President decorates Independence War unit
Slovenska Bistrica - President Borut Pahor decorated on Saturday a former Territorial Defence unit based in Slovenjska Bistrica with the Order of Freedom for having taken over a weapons facility from the Yugoslav National Army (YNA) during Slovenia's 1991 Independence War, a move that greatly contributed to Slovenia's success in the war.
A YNA barracks was located in Slovenjska Bistrica in the Former Yugoslavia, with some 500 recruits stationed there during the 1991 war.
They were tasked with defending a telecommunications tower on Boč mountain and a facility in Zgornja Ložnica where massive amounts of weapons were stored in a system of underground structures.
During the war, the storage facility was being blocked by the 129th anti-saboteur unit of the Slovenian Territorial Defence under the command of Miran Krušič, and on 2 July, the unit took over the facility, providing weapons and some 5,000 tonnes of explosive devices for the Slovenian forces.
Yesterday, 30 years after the unit took this key facility, Krušič accepted the Order of Freedom on behalf of the entire 129th anti-saboteur unit for their extraordinary merit in upholding and defending Slovenia's sovereignty and independence.
Pahor's office said that the unit's activities were closely connected with Slovenia becoming independent, adding that the capturing of the weapons facility was one of the major breakthroughs in Slovenia's Independence War.