Anniversary of one of the major battles fought in the WW II on the territory of then Yugoslavia was marked on Saturday in the southern town of Jablanica, at a memorial complex where the crucial stage of the offensive took place 76 years ago.

Locally known as the Battle for the Wounded, this was one of the most significant confrontations of WW II in then Yugoslavia, in which Partisans managed to deceive the enemy in what seemed like an almost imminent defeat for them. Cost of their survival was blowing up a railway bridge, which still stands there sinking deep in the Neretva river, reminding of the wise decision the Partisans took to make it through.

The ceremony symbolically started with the throwing of 76 carnation flowers down the Neretva river in presence of national liberation movement members from Bosnia and the region.

Zeljko Komsic, a member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency, also attended the commemoration.

“The winners certainly thought back in 1945 that they had put an end to the fascism but so many years later after the end of the WWII we cannot get rid of the fascism,” said Komsic.

This is a civilisational value that must last, he added.