The Monument to the Unknown Hero () is a World War I memorial located atop Mount Avala, south-east of Belgrade, Serbia, and designed by the sculptor Ivan Meštrović. The memorial was built in 1934–1938 on the place where an unknown Serbian World War I soldier was buried. It is similar to many other tombs of the unknown soldier built by the allies after the war. The Žrnov fortress was previously located on the same place.
Origin
On the night of 13/14 October 1915, Combined squad of the Belgrade's Defense, held the line Avala-Zuce, defending it from the joint Austro-Hungarian and German offensive. Austro-Hungarian 9th Hill brigade of the 59th Division took the front rim of Avala on 16 October, with an assignment to push Serbian forces from the mountain. Austro-Hungarians were reinforced with one German half-battalion. However, one Serbian battalion successfully defended the top of Avala against the Austro-Hungarian battalions of the 49th and 84th regiments, aided by the 204th German reserve infantry regiment. On the same day, the command of the Belgrade's Defense ordered the retreat to the new positions so on 17 October occupational forces reached the southern section of Avala, conquering the entire mountain. Their soldiers then buried Serbian combatants who were killed in action. In the valley, below Žrnov, on the grave of one of them, they placed a wooden cross with the inscription in German: "One unknown Serbian soldier".
Predecessor
In the late 1920, a popular news topic in Serbia was the burial of the French "unknown soldier" in Panthéon. As the French influence was very strong on Serbian army since the mid-19th century, the idea of doing the same spread among the veterans and social associations, reaching the National Assembly. Existing commemorative cross from 1915 was known only locally and to the Avala visitors. In the first half of 1921 the initiative to build a more dignified commemorative mark gained momentum. On 24 June 1921, president of the Constitutional Assembly, Ivan Ribar, summoned state dignitaries to the meeting with the agenda of constructing the monument. Present at the meeting, among others, were the general and the former defense minister Mihailo Rašić, Rector of the University of Belgrade Bogdan Gavrilović, mayor of Belgrade Dobra Mitrović and manager of the National Theatre in Belgrade Milan Grol. It was decided that the future monument will be "dignified...but humble".
First step was to determine whether it was indeed a Serbian soldier in the grave under the wooden cross. An exhumation was conducted by the commission on 23 November 1921. Parts of the grenade are found under the skull, almost as a pillow, while the skeleton had the blown left side of the chest, so it is estimated that he was killed by the Austro-Hungarian howitzer while he was watching from the lookout. He was apparently buried in the crater formed by the explosion of the very grenade that killed him. Other objects found in the grave include: parts of the military blouse, Serbian bandolier (belt with fišeklijas, the powder pockets, full of ammunition), knapsack, military boots with telephone wires instead of the shoe laces, a wallet with three coins: two 1904 Serbian coins of 2 dinars, with the profile of King Peter I of Serbia, and one coin of 1 groschen (that is, 20 paras from 1912) and a piece of paper, barely recognizable, which is suspected to be a 10 dinars banknote from 1908. The soldier had no identity badge which suggests that he was either member of the Third Call regiments (with soldiers over 38 years old) or was drafted immediately prior to the battle which is probably correct as the skeletal remains indicated a very young male, not older than 19–20 years. Some sources actually claim he was only 15. It was said that his skull was "small, like that of a boy" and that the skeleton was petite, of a boyish, thin stature. The ammunition was Russian (Tula Arms Plant, 1906), , which means that he used a Mosin–Nagant M1891 rifle. The boots were American, M-1910, mostly distributed to the members of the Personnel department and, to a lesser extent, to the regiments of the First Call (which drafted the youngest soldiers, up to 31 years old). The commission concluded that the remains do belong to a Serbian soldier and reburied him, with the grenade parts, while his personal belongings were taken to the cabinet of the president of the assembly for safekeeping.