Sava Kovačević

In the 1973 film Sutjeska Kovačević was played by Serbian actor Ljuba Tadić.

Owing to his humble background and habit of disdain for the privileges of rank, Kovačević was one of the most popular Partisan commanders. He was famous for his personal courage: one of the well known episodes happened on 20 February 1943 in Ostrožac on the Neretva river when he, with his brigade commissar Dragiša Ivanović, in an unexpected encounter with a group of Italian tanks, managed to climb onto two tanks, Sava on the second and Dragiša on the third of three tanks, to kill their crews and to capture one tank each. His heroic death made him into one of the Partisan icons.

Several songs have been written in memorization of Kovačević. One of the most popular songs is "Što to huči Sutjeska" (What is Sutjeska up to) singing about his heroism and death, written in October 1943 during the war by the writer and then-manager of 4th Montenegrin and 2nd Proletarian Brigade Puniša Perović [sr], who met Kovačević in Lastva at the start of the war. He based the melody on the songs that he heard and liked during the war, "Song about Shchors [ru]" (Mykola Shchors) and "Po šumama i gorama". The song quickly became popular, and after the war, the song appeared in elementary school books and was considered a folk song. Another song is "Sivi Sokole" (Peregrine Falcon) which mentions Sutjeska being crossed to save the wounded, but Sava being left lying on the ground. Many versions of "Sivi Sokole" have been made, the most popular one from Ismet Krcić.

In June 1942 he became the first commander of the 5th Montenegrin (Sandzak) Brigade of the YPLA. His unit took part in 1942 Bosanska Krajina Campaign (Bosnian Frontier Campaign) - operation against Independent State of Croatia garrisons that brought large sections of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Partisan control. In February and March 1943, during the Battle of Neretva, (German operation Weiss) Kovačević commanded his brigade in attacks on Prozor against the Italians and Konjic against joint Italian-Ustasha-German defenders. On 6 June during the Battle of Sutjeska (German operation Schwarz) he became the commander of the 3rd Shock Division of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army. His division covered the rear of other Partisan units while they successfully broke through German lines. The 3rd Shock Division, which was encumbered with wounded Partisans, was less successful in its attempt at breaking out. On 13 June, Kovačević was killed while personally leading his men during a charge against trenches held by the German 118th Jäger Division at Krekovi near Tjentište, Eastern Herzegovina, on the Sutjeska river.

Kovačević was born in the village of Nudo near Grahovo to father Blagoje and mother Jovana (née Perović), into a family of peasants. In his early age he worked as a lumberjack and blacksmith and adopted communism, becoming a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) in 1925. He gradually rose through the party ranks, became one of the communist leaders in Montenegro. He was often arrested for his activities.

Sava Kovačević (Serbian Cyrillic: Сава Ковачевић; 25 January 1905 – 13 June 1943) was a Yugoslav Partisan divisional commander during World War II, and one of the heroes of the communist Partisan movement.