Original scientific paper
AUGUST MARIĆ, A BIOGRAPHY OF AN CROATIAN OFFICER
Nikica Barić
; Croatian Institute of History, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
August Marić, born in 1885, served as a junior general staff officer in the Austro-Hungarian army before and during the World War I. In 1919 he joined the royal army of the new Yugoslav state. He achieved a successful career and became a general. This was unusual because he was a former Austro-Hungarian officer and Croat, and the royal Yugoslav army was dominated by officers of the former royal Serbian army. Axis forces invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941. General Marić was captured by Germans, although Yugoslav forces under his command fought well against more powerful German forces. Marić joined the regular army of the newly proclaimed Independent State of Croatia (NDH), becoming the chief of its general staff. Soon he was kicked out of the army and accused of helping Serb and communist uprising against the NDH. In fact, Marić was obviously a victim of the power struggle among senior Croat officers. He was soon rehabilitated because of his good relations with general Glaise von Horstenau, the German army representative in Croatia, whose friendship with Marić dated since the days when they both served in the Austro-Hungarian army. After the war many senior NDH officers were executed or imprisoned by the Yugoslav communists, but Marić successfully presented himself as a victim of the Ustasha regime. He died in 1957.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
208498
URI
Publication date:
1.7.2001.
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