Youngest soldier of WWI

The origins of the First World War lay in Austro-Serbian antagonism. After occupying predominantly Serbian territory of Bosnia and Hertzegovina in 1908.  Austro-Hungarian Monarchy considered Serbia as a natural next step in their colonial expansion and tried to provoke the war at any cost. For years Austrian press was dehumanizing Serbian people, portrait them as lesser beings, preparing its people to physically destroy the whole nation.

Serbian sculls as a birthday present to Austrian emperor 

"Once upon a time there was Serbia, now all Serbian are hanged, only sheeps left ."

On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb student and member of a multi-ethnic organization of national revolutionaries called Young Bosnia, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The political objective of the assassination was the independence of the southern Austro-Hungarian provinces mainly populated by Slavs from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austria-Hungary delivered the July Ultimatum to Serbia, a series of ten demands intentionally made unacceptable in order to provoke a war with Serbia. When Serbia agreed to only eight of the ten demands, Austria-Hungary declared war on 28 July 1914. While western historians trying to connect organization of this assassination to Serbian secret service the truth is that Austrian Archduke had mental problems and was not seen as proper inheritor of the throne. All indicates that assassination was organized by german and Austrian secret service.

It is important to sat that Serbia lost 30 % of all population in WWI and 65% of male population, 1 200 000 people,  due to systematic war crimes committed by Austrian, German, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Croatian soldiers.

 Austrian army killing Serbian civilians ,mostly woman, elderly people and children

Story about the youngest soldier of the great war started in 1914. Momčilo Gavrić was the youngest soldier in the First World War. He was born in May 1st, in 1906 in a village near the town of Loznica in Western Serbia, as the eighth child of eleven. At the very start of the Great War, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy concentrated the bulk of its forces at the Drina river, whose surroundings became the battlefield in the first phase of the war. During the first onslaught of the enemy, in the nearby village of Trbušnica near the town of Loznica, the entire village was slaughtered  including the  family of the seven  years old Momčilo Gavrić, whereas he himself was saved by pure luck , he was not at home when enemy soldiers arrived. His own words about the massacre :”  I saw in my front yard a massacre, I saw soldiers killing my parents and seven brothers and sisters .I was hidden behind the bush and when saw all that blood ...the whole yard was red from blood, all killed, slaughtered with knives and bayonets , house in flame … I just froze , couldn’t move or speak .”

He ran into the 6th Artillery Division of the Serbian Army which was, at the time, stationed on Mount Gucevo near his home village. He was taken by the 6th Artillery Division as a war orphan and a soldier called Milos Misovic was assigned as his caretaker. The boy pinpointed the location of the Austro-Hungarians that same evening, and was given control of the trigger of one of the Serbian batteries, which was considered as an act of personal revenge for the death of his family.

At the age of 8, after the Battle at mountain  Cer, one of the bloodiest battles of the great war and  first Allied victory over the Central Powers in the First World War, and the first aerial dogfight of the war took place during the battle he was promoted to the rank of Corporal by the commander of his unit, and given a military uniform. In 9 days  more than 15,000 troops were killed, with additional 50,000 wounded and 5000 captured on both sides. The losses of the Austro-Hungarian army were much bigger than the Serbian opponent and they were pushed back to the Austrian governed Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was their initial position for the invasion.

At the age of eight, he was the youngest soldier in the War and the youngest Corporal in history.

In the fall of 1915 the Mackensen Offensive crushed Serbian resistance . Serbia was occupied by joint forces of Austro-Hungarian, German and Bulgarian armies, but the Serbian government and Army refused to capitulate.The alternative meant a huge, exodus-like retreat of the remnants of the Army through Albanian mountains, with a goal to reach the Allied territory in Greece, in the winter of 1915. The historical event is often referred as the “Albanian Golgotha”, which illustrates the horrors of the retreat by foot during winter time. Corporal Gavric crossed Albania with the rest of his comrades-in-arms and was given the “Albanian Medal” as a commemoration for his effort.When his unit was sent to Thessaloniki, Major Tucović sent him to Sorovits where he hastily went through the equivalent of four grades of elementary education.

In Kajmakčalan, Field Marshal Mišić was stunned when he saw a uniformed ten-year-old boy in the trenches. Major Tucović explained the situation to him that Gavrić had been with them since the Battle of Cer, and that he had both been taught discipline and been wounded during his time in the unit. Mišić promoted Gavrić to Lance Sergeant, and the order was read out to the whole division.

He was wounded several times during his service but continued to go back to the trenches, until the liberation of Serbia was completed and the war was over

After the war he was granted a scholarship in Great Britain, as part of an aid program for war orphans.  Gavric finished his education at the Henry Wreight School in Faversham, Kent, graduating in 1921. After graduation, he returned to Serbia and was reunited with his three brothers who had survived the war.

During WWII short campaign after which Nazi Germany occupied Yugoslavia, his regiment was captured, but he somehow managed to escape. In 1943 he was sent to Banjica concentration camp with his Jewish friend but later released by intervention of police official who remembered the boy soldier from WWI.

After WWII he was prosecuted by communist regime and almost killed and he spent year and half in prison where he was tortured the entire time. After he was released he couldn't talk for several years due to a trauma and later he never talked abut his time in communist prison. He died in 1993 at the age of 87.

Momcilo Gavric was given, in the course of time, memorials dedicated to him on the island of Corfu in Greece and most recently a monument in Belgrade. Also, a street in the town of Loznica bears his name.

Samurai vs Western knight

There is a never ending discussion about fencing skill of the samurai and western warriors and who would win in a duel. Such  duel actually happened and the winner is western warrior.

Alexander Lexo Saichich was born on 5 August 1873 in the village of Vinicka in Berane.  Lekso graduated from high school in Dubrovnik from where he went to Belgrade to study at the Infantry school in Serbian Military Academy. After Belgrade he spent three years serving in Montenegro .  He wanted to improve his military skills and gain more experience and progress  headed for Istanbul to join the Turkish army and served as one of the  Emperor's  personal bodyguards  where he also spent three years.  When Japan declared war to Russia , Serbia and Montenegro as a support to Russia declared war to Japan and send each several companies of voluntaries. Alexander Lekso Sajčić  joined  Montenegro units with a rank of lieutenant . He was one of the bravest soldiers of that war and many stories of his bravery and skills are still told in Russia , Serbia and Montenegro. He was wounded 4 times , two times in the head , once in a chest and once in the shoulder but never missed any combat operation and he was always in front of his company leading his soldiers.

In Eastern Manchuria, near the city of Vladivostok on Sypingayskih positions, during the second year of the conflict  armies were about to clash.  While Russian tacticians were searching for the best way to win after series of defeats, a rider came forward from the opposite side. The commander of the Japanese addressed the Russians through his messenger. He demanded that they send one warrior for a duel against his samurai. Russians were confused by the unusual request from the Japanese General who demanded that before the battle they arrange a duel between two of their champions. They knew how much significance this duel had for the upcoming battle. Reputation of the samurai and their sword skills were very well known among Russian soldiers and no one wanted to face fierce Japanese duelist, no one except Alexander. As soon as the request for a duelist spread across the camp, tall and slim lieutenant showed up at the commander's tent entrance requesting a permission to fight. Seeing young lieutenant so skinny the commander refused him at firs but young warrior didn’t want to leave the tent without permission to fight. Commander ordered to find him the best horse and gave him a sabre

Two man met in the middle of the battle field and the duel started. After taking several serious blows (he never fully recovered from these wounds), Saichich somehow managed to defeat the samurai. Samurai’s horse has swept away, dragging his masters’s dead body whose feet stuck in the stirrup. The corpse of a samurai knight fell a hundred meters before the first rows of the Japanese troops. Saichich drove up to the opponent, bowed and went galloping back to his. After winning the duel, Aleksandar Lexo Saichich became a Knight of the Order of St. Anne, the highest Russian award, and the owner of many other differences. In addition, the Russian government has identified him a good amount of gold Napoleons 40 annually for life. In the distant Manchuria, he was promoted to the rank of captain until the end of the war he commanded a squadron of horse-Amur Dragoons. Sabre, which he defeated samurai, now kept at the Military Museum in Moscow

After the war he went back to Montenegro and served in a court of the King Nicola.On  April 7, 1911.  in Cetinje hospital “Danilo I” died captain Aleksandar Lexo Saichich from the effects of falling from the top floor of the Royal Palace saving himself from a fire. In the funeral procession, which two days later, while attending State Orchestra and the honorary squad moved to the cemetery, along with the palace and the diplomatic entourage, silently walked mass of people.

At the head of the procession, as a kind of document of the deceased, on several pillows lay orders and medals: Russian Orders of St. Vladimir, with swords and ribbon Grade II, St. Anne’s I and II, St. Stanislaus with swords and ribbon II and III, Russian medal for being wounded , Montenegrin medal for bravery and Danilov Order IV degree, the Italian cross and many more

 In 2006 Montenegro and Japan finally sign a peace treaty and ended more than a century long war.

Reinventing Wing Chun

Wing Chun became popular after Bruce Lee’s premature death and spread like wild fire all over the world. During late 1970’s and 1980’s “kung fu craze” took over the planet.  At the beginning the only known and available style came from Yip Man. Not much was known about Wing Chun history and development in general. Yip Man’s story about the origin of the art was accepted as factual truth.

 This situation didn’t change for a quite some time but by the end of 1990’s things slowly started to change.  Wing Chun enthusiast started to travel to Hong Kong, Taiwan and China to research the art’s history and development.  Many interesting facts emerged and many different branches of the art became known and got a lot public attention.

In 2000’s number of people who traveled to the east and did research increased as well as number of people who went to Hong Kong and China and started training in different styles of Wing Chun which are usually very different from Yip Man’s style. Public interest in history and different styles development constantly increasing and development of information technology enabled an instant exchange of information. 

On the other side, non of these researchers had a degree in history or archaeology nor anyone had sufficient funds and of course no one had a resources of any historical research facility. People did their best with the knowledge and resources they had.  A lot of information surfaced and amount new information increase daily. On the other hand, inexperience, lack of knowledge and research skills, enormous cultural gap and absence of any scientific standards in gathering and processing the data resulted in great fluctuation in quality of information.

Research became new trend and created a new market. Wing Chun people, after decades of doing same thing, stared to search more exotic, older, more original style. Never ending search for the oldest and most original style started. To meet demand requirements, many teachers started to reinvent their styles, historically and technically. Old theories were proven wrong and new are emerging almost every day. Complete Wing Chun theory is reinvented always bringing some new old, never seen before, original concepts and principles. In essence, teachers or better “teachers” are making existing theory more complicated using modern science vocabulary and butchered physics theories mixed with old Chinese expressions  in order to make their teachings more exclusive, more mystical but scientific at the same time. Over time, “teachers” who are selling these exotic things found them self in a problem because Wing Chun has very limited amount of movements and certain movement, let’s say Tan Sao will always be Tan Sao, no matter how complicated explanation is. To resolve this problem they started to mix other martial arts with Wing Chun and declare it older, more original form of the style. Some of these “oldest” , “original” styles do not look like Wing Chun anymore. While evolving is natural thing and also necessary, mixing other styles and then call that mixture oldest original style is simply cheating people for money. Tai Chi”push hands” will never be Wing Chun “chi sao” no matter how hard someone tries to show it that way. There is nothing wrong to put Tai Chi “push hands” in wing chun but be honest about it, say what it is. Same goes for White Crane , grappling and other things people put in their Wing Chun and claim they were part of the style originally.

The other thing mixed with Wing Chun is Qi gong. Despite the fact that Qi gong is modern invention based on older Taoist esoteric practice and was never part of any kung fu style before 1920’s , Wing Chun became “internal” art in last few decades and “teachers” claim that Qi gong was originally part of the art, especially of the art they are teaching. Many systems of Qi gong are incorporated in the style from various sources, even some originally Wing Chun movements and parts of the forms were redefined and now are taught as Qi Gong forms.

From historical point of view, we do not know more today than we knew 30 years ago despite all the research. There are many reasons for that. There are no real historical sources about the early history of the art, no written documents, simply nothing besides so called “oral histories”. Problem with kung fu oral histories is that they are completely false because their purpose is not to record historical events but to set up moral code, a perfect example for students  personified in a character of a famous warrior ancestor ad to give style a prestige. Over time all “ancestors” proved to be nothing more than mythical characters and never really existed. In order to give a style historical significance many people are trying to connect Wing Chun with real historical figures and events and since there are no real evidence to support or discard these claims a lot of theories are circulating today presented as real histories. Another group of practitioners are trying to push the time of the art’s creation further back in the past believing that older means better or more original. They counterfeit “evidence” and cherry pick real historical fact to fabricate believable story. Also they are searching a source of the art in impossible places like Emei or Wudang mountain and styles that never existed before modern times.

In everlasting struggle for more students and money “teachers” are ready to do almost anything in order to sell their “arts”. Their deceptions are quite elaborate and person without a large amount of knowledge can easily fall into the trap of “oldest”, “original” style of Wing Chun.

God spear Li

The most prominent figure in Baji quan history is Li Shu Wen. He was born in 1864 in Cangzhou, Hebei. He became a martial arts master extraordinaire and earned himself the nickname "God of Spear Li".His prowess was said to be enough that he boasted that he did not have to strike the same opponent twice.

During his childhood, his family was poor, he could not attend school. Together with his father, he learned the art from Huang SiHai. When Huang SiHai followed Zhang ZhiWan, the governor of Henan, in order to be his bodyguard (i.e. should be in 1876), Li ShuWen and his father, both disciples of Huang SiHai, followed Huang SiHai. After the death of his father, Li ShuWen travelled freely here and there, visiting some teachers and friends. Later when he got a bit older, his skill gradually got mature and he went to Beijing to serve as martial instructor. At that time, the martial art instructors were divided in two categories: the first category were private teachers, specially employed by government officials in order to teach their children. The other kind of instructor would set up by themselves their schools where people who want to learn martial arts would come. During the greater part of his life, r Li Shu Wen served as an instructor, roaming around Beijing and Tianjin, either as private or independent instructor. Mr Li had many disciples, when he got 51 year old he cut his hair and went to Hei Long Jiang province to serve as instructor for Mr Xu LanZhou, the commander of the 1st army, and taught martial art to Mr Xu’s 4 sons. Later on, he followed Xu LanZhou’s move to Beijing, Tianjin, XuZhou, Shanxi, following the troops everywhere they went.In his later life, he became an adviser to Fu ZhenSong, grandmaster of Wudang quan, after famously fighting him to a standstill.

Li Shu Wen had many students and some of them became important figures in history of martial arts. Four of his students from Luo Tong Village were Han Hua Chen, Ma Ying Tu, Ma Fong Tzu and Zhou Shu De. These four introduced a form of BaJi Quan to the Central Martial Academy in Nanjing, a very important organization at the time dedicated to modernizing martial technique and education during the Republican period. Other disciples include warlords such as Li Jin Lin who was a famous swordsman, Ren Guo Dong, Zhang Xiang Wu, Na Yu Kuen, Liu Hu Chen and Liu Xu Dong. Li Shuwen's student Huo Dian Ge was abodyguard of Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China, Li Chenwu was bodyguard to Mao Ze Dong and and Liu Yun Qiao was instructor of the bodyguards of Chiang Kai Shek. This is why baji is known as the bodyguard style

Li was extremely gifted fighter, his martial skills reached the highest possible level. Although his stature was small and his appearance unimpressive, his skill was marvelous. Exceedingly brave with hot temper he fought countless times causing heavy injuries and sometimes even a death of the opponent. Because of his life style he was in constant fear for his life and over the years became overly paranoid. He never traveled same road twice, not even his closest friends and students knew where and when he would travel nor which road he will take. He never used the door to enter his house after travel, he always used a different window to enter in fear of an ambush. Unfortunately all this security measures didn’t help him. He met his end in 1934. Li Shuwen killed far too many people during his life in either martial arts matches or self defense, causing victims' relatives to hold a grudge. He died of a poisonous tea served by one of them.

In pop culture Li Shuwen is depicted as an "Assassin-class" character in the video game Fate/Extra and as a "Lancer-class" and "Assassin-class" that was recently released in Fate/Grand Order. The Japanese manga "Kenji" depicted Li Shuwen according to numerous accounts from various sources, notably from Li Shuwen's last student Liu Yunqiao.