TOMISLAV SERTIĆ, THE USTASHA COLONEL AND GENERAL OF CROATIAN ARMED FORCES

Autor obrađuje životni put ustaškog pukovnika i generala Tomislava Sertića, istaknutog vojnika i zapovjednika oružanih snaga Nezavisne Države Hrvatske. Njegovo djelovanje tijekom Drugog svjetskog rata i tragični kraj koji ga je snašao 1945. ne govore samo o njegovoj sudbini kao pojedinca, nego još više o njemu kao primjeru hrvatskog časnika koji se snalazio i djelovao u tragičnim ratnim okolnostimaThe author presents a biography of the Ustasha colonel and general of the Croatian Armed Forces Tomislav Sertić (1902-1945), one of the most prominent figures of the Croatian military history of WWII. T. Sertić is presented as a professional officer who, after becoming conscious of the Croatian position in Yugoslavia and the position of the Croatian officers in its army, joined the Ustasha movement as a possible force for creation of a free Croatia. However, during WWII he did not hesitate to assist many of those that were persecuted by the Ustasha authorities, while continuing to defend the independent Stale of Croatia (NDH) and to hold high-ranking military positions. Squeezed between challenging ideologies and politics Sertić tried, just as many others, to survive in unbeatable war conditions. Nevertheless, in 1945 the Yugoslav Communist authorities, not taking into account his active participation in helping the persecuted, sentenced him at a typically Communist trumped-up trial to death that was carried out