Mato Dukovac

[Larry D.]

Zak - check your PM inbox.

L.

[ltcolonel]

Mato Dukovac was baptized in the Orthodox Church in Surčin (a village in Srem near Zemun and Belgrade). I do not know if he did not switch to the Catholic Church after 10 April in 1941.

[ltcolonel]

Dukovac family comes from the village Mogorić in Lika (today Croatia). Matо's great grandfather moved to the Union about in 1800 - 1820. but Mato's grandfather and father returned to the Orthodox Church about in 1880.

[Larry D.]

Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel! At least I now know that Mato D. was not lying to me about this during my interviews with him back 30 years ago. Excellent research clearing up.

L.

[ZDRUG]

... There is a lot of information on the Croatians in Syria in the hands of the Croatian emigre community, mainly in Canada. A Croatian professor at a small Catholic college in eastern Pennsylvania by the name of Jare Jareb used to have a lot of information on it, but he is probably deceased now.
--Larry

That excellent I start think about to travel and find those emigree.
I ask one of my favourite professor Yoav Gelber, who write me about Israeli intelligence report about volunteers in Arab Armies and other material in his private archive (all unfortunately in Herbrew and he stayed in US for next year, but papers located in Haifa)

Sincerely...
Orlov

Gents,

There was a story in "Vecernji List" (2010-11) about former member of Handzar Divizija who lives in Lebanon, if I remember well he was recruited in Northern Italy with another 150 Croats & they participated in the Palestinian war.
He stated that he is now Lebanese & visited Croatia/Bosnia in 1995.
Searching "Vecernji Lists" archive could gives more & correct informations about him.

[Dr Eisvogel]

Gents,

There was a story in "Vecernji List" (2010-11) about former member of Handzar Divizija who lives in Lebanon, if I remember well he was recruited in Northern Italy with another 150 Croats & they participated in the Palestinian war.
He stated that he is now Lebanese & visited Croatia/Bosnia in 1995.
Searching "Vecernji Lists" archive could gives more & correct informations about him.

It was published in December 2005, between 20th and 23rd. The journalist was Hassan Haidar Diab.

The veteran living in Lebanon is/was Kemal Rustemović. The article says that he was born on September 12th 1928 in the village of Kuti, between Han Pijesak and Sokolac, in Eastern Bosnia.

If the article is to be believed he was later Lebanese Army officer.

Rustemović came from Fermo (Italy) to Syria.
Rustemović claims that he was transported from Damascus to Nablus, where he fought and participated in stabilizing front and that later he fought in Jaffa. From Jaffa he went to Jenin. From Jenin he withdrawed to the village of Malkia on Lebanese-Israeli border. Eventually he participated in the attempted conquest of the town of Nasra. This attempt was defeated and he blames Arab betrayal for failure, specifically Syrian and Iraqi logistics.

After that defeat he claims to have joined Saudi brigade stationed at Majis Al-Jabal. He claims to have taken Lebanese citizenship in 1950 and served in Lebanese Army for 30 years, until his retirement in 1980.

Rustemović fought in the ranks of Fawzi al-Qawuqji's Arab Liberation Army (جيش الإنقاذ العربي), which he calls Army of Salvation (Croatian: Vojska spasa).

The article mentions Arab historian dr. Mustafa Baze, who seems to live at Bint Jubeil, 5 km from Lebanese-israeli border. He wrote a book in Arabic "South Lebanon in the context of Arab World 1864-1948", which deals with fighting in those areas in 1948.

***

It seems that on May 10th 2008 "San Francisco Sentinel" published a story by Seth J. Frantzman about Bosnian Muslims fighting against Israelis in 1948. It mentions the article from Večernji list, which I summarized above.
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=12613

[allavinski]

Mato Dukovac's Monument

Location: old section A-200 in the Historic Cataraqui Cemetery, Kingston, Ontario
100 yds. south of Sir John A. MacDonald's grave.

[img]/Users/allavinski/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Modified/2014/Roll%206/DSC00248.JPG[/img]

[allavinski]

by allavinski 6June 2015 It is baffling that mature individuals are perpetrating the myth of Mato Dukovac`s defection to Soviets rather than accepting the obvious alternative and the truth. Tale of defection was Mato`s ticket to acceptance by Yugoslav communists while the truth would have been a certain imprisonment. As he had nothing in common with them he soon defected to Italy and the freedom. This being the first and only defection in his lifetime.
I have known this wonderful man all my life. Mato Dukovac was my idol when I was nine, later a friend and a brother I wished for but never had. He was the most decent human with vast empathy in his heart and that ever present smile on his face. I was blessed to have known him. At this 25th. anniversary of his death, Mato is sadly missed and fondly remembered.

[allavinski]

[img]

The monument was placed in 2014 in Kingston, Ontario.

DSC00248.JPG (143.5 KiB) Viewed 1539 times

[/img]

[Dr Eisvogel]

Yes, J, more light needs to be shed on this subject, that's for sure. I remember from my conversations with Branka Katušić 26-27 years ago that the Croatian contingent that went to Syria served mainly as trainers for the nascent Syrian Air Force. Perhaps that is why they are not showing up in the combat summaries in that web site you provided.

There is a lot of information on the Croatians in Syria in the hands of the Croatian emigre community, mainly in Canada. A Croatian professor at a small Catholic college in eastern Pennsylvania by the name of Jare Jareb used to have a lot of information on it, but he is probably deceased now. He would have have passed his collect and notes to the Canadian emigres, probably those in Montreal, with whom he was most closely connected. I think it would be pretty difficult to find any of the actual participants now. After all, the youngest of them would be close to 90 today.

--Larry

Dear Mr. Larry D.,

Jere Jareb is still alive, although rather ill, which is not surprising for somebody born in 1922.

***

Here is a PhD dissertation with multiple references to Mato Dukovac service in Syria, including details on his relations with Syrian airmen, between pages 28-52:

HARTOCH, Noam: A History of the Syrian Air Force 1947-1967, London, 2015
https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/ ... thesis.pdf

Best regards,
Eisvogel

[Larry D.]

Thank you, Dr. Eisvogel!

I knew the details of Mato's recruitment from the Croatian DP camp in Italy and his subsequent service with the Syrian AF from a Croatian lady here in Florida who introduced me to him in 1977-78. Her name is/was Dr. Branka KATUŠIĆ and she knew him from the war years in Zagreb and from the DP camps in Italy. Her father was in the Croatian Air Force during the war.

KATUŠIĆ, Ljudevit. 03.03.42 AF Nadporučnik, received the Iron Cross 1st Class for service with the Croatian bomber group in Russia. 10.12.43 promoted to AF Satnik. 1944-45 AF Satnik, Croatian Air Attaché to the Italian Socialist Republic at Salo in North Italy.

Your manuscript article was most interesting. I might note that the main part dealing with the nascent Syrian Air Force and its use of foreign mercenaries as pilots and aircrew runs from page 44 to 63. Mato Dukovac is mentioned on pages 48, 49 and 51.

L.

[Dr Eisvogel]

Dear Mr. Larry D.,

thank you for pinpointing the relevant parts of the dissertation more precisely. The Croatian instructors are mentioned from p. 38 onward.

There are abstracts of interrogation of Ljudevit Katušić by CIA about the situation in Syria. Walter Rauff and identity of a Syrian Intelligence Captain are mentioned.
http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/f ... 339284.pdf
http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/f ... R_0065.pdf

Best regards,
Eisvogel

[Larry D.]

Fascinating! I am not absolutely certain what happened to Ljudevit Katušić after 1949-50, but I believe he, Branka Katušić and a number of other Croatians from Italy emigrated to Venezuela and from there some applied for resident visas in the U.S. and Canada. It took quite a few years for these to be issued, but by the early 1960's many of them had made the move. Branka K. was very reluctant to disclosed information about him after they left Italy, but I have some reason to believe that he came to the U.S. with her, initially to Cincinnati/Ohio, I think, before they moved to Florida in the early 1970's.

One think puzzles me: I have referred to Ljudevit K. as her father, but he may have been an older brother instead. It has been almost 35 years and the memory dims with time.

L.