Marked the Day of River Units and Day of River Flotilla

Friday, 4.8.2017 | Culture and traditions

Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin attended today the ceremony of marking the Day of River Units and the Day of River Flotilla at the Quay of the Raid Victims on the Danube River in Novi Sad.

Congratulating the holiday to the members of River Flotilla, Minister Vulin pointed out that the River Flotilla is an important segment of our Army.

- Each part of our armed forces is equally important, since each part of our territory deserves equal attention and it deserves our capability to fight and maintain control over our territory and to preserve our freedom. Today, we have marked a more than a century long tradition which started when the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia accessed its rivers, and even before that, since Serbs, right here, in Šajkaši battalion, started defending their right to live and exist. Wherever we were, wherever we did not have our military, where we did not have our judges, where we did not have our doctors or teachers, we waged wars for others, we fought for the goals of others and we only tried to find a small space there for us, for our people, for the right to last, for the right for our families to last – Minister Vulin emphasised.

According to his words, Serbia has won its right to decide on its foreign policy, do make decisions about its internal policy; Serbia has won its right to decide autonomously about itself and we will never give that right away and not for all the world.

- In order to make it possible for us to make decisions about ourselves, we have to have a powerful and strong military, we have to have the military that is strong both on land and in the air, we have to have a military that consists of satisfied members and we have to have a military which is respected and understood by the entire society – Minister Vulin concluded.

Mayor Vučević commended the cooperation with the River Flotilla and Serbian Armed Forces until then, stressing that the heart of the River Flotilla was in that very town. He expressed his hope that the cooperation on initiated projects would continue in the period to come to mutual benefit.

The River Flotilla Commander, Navy Captain Andrija Andrić underlined that the assigned tasks which the members of that unit discharge daily, were specific due to the environment in which they were executed. They represent an obligation, and they require efforts of each individual and unit, but at the same time they are a great honour for all the members.

The celebration, also marked by a parade of boats and pontoon units’ assets, was attended by State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence Aleksandar Živković, Army Commander Lieutenant General Milosav Simović, River Flotilla Commander Navy Captain Andrija Andrić, Mayor of Novi Sad Miloš Vučević and numerous guests.

The members of the River Flotilla mark the Day of River Units and River Flotilla in memory of 6th August 1915 when the first Serbian warship, armoured boat Jadar, was launched from the Čukarica slipways, and thus began the history of Serbian River Flotilla of the Kingdom of Serbia.