Draft:Petar M. Todorovic

Petar M. Todorović (Belgrade, Principality of Serbia, 28 December 1872 – Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1950) was a Serbian and Yugoslav officer, an artillery brigadier general of the Yugoslav Army and the father of General Staff Major Žarko Todorović Valter.

Biography

edit

He was born on December 28, 1872 in Belgrade, as the son of Milan, a merchant from Ovčina, and Jelena Baštovanović from Ritopek. He completed seven grades of high school and enrolled in the 20th grade of the Lower School of the Military Academy in 1889. He was promoted to the rank of artillery lieutenant on September 15, 1892.

Between 1900 and 1901, he studied in Paris and Nice, as well as in Grenoble from 1907 to 1909. During these stays, he perfected his knowledge of the French language.

From 1898 to 1902 he was a battery commander in Poland, and then until 1907 in the mountain artillery. In the same year, he became a division commander.

In the First Balkan War, he was the division commander of the mountain artillery regiment. In the Second Balkan War, he was the commander of the Third Division of the Mountain Artillery Regiment of the Drina Division.[1]

The First World War found him in the position of the commander of the mountain division of the Šumadija Division II. Then he commanded the artillery of the Užice army. After the Albanian Golgotha, he chaired the commission for the preparation of the military camp in Halkidiki. After the reorganization of the Serbian army in 1916, he was appointed commander of the artillery of the Drina Division.

In the post-war period, he was appointed commander of the Varaždin Military District and commander of the town in Varaždin. He was then appointed assistant commander of the Zeta Divisional Area and remained in that position until the end of 1920, when he transferred to the Artillery-Technical Department of the Ministry of the Army and Navy. Until 1922, he was the assistant commander of the Adriatic Divisional Area. He was appointed commander of the Bosnian Artillery Brigade on March 6, 1923.[1]

He retired in 1929 as head of the Artillery Department of the First Army Region.

Advancement in ranks

edit

Second Lieutenant (September 15, 1892) Captain (February 22, 1900) Major (1907) Colonel (1 October 1915) Brigadier General (October 21, 1923) The family In 1904, Todorović married Milica, the daughter of the retired judge of the Court of Cassation, Alekse Vasić. They had three sons: Žarko, Boško and Slavko.

The eldest son Jarko was also a Yugoslav officer, and he was educated in France, where his teacher was General Charles de Gaulle. In the Second World War, he was appointed by General Mihailović as the commander of Belgrade. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and taken to the Mathhausen camp. After the war, he served in the French Foreign Legion and worked at the General Staff as a colonel until his retirement.

Awards

edit

Foreign Awards

edit

References

edit