Our journey through the history of Vranje, in which we have started since the 13th century, would not be complete if we would miss to mention modern history…

The whole history of the Serbs was essentially a struggle for survival in the conflict with the invaders who attacked from all sides: the Ottomans from the South, the Bulgarians from the East, Austria and Germany from the North, and our generation was attacked from the west by the strongest armed force of all time – the United States with full NATO pact behind them.

It is logical that, as a rule, the best fighters in the World are born here. And I don’t mean the famous ninjas of Vranje…

…who are on vacation on Saturday anyway, but to true heroes who were always ready to give their lives for the defense of the homeland, and they have been proving that for centuries. Here is a combat unit that has proven itself in the conflict against the NATO pact and which preserves the memories of fallen heroes from numerous previous wars – the 4th Brigade of the Serbian Army.

This is a room of pride and glory where you can see a memorial plaque to the heroes who fell in defense of the homeland, for its freedom and honor…

… In which you can see what the Serbian soldier looked like during the wars from the time of liberation from the Turks until today:

Here are the uniforms in which I served my military service.

Officer uniforms from that time…

…and here are the modern uniforms of the Serbian army.

Then there are awards for merits in the service – medals and decorations…

…and an especially attractive part is the exhibition of old weapons and war trophies.

Mortar 60mm M57 used from 1975 to 2007.

A special place in the collection of trophies of the 4th Brigade is occupied by the helmet of the American soldier Steven Gonzalez, who was captured near the village of Slavujevac on March 30, 1999, just seven days after the beginning of the NATO aggression. This is proof that there was indeed a land invasion of Serbia.

Freedom is priceless. Young gentlemen of this excursion confirmed that Serbia will continue to have brave defenders in the future – they chose the place from which they will take the memory, along with the good old T-55 tank…

And that would be all for this trip from magical Vranje, but we will soon start a new path, the paths of the Nemanjić dynasty.

See you very soon!

All photos taken with the Fujifilm X-T20 camera with the Canon EFs 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM nano lens adapted to the Fuji body using Fringer adapter.