Jevto Jevtovic is the only Serbian soldier who carried a cannon on his shoulders during the withdrawal of the Serbian army, without throwing it into the abyss of the Prokletije mountains.
During the Albanian Golgotha, exhausted Serbian soldiers left cannons and other artillery and weapons in various ravines and abysses of the martyr's path. Especially through the Prokletije mountains.
Albanian Golgotha is the established name for the withdrawal of the Serbian army and exiled civilians over the snow-capped mountains of Albania and Montenegro in the winter of 1915/16 year during the World War I.
The soldier managed to cross the mountains and so the cannon carried on Jevto's back, arrived in Durres (Albania) completely intact.
When the French general heard this, he asked to see him. He saluted the veteran and handed him his legion of honor. To that, Jevto Jevtovic, a Serbian soldier, replied:
"I don't need a medal, but ammunition, to return to my Gojna Mountain."
Together with his comrades-in-arms, Jevto set out for Corfu (Greece), and later the cannon continued its movement towards France with the soldiers.
The transferred cannon is kept today in the Military Museum in Marseille, France. The museum setting is available for visitors, you can see and take pictures next to the famous cannon.
Jevto Jevtovic was born in 1892. He was a soldier in the army of the Kingdom of Serbia. He took part in both Balkan wars, as well as in the Battle of Cer. He died in 1977.
Salute to this Brave Soldier