From the Other Side of the Gun
A Historical Novel Based on True Events
by
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They obviously had other plans for him; for their monstrous bloody games. The knives were causing him great pain and even though the poor boy was nearly unconscious, he wept quietly. His clothes were soaked in blood and it was obvious that he had more wounds all over his small body.
The boy would pass out from time to time because his body could no longer bear continues torture. Whenever he would pass out, one of the Chetniks would pour a bucket of water over him. Something very disturbing caught Antun's eye. The boy's feet were redder than normal and he hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. He hoped that they did not burn him alive.
Father Savo came in front of the crowd and asked them for silence.
-Now that we have re-baptized you, the same way your Ustashas have done to Serbs in Zagreb, you have become a Serb and if you want to live you have to shout from the top of your lungs: "Long life to King Petar!"
Anto Antunovic was silent for a while gathering the strength to say what he was about to say that would shock everybody, even Antun, who later retold the story for many years. At first, he said it so quietly that Antun hardly heard him but then repeated it so loudly that everybody was shocked by the strength that came from such a small tortured body. The boy shouted:
-Jesus Christ and God almighty take my soul and my spirit! Fuck you and King Petar!!!
Everybody fell silent and nobody moved.
Antun was the first to recover, and as the light machine gun was already ready for use with a bandolier of seventy-five rounds in a saddle-drum magazine, he did not hesitate for one moment. All of a sudden, he forgot what would happen if the Chetniks caught him and pressed the trigger of his light machine gun, not lifting his finger until the very last. The characteristic thundering sound of a Machinegewere 34 was well known to every soldier. Enthusiasts of weapons recognize the sound and call it beautiful. Most people don't understand the beauty in it and how anyone could say that shooting could be beautiful. To Antun however, in that very moment it had never sounded so beautiful. It was liberating music to his ears, as though it was coming from heaven itself; revengeful and at the same time blessed with the feeling of expediency like never before.
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About the Book
It is April 1941. Belgrade has been bombed, leaving its government in shambles. In a small village in the newly independent state of Croatia, its residents know that a war has started, but nobody senses the tragedy that awaits Kornica, especially a young peasant named Antun.
It is not long before Antun is recruited by a new military formation, the Ustashas, where he soon becomes a favorite among the soldiers despite his explosive nature. As the fighting intensifies, Antun joins his fellow soldiers on the battlefields, propelled through time by a series of brutal atrocities that sadly affect his own family and reveal him to be both a hero and a man who recognizes the value of surviving a war in order to feed his family. Will Antun be able to rise above the gunfire and find the freedom he so desperately needs?
In this historical novel based on true events, a Bosnian-Croatian peasant’s life is forever changed as World War II begins and he is recruited to fight on the battlefields.
About the Author
Zeljko Goreta is a civil servant. He and his wife, Verica, have two daughters and live in the small village of Slavonski Šamac in the Republic of Croatia, European Union. This is his first book.