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Branko Mamula
Branko Mamula
Бранко Мамула
4th Federal Secretary of People's Defence of Yugoslavia
	In office; 5 May 1982 – 15 May 1988
Prime Minister	Veselin Đuranović; Milka Planinc; Branko Mikulić
Preceded by	Nikola Ljubičić
Succeeded by	Veljko Kadijević
9th Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army
	In office; 10 July 1979 – 5 May 1982
Minister	Nikola Ljubičić
Preceded by	Stane Potočar
Succeeded by	Petar Gračanin
Personal details
Born	30 May 1921; Slavsko Polje, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (now Croatia)
Died	19 October 2021 (aged 100); Tivat, Montenegro
Nationality	Yugoslav
Political party	League of Communists of Yugoslavia (1942–1990) ; League of Communists – Movement for Yugoslavia (1990–1992)
Awards	Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour
Military service
Allegiance	Yugoslavia
Branch/service	Yugoslav People's Army
Years of service	1941–1988
Rank	Admiral of the fleet
Commands	Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) Yugoslav Navy; ;
Battles/wars	World War II

Branko "Đuro" Mamula (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранко "Ђурo" Мамула; 30 May 1921 – 19 October 2021) was a Serbian politician and Yugoslav officer who participated in World War II in Yugoslavia. He was later the Minister of Defence of Yugoslavia from 1982 to 1988.

Biography

Mamula was born in Kordun in May 1921 to an ethnic Serb family. He joined League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia in 1940 and at the start of World War II in Yugoslavia in 1941 he joined the Yugoslav Partisans. In 1942, he joined Communist Party of Yugoslavia. During the war, he was put in charge of numerous units, moving through the ranks of the Partisans. Before he became the Defence Minister, he held the rank of admiral as Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army from 1979 to 1982. After becoming Defence Minister in 1983, he was promoted to Admiral of the fleet. He lived in Opatija from 1985 until 1991.^[1]^[2]

Mamula remarked on the Yugoslav People's Army's (JNA) failure to respond to Slobodan Milošević's rise in Serbia, in his 2000 book Slučaj Jugoslavija (transl. Case Yugoslavia):

The military leadership of the JNA bears responsibility for not carrying out a coup d'état. Instead, it allowed the nationalist leaders and the separatist behaviour of the two western republics to push the JNA into the hands of Greater Serbian nationalism, which unscrupulously utilised the Army in the inter-ethnic war, and eventually rejected it.^[3]

From 2007, he lived in Tivat, Montenegro. Mamula turned 100 in May 2021.^[4] He died on 19 October 2021, from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Montenegro.^[5]

Honours

National Honours

Yugoslavia:
Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour
Great Star of the Order of the Yugoslav Star
Order of the People's Army (3x recipient)
Order of Labour with Red Banner
Great Star of the Order of Military Merit (2x recipient)
Order of Merits for the People with Golden Star
Order of Brotherhood and Unity with Golden Wreath
Order of the Partisan Star with Rifles
Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941

Foreign Honours

France: Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour
Poland: Partisan Cross
Sudan: 1st Class of the Order of the Republic
Italy: Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Kingdom of Nepal: Member 1st Class of the Order of the Gurkha Right Arm
Indonesia: Navy Meritorious Service Star, 1st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Jalasena Utama)
Tunisia: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Republic
Greece: Grand Commander of the Order of Honour
Austria: Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
Jordan: Grand Cordon of the Al-Hussein Order of Military Merit

References

^ Profile, slobodnadalmacija.hr; accessed 19 September 2016.(in Croatian)
^ Berislav Jelinić; Eduard Šostarić; Maroje Mihovilović (27 February 2006). "1789 agenata KOS-a u RH" [1789 Yugoslav secret service agents in Croatia]. Nacional (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
^ Ivanji, Ivan (30 June 2016). "Moja velika iluzija". Vreme (in Serbo-Croatian). No. 1330. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
^ "Stoti rođendan Branka Mamule: Jedan od posljednjih svjedoka stvaranja i uništenja Titove Jugoslavije". vijesti.me. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
^ "Preminuo admiral flote Branko Mamula". Vijesti (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.

Military offices
Preceded by Stane Potočar	Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army 10 July 1979 – 5 May 1982	Succeeded by Petar Gračanin
Political offices
Preceded by Nikola Ljubičić	Federal Secretary of People's Defence of Yugoslavia 5 May 1982 – 15 May 1988	Succeeded by Veljko Kadijević