heavy casualties battling retreating German forces during 1945 on the Syrmian Front and near Slavonski Brod. Post-war In 1945, after the war, Marko Mesić retired as a colonel of Yugoslav Army and lived quietly in Zagreb. His Nazi collaboration was forgotten or forgiven, and he lived freely until the Informbiro period, when he was suspected, along with thousands of others, of espionage for Russian secret services. Mesić lost both of his legs under a running train sometime during 1950 in suspicious circumstances, possibly in UDBA custody when he was being transferred to Belgrade for interrogation. The official story was that he fell under the train; other sources claim he was pushed. His brother Dragutin claimed that he lost his legs attempting to escape from Yugoslav captivity. Mesić, now reliant on a wheelchair, was later freed and left alone to live quietly with his brother in Zagreb until his death in 1982 from old age. He is buried at Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb. Awards Mesić received the following awards during his service: Iron Cross 1st Class Iron Cross 2nd Class Eastern Front Medal Military Order of the Iron Trefoil 2nd Class Military Order of the Iron Trefoil 4th Class References Further reading Krunoslav Mikulan, Siniša Pogačić: Hrvatske oružane snage, 1941-1945, Zagreb 1999 Ivan Košutić: Hrvatsko domobranstvo u Drugom svjetskom ratu, Zagreb 1992 Welz H. Verratene Grenadiere. – Berlin, Deutscher Militärverlag, 1965 External links An image of Mesić and other Croatian Legion officers Večernji list article which mentions Mesić 1901 births 1982 deaths Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery Croatian amputees Croatian Austro-Hungarians Royal Yugoslav Army personnel Croatian Home Guard personnel Croatian collaborators with Nazi Germany Croatian people of World War II Croatian soldiers People from Bjelovar Recipients of the Military Order of the Iron Trefoil Officers of the Yugoslav People's Army Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 1st class World War II prisoners of war held by the Soviet Union