Yugoslavia, Socialist Republic. A Rare Award Document for an Order of the People’s Hero, with Case and Seal, to JNA Major Lazar Marković Čađa

A rare, well-preserved, and exceptionally well-presented award document for the Yugoslav Order of the People’s Hero, constructed of off-white parchment with multi-coloured ink characters presented in Serbian Cyrillic, issued to “МАРКОВИЂ Ј. ЛАЗАР” (“Lazar Marković Čađa”), a Major in the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), with award number “75” by awarded by decree of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito on 2 October 1953, in recognition of Markovich’s service during the Second World War with the Yugoslav Partisans, bestowed on the same date in Belgrade, set within an intricate purple ink border and set over a watermark in the form of a transparent depiction of the award, perforated with four holes at the lower half of the document, accommodating a fine braided drawstring in blue, white, and red national colours, securing in place a fully-intact red wax seal secreted within a two-piece lacquered brown wood case, the document measuring 34.5 cm (w) x 51 cm (h), set within its period original issue cylinder, constructed of a heavy card stock frame with embossed floral and arabesque designs distributed around the circumference, with a central depressed inscription of “КАНЦЕЛАРИ ЈА ОРДЕНА” (“OFFICE OF ORDERS”), measuring 8 cm (w) x 40 cm (h), with only minimal signs of material fatigue to the document and cylinder, a scarce document in overall extremely fine condition. Footnote: Lazar Markovic Chadja. In March 1942 , at the age of less than seventeen, he left the trade and, taking a rifle from his master, went to Fruška Gora and became the youngest fighter among the Fruška Gora partisans . In order for the partisans in the Frushkogorski partisan detachment to accept him into their ranks and to escape the chase, he previously cut the telephone wires between Ruma and Irig . Already in the first combat battles against the German expedition , which tried to penetrate Fruška Gora in June 1942 , he showed great courage, because of the gag he received approval from the political commissar Slobodan Bajić Paja as a reward to carry a Brno machine gun. When the Srem partisans crossed into eastern Bosnia in November 1942 , they fought hard against the Chetniks . He distinguished himself several times in these battles - in the battles on Suho Polje against the Chetniks of Duke Đuro Bidžić, in the village of Nedeljište near Šeković , then on Mount Majevica and later in the Fifth Enemy Offensive in the battles for Vlasenica , Zvornik , Caparde (on the Zvornik- Tuzla ). The first battalion of the First Vojvodina Strike Brigade , in which he was located, was suddenly surrounded by Ustashas near the village of Nedeljista at the beginning of 1943. With his machine gun, Čađa helped not to close the enemy's hoop around the battalion, which was resting. In part of the position of his battalion, he cut down several dozen with a machine gun and forced about two hundred Ustashas to flee with his comrades. He also stood out in the defense of Sekovic. When the bombers set out to conquer the bunkers, they always demanded that Chadja be their protector with his machine gun. He joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) on March 1, 1943. He soon became a platoon commander. In the battles near Capard, he was wounded by cannon shrapnel in both legs, arms and abdomen. He was transferred for treatment to Brodac, where he completed the course for the company commander and after a short time he moved to the Bosut forests, where he was the first commander of the security of the Main Staff of the NOV and PO Vojvodina . From there, he was sent to the First Fruska Gora Partisan Detachment as Deputy Commander of the First Company. He took part in the liquidation of the Ustasha stronghold near the village of Manđelos and in the fight near Šašinac and Kupinovo against the Chetniks, who came from Serbia . He soon became the commander of the First Company and led the fighters in all the actions organized by the Frushkogorski partisan detachment. At the beginning of 1944, in a partial offensive of home guards , Ustashas and a German battalion, he took part in actions through Sremski Karlovci , Krusedol and Bukovac. After these battles, due to his heroism and the art of warfare, he was appointed commander of the First Battalion of the Eighth Vojvodina Strike Brigade . However, even as a battalion commander, he did not separate from his machine gun. On Bata's scaffolding, in a position called Kazuk, in November 1944, he successfully led his battalion to Darda and very quickly broke out on the Drava near Osijek , in front of the Red Army units . In the battle on the Drava Front near Osijek, before the end of November and the beginning of December 1944, when the 51st Vojvodina Division was forcing the Drava, near Osijek, as part of the Eighth Vojvodina Strike Brigade, he was given a special task. He successfully forced 14 kilometers of the overflowing Drava, reached the village of Beli brdo, near Osijek, took control of it and seriously threatened the enemy who was defending Osijek from the direction of Vukovar . After two days of fighting, cut off from all forces, he broke through the enemy's ring with his battalion from Beli Brdo and withdrew the battalion through the villages of Vera, Bobota and Tripnja to the Sixth Slavonian Corps , commanded by Mate Jerković . During the struggle for the final liberation of the country , in the battle for Osijek and Slavonian Posavina , he became deputy commander of the Eighth Vojvodina Strike Brigade and in the rank of captain of the Yugoslav Army (JA) welcomed the end of the war on the border with Austria . After the war, he graduated from the JNA Higher Military Academy and held responsible positions in the armored units of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). He retired in 1978 from the Federal Secretariat for National Defense (SSNO), as a JNA colonel . After the NATO aggression on the FRY , he was promoted to the rank of Major General of the Yugoslav Army in the Reserve, on December 29, 1999. [1] He died in January 2004 in Belgrade and was buried in the Alley of People's Heroes at the New Cemetery in Belgrade . He is the holder of numerous Yugoslav decorations , among which are - the Order of Merit for the People with Silver Rays , the Order of Courage , the Order of the Partisan Star with Rifles and others. He was awarded the Order of the People's Hero on October 2, 1953.