Petar Bojović

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Petar Bojović
16 July 1858 – 20 January 1945 (age 86)
Petar Bojović
Place of birth	Miševići, Serbia
Place of death	Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Allegiance	Serbia, Yugoslavia
Rank	Vojvoda
Commands held	Serbian 1st Army
Battles/wars	Serbian-Ottoman Wars, Balkan Wars, World War 1

Petar Bojović (Serbian: Петар Бојовић) (born July 16, 1858 in Miševići near Nova Varoš, beaten to death by communist partisans January 20, 1945 in Belgrade) was one of four Serbian vojvodas (field-marshal) in Balkan Wars and World War I.

He fought in Serbian-Ottoman Wars from 1876 to 1878 as a cadet of the Artillery school, as well as in wars that Serbia waged at the beginning of the XX century.

In Balkan Wars, he was the Chief of Staff of the 1st Serbian army, which scored huge success in battles of Kumanovo, Bitola (First Balkan War) and Bregalnica (Second Balkan War). He took part in peace negotiations with Turkey, held in London in 1913, as a military expert in the Serbian Government delegation.

In World War I, his 1st Army suffered huge losses at Battle of Drina, but managed to stop the Austro-Hungarian offensive. Bojović was wounded in the battle, and was replaced at the army general position by Živojin Mišić. In January 1916, he was appointed Chief of General Staff in place of the ailing duke Radomir Putnik, who was carried by his soldiers to the city of Skadar. He held that position until June 1918, when he resigned because of dispute with the allied generals on the issue of widening of Thessaloniki front. He retook the position Chief of 1st Army, which first broke the enemy lines and advanced deep into the occupied territory. He received the title of Duke on September 26, 1918 for his contribution during the war.

In 1921, he was appointed the Head of the General Staff, and 1922 he withdrawn from the active service. At the very beginning of World War II, Petar Bojovic was appointed Assistant to the Chief of General Staff, the young King Petar II Karađorđević. However, because of his old age, he did not participate in the events that followed.