The story of Momčilo Gavrić, Serbian 7-year-old WWI soldier

Momčilo Gavrić was the youngest known WWI soldier, accepted into his unit at the age of seven and promoted to the rank of Corporal at the age of eight.

In early August 1914, Austro-Hungarian soldiers maimed and hanged his father, mother, grandmother, his three sisters, and four of his brothers. His house was also set on fire. By mere chance, Momčilo survived the attack.

Left without family and without a home, Momčilo went to find the 6th Artillery Division of the Serbian Army, which was, at the time, stationed on Mount Gucevo near his home village. Major Stevan Tucović accepted Gavrić into his unit after hearing about what had happened, and assigned soldier Miloš Mišović to be Gavrić's caretaker.

The boy pinpointed the location of the Austro-Hungarians that same evening and was given control of the trigger of one of the Serbian batteries, enabling him to have a personal revenge for the death of his family.

During the same month, Momčilo participated in the Battle for Mount Cer that lasted for 9 days. It was the first official Allied victory of the war and the first aerial dogfight of the war. The battle saw bloodshed of more than 15,000 troops, with additional 50,000 wounded and captured on both sides. The losses of the Austro-Hungarian Army were much bigger than the Serbian and they were pushed back to their initial invasion position.

After surviving the Battle of Cer, Gavrić was promoted to the rank of Corporal and was given a proper military uniform. At the age of eight, he was still the youngest soldier in the war and the youngest Corporal in history. He was dubbed “The son of the Division”.

After another military campaign against Serbia, in the fall of 1915, the Serbian resistance was crushed by a multi-sided attack by Austro-Hungarian, German, and Bulgarian Armies.

However, Serbian Government and Army refused to capitulate. This meant a huge, exodus-like retreat of the remnants of the Army through Albanian mountains, with a goal of reaching the Allied territory in Greece, during the winter of 1915. Many civilians also followed the Army. The historical event is often referred as the “Albanian Golgotha”, which illustrates the horrors of the extensive retreat by foot through hostile mountains during winter time.

During the retreat, Momčilo’s caretaker and friend, Miloš Mišović, fell due to exhaustion and asked Gavrić to continue without him. The boy refused and curled next to his friend in the snow, which was a gesture that gave Mišović the strength to continue.

In Thessaloniki, Gavrić was sent to an irregular school program in which he hastily went through the equivalent of four grades of elementary education. After the recovery of the Serbian Army, he was back in the ranks, participating in the Battle of Kajmakcalan in 1916.

During this particular event, he was met by the Serbian Commander in Chief, Živojin Mišić and promoted to the rank of Lance Sergeant. The order was read out loud to the whole division, as Mišić was stunned by the bravery of a now ten-year-old boy, and insisted that he should serve as an example to the rest of the troops.

Momčilo was wounded several times during his service but continued to go back to the trenches, until the liberation of Serbia was completed and the war was over. He witnessed the creation of a new Kingdom – the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

During his legal conscription age in 1929, he had an incident,when he claimed that he had already partaken in the Army during the Great War. The officers refused to believe him and tried to force him to admit that he was lying. He refused to denounce his claim and was therefore erroneously imprisoned for two and a half months.

Sources: War History Online, Wikipedia, Google Images

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