Pavle Jurišić Šturm
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| Pavle Jurišić | |
|---|---|
| 8 August 1848 – 14 January 1922 (age 74) | |
 Pavle Jurišić Šturm |
|
| Place of birth |  Zgorželc, Lusatia |
| Place of death | .svg/22px-Flag_of_the_Kingdom_of_Yugoslavia_(civil).svg.png){kind=small} Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
| Allegiance | Kingdom of Serbia |
| Rank | Major |
| Commands held | Serbian 3rd Army (World War 1) |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Cer, Battle of Kolubara, Salonika Front |
Pavle Jurišić Šturm (Serbian Cyrillic: Павле Јуришић Штурм) (August 8, 1848-January 14, 1922) was a Serbian general of Sorbian origin who commanded the Serbian 3rd Army in the First World War.
Pavle Jurišić Šturm was one of the most important commanders in the Serbian army in the WWI, especially during the first two years of the war, the time when his 3rd army was main support either for the 2nd army during the battle of Cer, or for the 1st army during the battle of Kolubara.
He was born and raised in Zgorželc, Lusatia (Eastern Germany, bordering Poland), the homeland of the Sorbs. His parents were both ethnic Sorbs, and his name on German papers was Paulus Sturm, his Polish name was Pavle/Pawel. He finished the military academy in Wroclaw, Silesia and went to Serbia before the Balkan wars to fight the Turks, studying in the Serbian military academy and volunteering in the Serbian Army.
He fell in love with Serbia instantly, marrying a Serbian woman, and changed his name from Pavel to Serbian Pavle, and his last name Sturm to the typical Serbian last name that was modulated translation of his German last name - Sturm, meaning "Storm" in German was translated into Jurišić, with the root of the word "charge" ("juriš" in Serbian ).
He kept his German last name as an alias. His son, who he had with his Serbian wife, was a sergeant officer in the Serbian army, and he passed all major battles in WWI, from Cer and Kolubara, and then retreated over frozen Albania, the resurrection of the Serbian army on the island of Corfu, and the epic charge of the Serbian army, breaking the Salonika front.
He defeated the Bulgarian army at Vardar river and Black River that led to the Bulgarian capitulation, then retook all the major cities and return to the motherland, defeating fon Makensen's army and chasing German armies further to the north, even after the triumphal entering in the capital Belgrade.
After years of peace that followed, he stayed Serbia and the Serbian army with the rank of major. He died 1922 in his home in Belgrade.
[edit] After his death
When Germany invaded Yugoslavia in World War II, the first organized armed rebellion was conducted by the circle of officers led by Chetnik general Draža Mihajlović.
The Germans had spread their nets to catch the rebels' leader, and once they had them surrounded on the estate of one of the officers. Together with the Chetnik leaders of rebellion, was Šturm's son. In the moment when the rebels started to shoot and intended to break the siege, Jurišić's son took the coat of general Mihajlović, forcing the Germans to follow him, thinking that he was the rebellion leader they came to catch. By the time they had realised the deception, it was too late, General Mihajlović fled.
The Germans took Pavle's son to the Gestapo and interrogated him. When he told them that he was the son of Pavle Jurišić, they wanted to release him, because of his father's origin in Germany. But, he took this as an insult and stood up and yelled:" If I even had German blood in me, that German blood had leaked out of me on Salonika front! I am Serb!" A couple hours later, he stood in front of the firing squad, yelling the famous Chetnik salute: "Long live the King! Long live Motherland Serbia!"
