Franc Rozman Franc Rozman , nom de guerre Stane ( Slovene convention : " Franc Rozman – Stane " ) or Stane Mlinar , 27 March 1911 – 7 November 1944 ) , was a Slovene Partisan commander in World War II . Early life . Franc Rozman was born in the Carniola n village of Spodnje Pirniče near Ljubljana , in what was then the Austro - Hungarian Monarchy ( now in Slovenia ) in a Slovene working - class family . His father Franc Rozman was a railway track - worker , while his mother Marjana ( née Stare ) was a housewife . He was the third of four children , with two elder sisters , Marjeta and Terezija , and a younger brother , Martin . At the age of three , Rozman ' s father died on the Eastern Front , where he fought as a soldier in the Austro - Hungarian Army . Rozman had a poor and hard childhood . His sisters Marjeta and Terezija were sent to an orphanage , while Franc and his brother Martin remained in Pirniče . At the age of 15 , he worked in a tavern and then trained as an apprentice baker . As a young boy he had great enthusiasm for a military career , but his application to the military school was rejected . In spring 1932 , he did his military service in the Royal Yugoslav army . Military experience prior to World War II . In 1935 , after the Italian invasion of Ethiopia , Rozman tried unsuccessfully to join the Ethiopian forces fighting the Italian invaders . Soon after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War , he decided to travel to Spain . Rozman was among the first Yugoslav volunteers in Spain , where he , on 1 October 1936 joined the International Brigades . In November 1936 he became a member of the Spanish Communist Party . In Jarama he completed non commissioned officers ' school , became a lieutenant and a commander of a company , then captain and commander of a battalion . His comrades in arms remembered him as an energetic and earnest person . After the Spanish Civil War Rozman was imprisoned in France . He became a member of the Yugoslav Communist Party in 1939 . In April 1941 he was imprisoned and sentenced to forced labor in Germany . In July the same year he fled Germany and returned to Yugoslavia . World War II . For a while , Rozman lived with an activist of the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People . In early December 1941 , he visited his youngest brother Martin , after which he joined the Slovene partisan resistance . Soon he became a military instructor with the High Command of the Slovene partisan forces . He was given the task of setting up the Styrian Battalion ( " Štajerski bataljon " ) , which would consist of the partisan troops , the Revirje and the Savinja companies ( " Revirske in Savinjske čete " ) , which were active in Styria in the autumn of 1941 . He participated in the attack on Šoštanj and later in the Battle of Čreta . The Germans repeatedly tried to liquidate Rozman , setting many ambushes . In the April 1942 Rozman became the commander of a Slovene partisan brigade , established on April 5 , 1942 at Kremenik in Lower Carniola , and numbering more than 300 fighters . Measured by composition , organization , training , and fighting power , this was the most powerful Slovene partisan unit at that time . On 13 July 1943 , he became a commander of the High Command of the Slovene partisan army with the rank of lieutenant general ( " generallajtnant " ) , which he held up to his death . Rozman died in White Carniola as a consequence of a serious wound received while testing new mortar weapons sent to the partisans by their British Allies . There were some rumors that he was killed by sabotage by the Chetnik military authorities or at the behest of Partisan commander Arso Jovanović , but they have never been proven . He was proclaimed a People ' s Hero of Yugoslavia on 11 November 1944 . Legacy . " Commander Stane " , as he was nicknamed by the partisan fighters , was one of the most prominent figures of the Yugoslav front of the Second World War . His legacy is controversial and questions have been raised about his involvement in wartime liquidations of civilians . His legacy includes the following :