On This Day in History: July 9

Milunka Savić goes to war and kicks so much ass

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Milunka Savić is not a household name, but it should be. Because Milunka is the most decorated woman in the history of warfare. It all began because her brother was called up to fight, and she told him to stay put and took his place. 

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: July 9, 1913--

Born in 1888 in the Kingdom of Serbia, Milunka was 24 when her brother was ordered to serve in the First Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire. She said I got you fam, cut her hair short and dressed in men’s clothing to join the Serbian army in his stead. Why? Who knows? Maybe her brother was a wimp who she knew would die and she knew she was a badass who would make men on the other side die instead. Because holy shit was she a fucking badass. 

She saw combat right away, she kicked ass, her side won the war in six months. Go Milunka! But then there was more war. The Second Balkan War broke out a month later because Bulgaria didn’t like its share of the spoils from the first war and attacked its former allies Serbia and Greece. Early on was the 10-day Battle of Bregalnica, during which Milunka received her first medal and was promoted to Corporal Savić. The battle ended on July 9, 1913, with Milunka being wounded, getting hit in the chest with shrapnel. It was then that physicians realized she was a woman.

The commanding officers were all oh fuck we can’t have a woman fighting but also saying well shit she’s so fucking good at fighting though. They offered to transfer her to a nursing unit and Milunka said fuck you I’m a soldier. She stood at attention saying she wanted to continue fighting. Her commanding officer said he’d think about it. She said, “I will wait,” and continued standing at attention. An hour later he said fine go fight, get the fuck out of my office. 

Her side also won the Second Balkan War (go Milunka!) and then a year later the kill fest known as World War I began, and that’s when Savić really hit her stride. Serbia was on the winning side in that one (go Milunka!) and in one battle against the Bulgarians in 1916, whose asses she was already familiar with kicking, she single-handedly took 23 Bulgarian soldiers prisoner. The allies weighed her uniform down with all the medals. Not just Serbian medals, but ones from France, Britain, and Russia too. 

France offered her a comfortable retirement for her actions, but she chose to stay in Serbia. She married and had a daughter, then divorced. Despite being poor she adopted a number of street children orphaned by the war. Milunka Savić was 52 when World War II broke out and gave medical aid to resistance fighters, for which she was beaten and thrown in a concentration camp. She survived, but continued to live poor and largely forgotten, dying in 1973 at the age of 85. 

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