Jablanica is a small town in central Bosnia and Herzegovina most famous for an epic World War II battle codenamed Fall Weiss in which the Axis-led forces aimed to destroy the Yugoslav Partisans’ central command, as well as the main hospital. Heavily outnumbered and pocketed in-between the Nazis and the Chetniks, under the leadership of Marshal Josip Broz Tito, the Partisan forces blew up the only bridge across the Neretva river, thus confusing the enemy long enough to rebuild the bridge, eliminate the Chetnik troops and save the wounded.

In 1969, this battle was immortalized in the most expensive movie production for the region (~$12M), which was subsequently nominated for the best foreign movie at the Academy Awards. For the purposes of authentic filming and claiming that the spot will turn into a tourist destination (which it did), the director was allowed to blow up an actual bridge over the river Neretva, twice. However, due to heavy smoke caused by the explosions, the footage was never used. The bridge seen in the images above is that very same bridge that was destroyed for the purposes of filming, and is now integrated in the monument to the epic battle of 1943. 

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