In January 1942 the noncommissioned officer and leader of a Slovene circle, Ivan Kosovel (1912–1943), obtained sick leave papers[1] for Premrl, whereupon he deserted the Italian Army.

He distinguished himself as the leader of a group of Partisans on 18 April that year in a battle on the Nanos Plateau[1] and in eight other successful operations in the following three months.

In the second half of September 1942 he and his company encamped at Črni Vrh, first near Gornje Griže and then at Brin Hill (Brinov Grič).

The official version of Premrl's death claims that during the battle he ran towards the second squad in order to keep then from a hazard and was struck by a bullet from an Italian dugout.

However, another version of his death claims that he was shot in the back by his fellow Partisans because his morals and religious faith were out of step with Communist principles.

There are streets named after Premrl in the Slovenian towns of Ljubljana, Koper, Nova Gorica, Solkan, Vipava, Anhovo, Plave, and Portorož, as well as in Belgrade, Serbia.

[6] A memorial known as Vojko's Plaque (Vojkova plošča), marking the spot where Premrl was mortally wounded, is a landmark along the Idrijca River about 2 km south of Idrija.