150 Ustaša under Ivan Jovanović (known as "Blacky") were joined by another 400 Ustaša from Čapljina, and took the prisoners in rail cattle-cars to Vranac, some 500 to 1,000 m from the Golubinka pit, one of many such natural, near-vertical cave formations in the region, where some 550 Ustaša took small groups of prisoners to the pit and, family-by-family, pushed them into it. The initial vertical fall was some 27 m, followed by a 100 m steep slope to the base of the pit. Small children were thrown up into the air before falling into the pit. One woman is known to have given birth as she fell into the pit. The newborn infant died with her under the crush of bodies. Here is how the Catholic Bishop of Mostar, Alojzije Mišić, described this and other massacres perpetrated by the Ustasha around the city of Mostar, in his letter to Bishop Alojzije Stepinac, dated 7 November 1941: People were captured like animals. Slaughtered, killed - thrown alive into the abyss. Women, mothers with children, adult girls, women and children, both male and female were thrown into the pits. The Vice Mayor of Mostar Mr. Baljić, proclaimed publicly, as a clerk, he should be silent instead of talking, that in the town of Ljubinje, into only one pit, 700 Orthodox Christians were thrown. From Mostar and Čapljina six full rail wagons transported wives, mothers and girls younger than ten, to the station at Šurmanci, where they were taken to the hills, living mothers with children thrown down steep cliffs. Everyone was tossed down the cliffs and killed. In the parish Klepci, from surrounding villages N. N., 3,700 Orthodox Christians were killed. The poor souls, they remained peaceful. I won't enumerate further. I'd go too far. In the city of Mostar hundreds were tied, taken outside the town and killed like animals One entire clan of 78 persons died in the crush of the Golubinka pit near the village of Šurmanci. And after all were pushed into it, the Ustaša sat around drinking and celebrating. Only 170 villagers survived. Forty-five survived the crush of the pits and escaped later to tell of the disaster. 300 children and infants were massacred that day alone. Aftermath A group of 170 villagers, which primarily consisted of men, survived the massacre. Two Roman Catholic priests, Ilija Tomas and Marko Hovko, were among the murderers. Few of