as they were too young, they joined as volunteers. At first, his volunteer unit numbered 15, but quickly rose up to 400. During the defense of Belgrade in fall 1915, Kirhner commanded the Srem Volunteer Detachment. In late September, when the state in Belgrade was critical, he led his unit which defended the railway embankment from the "Zlatni šaran" kafana to Knez Mihailova Venac from the incoming Austro-Hungarians. The volunteers suffered great losses. The detachment participated in the assault led by major Dragutin Gavrilović on 7 October. Kirhner was seriously wounded in the same foot, and was saved by his comrades who took him away from the first line of defense. The command of the detachment was taken over by Živko J. Kezić. The detachment was ordered to retreat to the heights south of Belgrade, which was the beginning of the large and organized departure of the army towards southern Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania. Kirhner was treated in Niš, and was with other wounded transferred to Corfu. His nurse was Bosiljka "Bosa" Čajkanović, the sister of reserve captain Veselin Čajkanović, the later academic. During the retreat to Corfu, Kirhner and Bosiljka fell in love, and they later married. From Corfu, he was sent to treatment in Toulouse. There he was healed, but his two woundings in the same foot left him disabled with a 6 cm shorter foot. He finished electro-technical faculty in France. He was described as a 'great Serbian patriot'. As a Chetnik commander, he received the title of vojvoda. Interwar period After the war, he held high offices in the Military-Technical and Engineering Department of the Army and Navy. He married Bosiljka, his war-time love. In the Yugoslav Army, Ignjat Kirhner had the rank of an engineering technical lieutenant, then rose to the rank of brigadier-general (1939). For a period of time, he was the President of the "Association of Belgrade Defenders 1914–1915". Last years At his personal request, he was retired shortly before World War II. He declined an offer from Nazi Germany to be employed in the occupation government in Serbia in 1941. He was killed on Easter 1944 in Belgrade during Allied bombardments. References Sources Books Web 20th-century Serbian people People from the Kingdom of Serbia People of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Royal Serbian Army soldiers Austro-Hungarian military personnel Serbian military personnel of World War I Chetniks Yugoslav military personnel killed in World