The operation was arranged between Generale designato d'armata (acting General) Mario Roatta, commander of the Italian Second Army, and Trifunović-Birčanin, with the approval of the overall Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović. It was carried out in coordination with the Germans and included elements of the Croatian Home Guard and the NDH Air Force. Faced with heavy weaponry and seriously outnumbered, the Partisans retreated and withdrew from Prozor without significant fighting. Chetniks elements under the command of Dobroslav Jevđević and Petar Baćović then massacred between 543 and 2,500 Croats and Muslims and destroyed numerous villages in the area. Following protests from both the Italians and the Croatian authorities, the Chetnik elements were discharged or relocated. Italian and NDH forces followed up Operation Alfa with Operation Beta, which was focused on capturing Livno and surrounding localities. Baćović was killed by NDH forces near the end of the war, while Jevđević escaped to Italy and avoided prosecution by the new Yugoslav government. Mihailović was captured by the communist authorities following the war, tried and found guilty for the Chetnik actions at Prozor (among other charges), and was sentenced to death and executed. (Full article...)
Image 7Ban Josip Jelačić at the opening of the first modern Croatian Parliament (Sabor), June 5, 1848. The Croatian tricolour flag can be seen in the background. (from Croatia)
Image 10One of the seats of 14th-century magnate Paul Šubić, in Bribir. Paul held the hereditary titles of the Ban of Croatia and Lord of Bosnia. Croatian historians sometimes refer to Paul as "the uncrowned king of Croatia". (from History of Croatia)
Image 36A map of 10th-century Croatian counties (županije), as they were mentioned in De Administrando Imperio. The counties marked in blue, represent the territories governed by the Croatian Ban. (from History of Croatia)
Image 38Bora is a dry, cold wind which blows from the mainland out to sea, whose gusts can reach hurricane strength, particularly in the channel below Velebit, largest mountain range in Croatia. On the picture: the northern part of the Velebit channel. (from Croatia)
Image 52The assassination of Croatian MPs in the National Assembly in Belgrade was one of the events which greatly damaged relations between Serbs and Croats in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. (from History of Croatia)
Image 53Ban Josip Jelačić at the opening of the first Croatian civic Parliament (Sabor) whose deputies were elected on 5 June 1848. In earlier Sabors, members represented feudal estates rather than citizens. The Croatian tricolor flag can also be seen in the background. Dragutin Weingärtner, 1885. (from History of Croatia)
Image 55Marko Marulić (18 August 1450 – 5 January 1524), Croatian poet, lawyer, judge, and Renaissance humanist who coined the term "psychology". He is the national poet of Croatia. (from Croatia)
Image 59"Remnants of the Remnants" (Reliquiae Reliquiarum), shown on this map in yellow, represent the territory under the jurisdiction of Croatian-Slavonian Sabor at the height of the Ottoman advance (from History of Croatia)
Image 66Croatian borders similar to those established with the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699. Although the peace treaty meant relief from Ottoman pressure, Croatia lost the compactness of its territory. (from History of Croatia)
Image 69The 1835 issue of the magazine Danicza, with lyrics of what would later become the Croatian national anthem "Lijepa naša domovino" ("Our Beautiful Homeland"). (from History of Croatia)
Image 74Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac with the Croatian communist leader Vladimir Bakarić at the celebration of May Day, shortly before Stepinac was arrested and convicted by the communists. (from Croatia)
Juan Bielovucic (30 July 1889 – 14 January 1949) was a Peruvian aviator who set several speed and altitude aviation records in 1910–13. He was also the first person to complete a successful powered aircraft crossing of the Alps in 1913, following a 1910 attempt by his friend Jorge Chávez that ended in a fatal crash landing. He established the first aviation school in South America in Lima, Peru. Bielovucic became a colonel of the Peruvian Aviation Corps (PAC) in 1911, joined the Service Aéronautique of the French Army as a volunteer in 1914 and earned the Legion of Honour for his service in World War I. He retired from active aviation in 1920 and returned to Peru where he became the lieutenant commander of the PAC Reserve. He was also active with the French Resistance during World War II. In Croatia, he is regarded as the first Croatian aviator. (Full article...)
D21 was an 80.1-kilometre-long (49.8 mi), north–south state road in Istria County, Croatia. A short section of D21 was part of the European route E751. The northern terminus of the route was located at the Croatia–Slovenia border at the Dragonja River. There it connected to Koper, Slovenia, and Trieste, Italy, via the Slovene route G11 further north. The route was generally parallel to A9 motorway, with which it formed several junctions, either directly or via short connectors, at Buje, Bale and Vodnjan – towns served directly by D21. The southern terminus of the route was found in the city of Pula, at the southern tip of the Istrian Peninsula.
The road, as well as all other state roads in Croatia, was managed and maintained by Hrvatske ceste, a state-owned company. The road carried an annual average daily traffic of about 2,000 vehicles, and the traffic volume increased by up to 1,000 vehicles in summer as the road was used by tourists in the region. The southernmost portion of the road was significantly more congested as it carries Pula suburban traffic. (Full article...)
...that Croatian vernacular names of marine algae are the most numerous within Europe, their richness being subequal to the maximal one for Japanese algae in the rest of the world?
Human heads on the external part belong to unknown individuals, but it is commonly speculated that Juraj Dalmatinac made them after the local residents of Šibenik at the time.