Miladin Zarić

Miladin Zarić (1889–1976) was a Serbian and later, Yugoslavian teacher. At the end of World War II and liberation of Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia on 20 October 1944, during their retreat, the Nazis have mined the Old Sava Bridge, in order to stop the progress of the Soviet Red Army and the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia that were chasing them. They would have got away with it if there was not Miladin Zarić, a school teacher and a plain civilian with a considerable experience in demining gained previously during Balkan Wars and First World War. He saved the bridge from demolition, by cutting the detonator wires, making it the only large bridge in Europe, beside Ludendorff Bridge that the Germans didn't succeed in demolishing while retreating. The importance of his act is even bigger considering that the next bridge connecting Belgrade and Syrmia was in Šabac, 90 kilometers away.