NERETVA YUGO TOUR

This Memorial Complex was opened by President Tito himself in 1978 and its spacious design indicates it was not intended as a passive memorial object but as a place of interactive learning about the history, mythology and ideology of Socialist Yugoslavia. Besides the museum, the complex includes a large amphitheater, outdoor classrooms and the destroyed bridge which had a crucial role in the battle. At the heart of the complex we find a small monument with Tito’s legendary words: “We shall not leave the wounded behind”.

The Museum was built in modernist style, overlooking the destroyed bridge where the Partisan army crossed the Neretva along with 4,000 wounded who were not left behind on Tito’s orders. The museum presents the original Yugoslav narrative of the legendary “Battle for the Wounded” along with reflections based on newer research. In the museum we are also introduced to the 1969 Yugoslav film Neretva Battle which eternalized the epic story of the Neretva Battle for a wider Yugoslav and international audience.

The most crucial moment during the March 1943 Neretva Battle was when Marshall Tito ordered the railway bridge over the Neretva to be destroyed. This gave the German, Italian and collaborationist forces the false impression that the Partisans would not retreat eastwards across the Neretva. As soon as the Axis forces withdrew from the east bank of the Neretva, the Partisans repaired the bridge and escaped encirclement.

After WWII, this same Neretva valley area was chosen as the center of the Cold War defense strategy of Yugoslavia and equipped with a secret nuclear bunker for President Tito and the Yugoslav leadership. This bunker was intended to sustain a skeleton government of 300 people for a period of six months in case of nuclear attack. It was built in complete secrecy over the course of 15 years, starting in 1953. We enter bunker with a guided tour and see its communications center, map room, conference rooms, kitchens, offices, bunk rooms, elite suites, mess halls and more.

The tour can be optionally extended with a transfer to Mostar in cooperation with YugoTour Mostar, which provides Yugo Tours in the Mostar area to locations as Mostar Old Town, the Mostar Partisan graveyard, Tito’s bridge, Yugoslav airplane factory Soko, riverside swimming locations and more. If you want to add the Mostar transfer to your reservation, please add a note to your booking.