February 8, 1943: The Partisan Courage of Lepa Radić

February 8, 1943: When people call the generation that fought World War II "The Greatest Generation," they usually cite the fact that, at the time, these people whom they only knew as elderly were then little more than kids. Some were still teenagers. As historian James Fell put it, "When faced with the most vicious and inhumane of enemies invading their homelands, they did not cower."

In 1940, the Nazis invaded Yugoslavia, as a way of protecting their southern flank for the forthcoming invasion of the Soviet Union. Lepa Radić, a Bosnian Serb, was then 15, and, like most Yugoslavs of her generation, had no reason to care about what the Soviets were going to do: They just wanted to survive. That would not be easy, as the entire Radić family, including Lepa, was arrested for having ties to the local Communist group.

A few weeks later, they were broken out by the Yugoslav Partisans, a Communist resistance group led by Josip Tito, who would consolidate the country's disparate groups under his postwar rule. Lepa and her sister Dara joined the Partisans, transporting the wounded from the battlefield, and helping people flee the occupation.

During the Battle of Nerevta, Lepa was helping approximately 150 women and children escape the Battle of Neretva. SS troops, the nastiest of the Nazis, were advancing. Lepa sacrificed herself to cover their retreat, firing on the SS until she ran out of ammunition and being captured.

For days, they tortured her for information. This 17-year-old girl endured it, and told the fascist cunts nothing. On February 8, 1943, in Bosanska Krupa, in what is now the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they put a noose around her neck.

Did she beg for her life? Not a chance: Seeing a crowd gathered, she yelled, "Fight, people, for your freedom! Do not surrender to the evildoers! I will be killed, but there are those who will avenge me!" The Nazis gave her one last chance, offering to spare her life if she would name names. She said, "I am not a traitor of my people! Those whom you are asking about will reveal themselves when they have succeeded in wiping out all you evildoers, to the last man!"

Some of the hardest fighting of the war happened in Yugoslavia. In the end, the Nazis were kicked out, and Tito united the nation, becoming the only man ever to stand up to both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin and win. The Yugoslav Partisans were perhaps the most effective resistance group during the war. On October 4, 1945, in the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade (now the capital of Serbia), Jugoslovensko sportsko društvo Partizan -- Yugoslav Sports Society Partizan -- was founded as a sports club for former Partisans. Despite the breakup of Yugoslavia, the name remains. Their soccer team, FK Partizan, is one of the most successful teams in the Balkans.

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February 8, 1943 was a Monday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And no games were scheduled for the NHL. So there were no scores on this historic day.