Middle Boiler
That's how Sajmište was defended by everyone from the "Boilers" line. All squad heroes.
Everyone knew that the defense of the Fairground was key to the defense of the entire city. It was clear as day - if Sajmište falls, Vukovar will also fall.
Hand-to-hand fighting took place there every day, and literally every house was fought for. More than 300 veterans lost their lives there, young men from Vukovar, but also from all over Croatia. Therefore, it is not surprising that this difficult and bloody terrain created the greatest commanders.
Petar was such a commander. He was to Sajmište what Blago Zadro was to Borovo Naselje. Fearless, intelligent, a born leader. He was like a father to the young men, a force that pushed them on.
And Petar also had one, extremely unusual, wartime nickname, "Srednji Boiler". And the way in which he received it testified to the fact that the defenders, even in their darkest days, did not lose hope and - their sense of humor.
Namely, the first commander of the Sajmišta defense Damjan Samardžić and his deputy Zlatko Šutković, joking about the size of their bellies, gave themselves the nicknames "Big Boiler" and "Little Boiler".
The two commanders were transferred to Opatovac, after which Petar took over the defense of the Fairgrounds. In honor of his predecessors, he gave himself the nickname "Srednji Bojler", and he called his deputy Miroslav Sučić "Bojlerčić".
That's how Sajmište was defended by everyone from the "Boilers" line. All squad heroes. Because that's how it was. When the line of defense at Sajmište broke, the enemies had Vukovar in the palm of their hand.
