{"id":175017,"date":"2025-04-09T15:13:43","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T13:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=175017"},"modified":"2025-04-09T15:13:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T13:13:45","slug":"he-stole-a-train-full-of-serbs-from-the-ustashas-he-saved-hundreds-of-lives-and-half-of-serbia-doesnt-know-his-name-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/he-stole-a-train-full-of-serbs-from-the-ustashas-he-saved-hundreds-of-lives-and-half-of-serbia-doesnt-know-his-name-photo\/","title":{"rendered":"HE STOLE A TRAIN FULL OF SERBS FROM THE USTASHAS: He saved hundreds of lives, and half of Serbia doesn\u2019t know his name! (PHOTO)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The spring and summer of 1941 could be described as the two most horrifying seasons in the recent history of the Serbian people, as that period, immediately following the establishment of the so-called Independent State of Croatia, brought a genocidal tsunami and unprecedented massacres orchestrated by the Ustasha regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The people fled to the forests and mountains, fueling the uprising that began to flare up throughout the NDH, but the Serbs living in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina tried in every possible way to reach the safety of what remained of Serbia\u2014across the Drina River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the main refugee gathering points was Vi\u0161egrad, a town that, under the new territorial redistribution of the Balkan powder keg, fell within the NDH\u2019s Grand County of Vrhbosna and was connected by railway to U\u017eice\u2014and to some form of freedom, at least from the Ustasha knife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The town was filled with refugees, but the greatest crowds were at the train station, where mostly helpless women with children and the elderly waited for a chance to board a train heading east. Many were deceived by smugglers\u2014fellow countrymen looking to profit from the chaos\u2014who promised safe passage to Serbia, took their money, and vanished. Among the unfortunate crowd was a man named Vojin Nikitovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Nikitovi\u0107 was not a refugee. A train engineer by profession, he was stationed in Vi\u0161egrad when the April War broke out, operating the Vi\u0161egrad\u2013U\u017eice line. The Ustasha authorities left him alone, as they did with others essential to the functioning of their \u201cstate\u201d apparatus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\">Na slici je Vojin Nikitovi\u0107, ma\u0161inovo\u0111a koji je 1941. u Vi\u0161egradu (NDH) ukrao voz, prevezao oko 500 izbeglica od usta\u0161ke kame do U\u017eica i sakrio oru\u017eje za partizane kojima se priklju\u010dio.<br><br>Borio se na Kadinja\u010di, bio u logoru na Banjici i pre\u017eiveo da se vrati u rodno U\u017eice.<br><br>SF\/SN. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SaAsmHtGn8\">pic.twitter.com\/SaAsmHtGn8<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Balkan Utopia (@BalkanUtopia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BalkanUtopia\/status\/1362175803170189312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 17, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He knew, however, that this safety was temporary. The liquidation of technical staff had already begun, and he realized his time would come. By July, he began forming an \u201cexit strategy\u201d and arranged a supposed smuggling route, but grew tired of waiting. Feeling pity for the people at the station, a brilliant idea began to form in his mind: he would steal a locomotive, attach a train, pack it with as many people as possible, and simply cross the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He made his move on the evening of August 10. He informed acquaintances among the refugees of his plan, telling them to spread the word and instruct others to bring as little as possible to make room for more passengers in the pre-prepared train on track seven. He told them to board just before the guard shift change and handed them the coupling pin for attaching the train to the locomotive so they could act quickly upon his arrival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just before midnight, he stole locomotive number 85009. The guard, who had been tipped off, disappeared to avoid implication. Nikitovi\u0107 shrugged when he realized that fireman Ragib Toko was asleep in the cab\u2014he couldn\u2019t risk waking him, unsure how he might react, but couldn\u2019t abandon the plan either. Carefully, without waking Toko, he continued his mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vojin Nikitovi\u0107 \u2013 zaboravljeni junak sa pruge \/ video RTS-a\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H8dzIdgr1vo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What followed plays out like the script of an action film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He slowly drove the locomotive to track seven, inspected the cars, saw that over 500 people were inside, ensured the train was properly coupled, ran to switch the tracks for departure, returned to the cab, and sped off toward Serbia. Toko awoke but, believing they were on an urgent transport to \u0160argan, began stoking the fire, unaware of the escape, and ignored all stop signals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nikitovi\u0107 stopped at Dobrun station and was told the station chief and Vi\u0161egrad garrison commander were demanding he return immediately or they\u2019d send a pursuit. Nikitovi\u0107 bluffed\u2014he pushed the railway worker into the station, picked up the phone, and called all stations between Dobrun and \u0160argan, warning them that he had 500 armed men ready to respond to any attempt to stop them. He bet on the fact that local crews were small and major garrisons too far to respond in time. He then returned to the locomotive and pushed full steam ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He raced through Vardi\u0161te, Mokra Gora, and Jatare, ignoring all signals. The armed crews had taken his threat seriously, leaving all switches open. He reached \u0160argan Vitasi, where he stopped out of fear that the boiler might explode from the pressure and overload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There he learned that a pursuit had been launched, the entire railway was on alert, and ambushes awaited him on the way to U\u017eice. He ignored advice to surrender, suggesting instead that they say he threatened them with weapons to avoid retribution. He checked the freight cars, which were full of goods, and in one discovered a cache of weapons. He distributed them to the people, telling them to load and prepare to defend themselves if ambushed\u2014to sell their lives dearly, if nothing else. He kept a few weapons for himself. It was pure chance that he had stolen that particular train\u2014but it would later prove useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He sped past Kremna, Bioska, Vrutci\u2014station after station\u2014past terrified railway workers signaling him to stop, gesturing that he was mad and would get them all killed. But Vojin Nikitovi\u0107 didn\u2019t waver. Those people had no idea what was really happening across the Drina. They might not even have realized they were collaborating with the occupiers. They were just \u201cdoing their job,\u201d like lambs to the slaughter. Nikitovi\u0107 was not like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eventually, he had to stop the train before tunnel 17, near Stapari station, a few kilometers from U\u017eice, where a strong German garrison was still stationed and likely had already dispatched units down the tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">FIND OUT MORE:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fserbiantimes%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0xdpwX8Zb7nQCtoquJa61r4BBQES8z6ZoPbK11fYeYMuP88XS7B3qbgf5RQfWU6q8l&#038;show_text=true&#038;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"250\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All this time, fireman Ragib had no idea he was part of a criminal act. Naturally, he began to panic, but Nikitovi\u0107 calmed him, explaining there was no going back to Bosnia and that he guaranteed his safety. Then he went through the cars and told the passengers to disembark\u2014they were in Serbia, and it was over. He directed them to nearby villages, where they soon dispersed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before leaving, he collected the weapons, and he and Toko hid them in tunnel niches known mostly only to railway workers\u2014places regular troops wouldn\u2019t think to look\u2014as well as in a cave near the tracks. Then the two of them disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Germans found an empty, still-smoking locomotive and cars, and one with empty crates that had once held rifles and ammunition. The pursuit found nothing\u2014no people, no weapons. The cleverly hidden arms later supplied the free U\u017eice Republic and the Railway Platoon of the Workers\u2019 Battalion of the U\u017eice Partisan Detachment, which included two local railwaymen and communists whom Nikitovi\u0107 had informed of the stash: Mihajlo Milivojevi\u0107 Minjac, platoon commander, and Bo\u017eo Radakovi\u0107, political commissar (the Workers\u2019 Battalion was almost entirely wiped out in heroic fashion on Kadinja\u010da on November 29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few months after the train theft, the Ustasha massacred 6,000 Serbian refugees\u2014mostly women, children, and the elderly\u2014in Stari Brod near Vi\u0161egrad, while the hero of this story joined the Railway Platoon, was wounded, captured three times, tortured at Banjica, but always managed to escape and survive the war, apparently spending some time in U\u017eice afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His heroism was never widely known in former Yugoslavia, likely due to his modesty\u2014otherwise, he might have ended up the star of a major partisan film. Still, newspapers in the SFRY wrote about him many times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fate of fireman Ragib Toko remains completely unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/his-native-village-does-not-forget-a-mural-with-the-image-of-the-killed-policeman-nikola-krsmanovic-appeared-in-draginac-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">HIS NATIVE VILLAGE DOES NOT FORGET: A mural with the image of the killed policeman Nikola Krsmanovi\u0107 appeared in Draginac! (VIDEO) &nbsp;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/vucic-chose-the-candidate-for-the-composition-of-the-new-government-is-duro-macut-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">VU\u010cI\u0106 CHOSE: The candidate for the composition of the new Government is \u0110uro Macut (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/italian-pianist-expelled-from-serbia-david-played-at-protests-in-nis-police-gave-him-three-days-to-leave-the-country\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">ITALIAN PIANIST EXPELLED FROM SERBIA: David played at protests in Ni\u0161, police gave him three days to leave the country!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/sound-cannon-thundered-to-scare-them-ceda-jovanovic-didnt-know-he-was-live-on-tv-for-8-minutes-revealed-everything\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">\u201cSOUND CANNON THUNDERED TO SCARE THEM\u201d: \u010ceda Jovanovi\u0107 didn\u2019t know he was live on TV for 8 minutes, revealed everything!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/drugged-attack-on-police-officers-lawyer-defending-vesic-in-the-canopy-case-tests-positive-for-amphetamines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">DRUGGED ATTACK ON POLICE OFFICERS: Lawyer defending Vesi\u0107 in the \u201ccanopy case\u201d tests positive for amphetamines!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Source<\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>Stil; <strong>Foto: <\/strong>Wikimedia Creative Commons, Printscreen Twitter @BalkanUtopia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The spring and summer of 1941 could be described as the two most horrifying seasons in the recent history of the Serbian people, as that period, immediately following the establishment of the so-called Independent State of Croatia, brought a genocidal tsunami and unprecedented massacres orchestrated by the Ustasha regime. The people fled to the forests [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":175018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1437,3218,3219,6037,3220,4253,3222,3224,6038],"class_list":["post-175017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-drugi-svetski-rat","tag-genocid-nad-srbima-u-ndh","tag-jasenovac","tag-jasenovsac","tag-ndh","tag-srbi-i-hrvati","tag-srbi-u-hrvatskoj","tag-ustase","tag-vojin-nikitovic","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175059,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175017\/revisions\/175059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}