In 1911, after finishing the basic school with distinction, he started to study Law at his father's request, although his passion was zoology.
[1] After passing the first state exam, he moved on 1 October 1913 to Nevesinje, Herzegovina, in order to serve as a one-year volunteer in the Austria-Hungary's mountain artillery.
He was wounded in 1914 and in 1918 was decorated first lieutenant and battery commander while in captivity in Trento, Italy, returning home in October 1919.
He became the head of a mountain artillery battery on the western front and was promoted to captain of the reserve and won two awards.
Nevertheless, the ethical attitude of the faculty insisted on his reinstatement and he was eventually rehabilitated in November 1950 and reappointed as a professor on 6 February 1951.