a far more numerous and better-equipped enemy on their own for three days, from April 9th to 11th.

He says that he can never forget all 67 days of fighting on the border with Albania, even if he wanted to.

"That can never be forgotten. In these 25 years, those are, I can't say traumas, that exists too, but it's something that our friend from the army, a poet, would say: ‘We have left Kosare, but Kosare will never leave us’," says Zupic.

The memories of everything that happened in 1999, especially the beginning of the attack on Kosare, are still vivid for him.

It was Good Friday when the ambush position C4/6 was first attacked, where, as he emphasizes, Sergeant Ivan Vasojevic with 12 soldiers repelled an attack by 300-350 KLA members.

"They broke through them there. They moved to the other side, towards the outpost. Then the attack on hill 601 Rasa Kosares began. And that was really a fight. New Year's Eve is nothing. When you say fireworks, it's really nothing compared to that. I was behind the outpost by the mortars, providing support to the people in ambush and I went forward towards the outpost. When I looked towards hill 601, it was literally mines falling one after the other. I don’t know how those people survived. I just wondered if anyone was still alive. And when I saw those people later, after we retreated two days later, I saw them. There were wounded, but many were alive, and then I was very happy," Zupic recounts.

He says that after the war, he was most frequently asked whether there was fear.

"Of course, there was fear. When we arrived at the border, they told us that fear guards the border. On April 9th when it started, yes, there had been attacks before that, especially known by the older guys. When that attack began, you feel fear, but then adrenaline kicks in. Fear and adrenaline mix, and then there's that Serbian stubbornness, the refusal to give up what’s yours. Then it becomes a fight with yourself and the enemy. It’s about who can endure," says Zupic.

He finds it difficult to single out any specific event from the 67 days and nights of fighting, but one of the days he will never forget is May 6th.

He says that on that day, one of the biggest attacks on the Kosare outpost began from the direction of Albania.

A mortar shell shrapnel in the trench next to his hit his comrade Zarko Niksic in the chest.

"Somehow I ran to him, I don’t know how, but some bandages appeared. We tore open his shirt, bandaged him, and then I ran down to Major Dimcevski and asked him to give us a vehicle to take him down to the medics. But since it was a very big attack involving planes as well, he couldn’t risk it. He told me to try and carry him down with someone else’s help."

It was about five kilometers to the medical unit in Batusa, but Zupic says that during the descent, he wasn’t thinking about the distance, but whether his comrade would stay alive.

He says that the uncertainty was something that he and the other soldiers found hardest to bear.

"And when I heard later that he stayed alive, I was really glad. But that journey and the uncertainty of whether he would survive was the hardest for me. Every moment is hard, every loss of a soldier, but when you’re carrying a wounded comrade and asking yourself: 'I’m carrying him to survive, but will he?', while leaving a position with three other soldiers who also mean a lot to that line not to break," Zupic remembers.

Along with other members of the 53rd Border Battalion, conscript soldiers, in 2002, he founded the humanitarian organization "Defenders of the Homeland," which is still active today.

"The humanitarian association is still active; it has existed since 2002 when no one dared to talk about Kosare, we were talking, going around Serbia. At that time, generals were supposed to be delivered to The Hague, so we went and organized forums 'Is it a crime to defend the homeland' and in that way, we provided them support. We also helped our brothers in need. We are still active today, working. We help as much as we can. We have never asked for a dime from the state. Whatever we can do, we do ourselves. That's what keeps us," Zupic concludes.