"Their deeds are part of our history" — Army Day marked in Skopje and Shtip
Commemorations in Skopje and Shtip linked today’s Army to the 1943 Mirche Acev battalion and marked the force’s 34th anniversary.
Skopje and Shtip hosted commemorations on August 18 marking the 34th anniversary of the modern Army, with ceremonies that linked today’s armed forces to historical partisan units formed during World War II.
A government delegation made up of the ministers of defence, interior and labour and social policy — Vlado Misajlovski, Panche Toshkovski and Gjoko Velkovski — together with Army representatives, laid wreaths with military honours at the partisan cemetery in Skopje.
"With military honours we laid wreaths with fresh flowers at the partisan graves and at the eternal resting places of the late President Boris Trajkovski, former President Kiro Gligorov and General Mihailo Apostolski," Minister Misajlovski said, adding that the tribute preserves the memory of those who gave their lives for a free and independent Macedonia.
"Their sacrifice and their deeds are part of our history and it is our duty to preserve the memory of them," Misajlovski said.
In Shtip, Lieutenant Colonel Risto Stoev, commander of the Second Infantry Battalion, used his address to link the Army’s present-day professionalism to the traditions of past generations, praising their courage and self‑sacrifice and invoking the wartime and pre‑war leaders who, he said, lit the torch of freedom.
Ceremonial salutes and barracks events
As part of the Army Day programme, the Ilinden barracks in Skopje was scheduled to host an honorary artillery salute: a trial shot by six artillery pieces at 18:00 followed by a full salute of 10 volleys from six guns at 19:00. In Shtip, the Jane Sandanski barracks marked the day with a parade by the 2nd Infantry Battalion and other units.
The date of August 18 was chosen because on 18 August 1943 the Mirche Acev battalion was formed on the slopes of Slavej Mountain — regarded as the first organised military unit of the National Liberation War in Macedonia. The process to build the modern Macedonian Army began in 1992, when then‑President Kiro Gligorov and the leadership of the JNA signed the agreement for the withdrawal and redeployment of the federal army from the territory of the Republic of Macedonia. The Army today is part of the wider collective defence system after North Macedonia became a full NATO member in March 2020.
Photo: Vlado Misajlovski / Fejsbuk
