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Franc Rozman Stane

Franc Rozman - Stane (March 27, 1911 - November 7, 1944), was a legendary Slovenian partisan's commandant.

Franc Rozman was born in the village Spodnje Pirniče, near Ljubljana, Austro - Hungary (now Slovenia) to mother Marjana and father Franc Rozman. Among four children Franc was the third.

Franc Rozman - Stane in the middle together with Dušan Kveder - Tomaž and Peter Stante - Skala in July 1943

When three years old, he lost his father, a railway track worker, in the World War I, who died in Russia. Stane had a poor and hard childhood. His sisters Marjeta and Terezija had to go to an orphanage, Franc and his brother Martin stayed in Pirniče. When he was 15 years old, he became a hind in one tavern and after that he trained as a journeyman baker. As a young boy he made enthusiastically for the troops, but he was rejected on his asking to join the military school. In the spring of 1932 he had to serve in the army. In 1935 when Italians started to mobilize Slovene youngsters for the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, Franc decided to join Ethiopian forces. He didn't succeed.

As soon as the Spanish Civil War had broken out, he decided to travel to Spain. He was among the first Yugoslav volunteers in Spain, where he, on October 1, 1936 joined the Spanish republican army. In Jarma[?] he completed noncommissioned officer's school, became a lieutenant and a commander of a company, then a captain and a commander of a battalion. His comrades in arms remembered him as a lively, earnest and decreed person.

After the war in Spain he spent some time in French camps and in July 1941 he finally returned home through Germany. For a while he dwelled with one activist of the OF[?] (the Liberation Front (Osvobodilna fronta)). In early December he visited his brother Martin and after he joined the Slovenian partisans. Soon he became a military instructor with the High command of the Slovenian partisan's forces. He was given a task to set up the Styrian battalion (Štajerski bataljon), which would be gathered by the partisan's troops, (the Revirje and Savinjska troops (Revirske in Savinjske čete)), which were active on Styria in the autumn of 1941. He participated in the Attack on Šoštanj[?] and later in the Battle of Čreta[?]. Germans constantly tried to get rid of Franc Rozman and they set up many ambushes. In the spring of 1942 Franc Rozman became a commandant of the Slovenian partisan's brigade, which was established in April 5, 1942 on Kremenik in Lower Carniola[?] (Dolenjska), numbering more than 300 fighters, and it was by its organizing composition, abilities of fighters, and its power at that time the most powerful Slovenian partisan's unit. In July 13, 1943 he became a commandant of the High command of the Slovenian partisan's army with a rank of a general and he led it after that up to his death. He died in White Carniola[?] (Slovenian Bela Krajina) as a consequence of a bad wound of which he got with the testing of a new weapon (mortars), sent to the partisans by the Allies. There were some rumours he was killed in a sabotage, caused by the Serb military authorities, but they have never been fully proven.

The commandant Stane, as he was named by the partisan's fighters, is considered to be one of the brightest figures from the times of the NOB (the National liberation fight). A well known partisan's song Komandant Stane (The commandant Stane) is dedicated to him. Many Slovenian schools bear his name. The Franc Rozman Stane Barracks (Vojašnica Franc Rozman Stane) at Ljubljana-Polje also proudly bears his name.

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