MI Tapestry

Milunka Savic
After a very brief time of peace, World War I started and Milunka re-enlisted as
a volunteer. She was a member of the “Iron Regiment“ and a sergeant in the
elite Second Regiment of the Serbian Army “Knjaz Mihailo“. After the Battle of
Kolubara, where she also proved herself an excellent bomber, she was decorated
with two French Legions of Honour and a “Miloš Obilić“ medal and is the only
woman decorated with the French Croix du Guerre with the Golden Palm. As she
was a woman of immeasurable courage and military ability and, at the same time,
the woman with most decorations in the history of warfare, the French called
Milunka Savic “Serbian Joan of Arc“.
She was demobilised in 1919, and turned down an offer to move to France, where
she was eligible to collect a comfortable French army pension. Instead, she chose
to live in Belgrade and found work as a postal worker. In 1923, she married Veljko
Gligorijević, whom she met in Mostar, and divorced immediately after the birth
of their daughter Milena. She also adopted three other daughters. In the interwar
period, Milunka was largely forgotten by the general public. She worked several
menial jobs up to 1927, after which she had steady employment as a cleaning
lady in the State Mortgage Bank. Eight years later, she was promoted to cleaning
the offices of the general manager.
During the German occupation of Serbia in World War II, Milunka refused