Last direct participant in Battle of Dukla Pass dies

Stefan Steflovic, the last direct participant in the Battle of the Dukla Pass , died on Sunday, July 9, at the age of 101. In the battle for control over the Slovak Polish border in northern eastern Slovakia, Nazi Germany fought the Soviet Union on the eastern front of the WWII in September and October 1944. Its priority was to provide help to the Slovak national uprising against the Nazi regime in the country. The German resistance was more intensive than expected and thus the operation that was planned for 6 days reached its destination town of Presov no sooner than in 4 months. The battle of Dukla pass became one of the most bloody in the entire Eastern Front with 70 000 casualties on both sides.
 
In the rank of platoon sergeant, Steflovic as deputy commander led a company during the attack on the Dukla Pass. He suffered a severe leg injury during the fighting. After treatment in Poland he was promoted to the rank of company sergeant major.
After the war, he worked in Nove Mesto nad Vahom, western Slovakia, as a high school teacher. After his retirement, Steflovic moved to Trencin. He was an active member of the Slovak Association of Anti-fascist Fighters and the Military History Club. Slovak press agency TASR was told the news about his death by Lubomir Brezovsky, a member of the Trencin branch of the Military History Club.
 
Source: TASR