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Slovenia: Base 20, Bunker 44, Partizan hospital Jelendol, Veliki Rog

With Nada we decided to explore Kočevski Rog, that offers many World War II historical remains. We visited:

• Baza 20 ("Base 20", originally called "Point 20") was one of the numerous camps in the woods of Kočevski Rog which were once the commanding structures of the National Liberation Movement of Slovenia in the Second World War. 
• Bunker 44 is the only preserved bunker near Base 20. Karst sinkhole was covered with spruce logs, and covered with soil and stones. The bunker had a secret entrance.
• The Jelendol Partisan Hospital, that commenced operation in the spring of 1943 in the Adjunktova Valley, which is where the wounded from the first Partisan hospital in Rog, in nearby Daleč Hrib, survived a major Italian offensive in the summer of 1942.
• Veliki Rog, with 1099 meters a.m.s.l., the highest peak of Kočevski Rog
• Roška žaga - a steam-powered sawmill owned by the Auersperg noble family operated at Rog from 1894 until 1932, employing up to 400 workers. The settlement had its own electric plant and waterworks. After it shut down operations, the facilities were burned down and the 35 km narrow gauge railway was pulled up and sold for scrap. Sawmill Rog was considered to be largest and most modern woodworking factory in Slovenia before World War I. 

Start of our expedition to Kočevski Rog

Baza 20 operated from April 1943 to December 1944 and consisted of  26 buildings

The 26 buildings were inhabited by 180 people. Today, Building no. 16 (“Propaganda Building”) houses a permanent exhibition on the role and significance of Baza 20 and building no. 22 (“New Building of the Executive Committee of the Liberation Front”) houses a presentation of the scope and diversity of the partisan activity in the Kočevski rog area.

From April 1943 the most important headquarters were in Baza 20: the seat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Slovenia and the Executive Committee of the Liberation.

Already in August 1941, the first resistance against Italian and German occupational forces was organised in this region. Kočevski Rog was the first part of Slovenia to be liberated under partisan command as early as May 1942. At that time, it became the logistic centre of the armed resistance. Partisan hospitals, workshops, schools, printing works, and warehouses were soon operating in these deep woods during the war.

Nada leaving Bunker 44

The Partisan medical facilities in Kočevski Rog were the greatest achievement in terms of organised care for the wounded in Second World War resistance movements throughout Europe. The hospitals were built in secluded places and, bearing the wartime conditions in mind, were well equipped and supplied, which meant that the wounded who were treated by the doctors recovered much quicker because they were not exposed to the everyday hardships endured by the combat units.

Usually the hospitals ere constructed at the bottom of deep, overgrown sinkholes. The huts and other structures in the hospitals were built by permanent teams composed of trusted joiners and carpenters.

A total of ten structures were erected. A nail shortage encountered when building the first structures meant that wooden pins were used for the remainder. The gaps between the logs were filled with moss, and the best insulation was found to be paper. 

Heating stoves were either made from petrol tanks lined with brick or were brought from the abandoned houses of Gottschee Germans. Lighting was provided by tallow tails, candles and carbide lamps. The water supply problem was solved by digging a hole in the bottom of a nearby sinkhole. The smoke from the kitchen was run through a pipe to a smoke house, in which it was cooled down and then dispersed through vents into the forest. Access to the hospital was only possible via the trunks of felled trees.

The hospital operated until the end of the war, and treated a total of  330 wounded. Of these, 21 died and were buried in the nearby cemetery.

The cemetery at the field hospital Jelendol

 

Hike to the highest peak in the area, Veliki Rog

The tower at the top and it offers nice view

We made it

Selfie on the tower

Slippery

One of Slovenia's most pristine areas, Kočevski Rog's virgin forests have been a protected nature area for more than a century. As many as 250 brown bears are believed to live here, as well as lynx and fox.

The remains of the steam sawmill "Roška žaga".

GeoCaches found (all received a visit by trackable items "gran san bernardo", TB84C9J, "De reiziger", TB6R4VV and "FarmtagZ klompendans", TB6BAG2):
- BAZA 20, GC1YW4C
- Roška žaga, GC4WCCG