Sunday, September 15, 1918. At 5:30 a.m., the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki front began. Ilija Ilić was a volunteer and, as a member of the 21st Infantry Regiment, participated in the battles on the Thessaloniki front, as well as subsequent military operations until the end of the World War.
The saga about him began much earlier, when he tried to cross from Romania, where he worked as a pečalbar to earn a crust of bread and feed his family, to Serbia and enlist in the Serbian army as a volunteer. After the refusal of the Romanian authorities to issue him the necessary permit, his travels begin. He traveled halfway around the world to finally reach Thessaloniki and volunteer. Politika wrote about all this on April 4, 1941:
Pečalbar from Drimkol Ilija Ilić traveled on foot for more than two months and by sea for more than four months until he arrived at the Thessaloniki front
Labunište, April
Our history is rich in the heroic deeds of many people, and our freedom was won in blood. For the sake of freedom, they went from war to war, from battle to battle and did what sometimes seemed impossible.
One of those who during the last war did a feat that has no equal is Ilija Ilić, a pečalbar from Drimkol. For more than two months he traveled on foot, and then he spent another four months traveling across seas and oceans to reach the Thessaloniki front and take part in the fight for the freedom of his homeland.
The declaration of war found Ilija Ilić on a fishing trip in Romania. He immediately reported to the Serbian consul in Iasi and requested permission from the Romanian authorities to return to his homeland. But he didn't get that permission, because Romania was neutral and didn't want to resent the warring great powers. This troubled Ilia terribly, and he was relieved when Romania entered the war. Then he went on foot to Russia. He reached Manchuria via Odessa and the southern regions of Siberia. He spent what little money he had on the way. Because of this, he stays in Manchuria for a month to earn some money for the trip. Although tortured by the long, tiring journey and starvation, after a month spent in Manchuria, he crossed over to Japan, and from there he reached the Mediterranean Sea via the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, and then to the Thessaloniki front by an allied ship.
There in Thessaloniki, Ilija Ilić, a man who traveled such a long way to fight for the freedom of his country and his people, encountered the soldiers of the Twenty-first Infantry Regiment, who took him to their commander, Mr. Bozidar Janković. In front of all the soldiers of his regiment, Mr. Janković praised the sacrifice and patriotism of this poor Drimkolec.
As a volunteer, Ilija Ilić then participated in all the battles on the Thessaloniki front. He received several wounds and received several decorations. The boys of Drimkol also know about his feat and his experiences on the long journey across Manchuria, Japan and so many seas, to the Thessaloniki front. They often gather around him and do not let him go until he tells them about his experiences while traveling the seas. And this is how Ilić always ends his long and exciting story:
"We didn't think about bare life, pain, suffering and wounds, but about who would sacrifice himself first for his people and his homeland." And because almost all of us were like that, we gained freedom."
Milisav Antonijević, Politika correspondent from Drimkol, teacher from the village of Podgorci
Ilija Ilić, (1879 – July 12.07.1942, XNUMX) from the village of Labuništa, Struga, Drimkol, was a farmer, pečalbar. The direct descendants of Ilija Ilić live in the Ilić, Brčeski, Đeroski, Antonioski, Peović families.
Wikipedia: https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilija_Ilić_(solunski_dobrovoljac)
National Library of Serbia, digitized editions of Politics: http://www.digitalna.nb.rs/wb/NBS/novine/politika/1941/04/04#page/5/mode/2up
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