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Pte. Gvozden Spasoje Lukiae
Royal Yugoslav Army
from:Yabac, Serbia, Yugoslavia
Gvozden Lukiae was born during WW1 in the Sokolske mountains. His father, Spasoje, served in the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia during that war. His mother was killed or was missing during the second offensive of Austro Hungarian Army. Gvozden was looked after by peasants after his mother death. His father Spasoje returned home with lost leg at Salonika. Soon he married another women and they sent Gvozden far from home so that children of new wife could earn land that belonged to Gvozden's late mother. Gvozden took a job of stone carver for graves. He met a young woman named Cveta and married her. He than got his first son who he named after Serbian's late King Alexander. When Cveta was pregnant with his second son, the Nazi Germany attacked Yugoslavia. Gvozden freely joined up as did so many young men, thinking this will be another war fought like his father's war. But he was wrong.
Yugoslav generals were not like the generals of the Kingdom of Serbia form WW1. They lacked experience which earlier generals had because they were active in many wars since 1878. Also Yugoslavia was not in war for 21 years.
Gvozden was captured as well as many other soldiers of the Yugoslav Army. He was sent to a German labour camp Stalag IXc. We didn't know in which camp he was until we looked at a photo with the seal of Stalag IX c. He never came back. He never met his second son, who married a girl who was a daughter of men who also joined the army in April war and survived war as member of National Liberation Front. We only heard rumors. One of them say he was working at factory for wood in Stalag IXc and that he cut his finger and died from bleeding. Other more romantic story is that he met a young daughter of owner of wood factory and that after the war he stayed in Germany and had children with her. We are not certain what happened with him. All we have is his photo with his comrades. He is the man on the photo in the right lying on ground.
If you have any information about this man, my great grandfather, please contact me.
