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The '''Chetnik movement''' or the '''Chetniks''' ({{lang-sr|Четници, ''Četnici''}}) were a [[Serbia]]n [[nationalism|nationalist]] and [[royalism|royalist]] [[paramilitary organization]] operating in the [[Balkans]] before and during [[World Wars]], mostly known for their participation in the [[Yugoslav Front]] of [[World War II]].
The '''Chetniks''' or the '''Chetnik movement''' or '''Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland''' ({{lang-sr|Четници, ''Četnici''}}) were a [[Serbia]]n [[nationalism|nationalist]] and [[royalism|royalist]] [[paramilitary organization]] operating in the [[Balkans]] before and during [[World Wars]], mostly known for their participation in the [[Yugoslav Front]] of [[World War II]].


The movement formed in 1941 was initially named the "Chetnik Detachments of the [[Royal Yugoslav Army|Yugoslav Army]]" (''Četnički odredi jugoslovenske vojske'') and was later renamed into the "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland" (''Jugoslovenska vojska u otadžbini'', Југословенска војска у отаџбини; JVUO, ЈВУО), though the original name remained the most common in use throughout the war, even among the Chetniks themselves. In 1941, the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] was [[Invasion of Yugoslavia|defeated by Germany]] and occupied by the [[Axis powers]] from 1941 to 1945. Chetnik's were the first [[Resistance during World War II|resistance movement]] to be formed <ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/partisan_fighters_01.shtml#two</ref>. The Chetniks were never a homogenous ideological movement. Some groups were implacably anti-German, whereas others were more concerned with the Partisans, which they saw as the greater threat. This lead to [[collaborationism|collaboration]] with the Axis occupation to an increasing degree toward end of the war.<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/partisan_fighters_01.shtml#two</ref><ref name="cohen-riesman-secret-war">{{cite book | last1 = Cohen | first1 = Philip J. | last2 = Riesman | first2 = David | title = Serbia's secret war: propaganda and the deceit of history | publisher = Texas A&M University Press | year = 1996 | isbn = 978-0-89096-760-7 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Fz1PW_wnHYMC&pg=PA40 | page = 40}}</ref>
The movement formed in 1941 was initially named the "Chetnik Detachments of the [[Royal Yugoslav Army|Yugoslav Army]]" (''Četnički odredi jugoslovenske vojske'') and was later renamed into the "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland" (''Jugoslovenska vojska u otadžbini'', Југословенска војска у отаџбини; JVUO, ЈВУО), though the original name remained the most common in use throughout the war, even among the Chetniks themselves. In 1941, the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] was [[Invasion of Yugoslavia|defeated by Germany]] and occupied by the [[Axis powers]] from 1941 to 1945. Chetnik's were the first [[Resistance during World War II|resistance movement]] to be formed <ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/partisan_fighters_01.shtml#two</ref>. The Chetniks were never a homogenous ideological movement. Some groups were implacably anti-German, whereas others were more concerned with the Partisans, which they saw as the greater threat. This lead to [[collaborationism|collaboration]] with the Axis occupation to an increasing degree toward end of the war.<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/partisan_fighters_01.shtml#two</ref><ref name="cohen-riesman-secret-war">{{cite book | last1 = Cohen | first1 = Philip J. | last2 = Riesman | first2 = David | title = Serbia's secret war: propaganda and the deceit of history | publisher = Texas A&M University Press | year = 1996 | isbn = 978-0-89096-760-7 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Fz1PW_wnHYMC&pg=PA40 | page = 40}}</ref>

Revision as of 13:31, 15 April 2011

For other uses of terms redirecting here, see: Macedonian struggle (disambiguation)
Chetnik movement
LeaderDraža Mihailović
Dates of operationEarly 20th century –
May 8, 1945
1990's
MotivesExpansion of Serbia, restoration of monarchism in occupied Yugoslavia
Active regionsOccupied Kingdom of Yugoslavia (WWII)
1990's:
Serbia
Montenegro
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
IdeologyMonarchism, Serbian nationalism, Greater Serbia

The Chetniks or the Chetnik movement or Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland ([Четници, Četnici] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) were a Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organization operating in the Balkans before and during World Wars, mostly known for their participation in the Yugoslav Front of World War II.

The movement formed in 1941 was initially named the "Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army" (Četnički odredi jugoslovenske vojske) and was later renamed into the "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland" (Jugoslovenska vojska u otadžbini, Југословенска војска у отаџбини; JVUO, ЈВУО), though the original name remained the most common in use throughout the war, even among the Chetniks themselves. In 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was defeated by Germany and occupied by the Axis powers from 1941 to 1945. Chetnik's were the first resistance movement to be formed [1]. The Chetniks were never a homogenous ideological movement. Some groups were implacably anti-German, whereas others were more concerned with the Partisans, which they saw as the greater threat. This lead to collaboration with the Axis occupation to an increasing degree toward end of the war.[2][3]

Etymology

The word, "chetnik", introduced in 1909, was used to describe a member of a Balkan guerrilla force.[4] The word is derived from the Serbian word "četa" (чета) which means "military company". The English suffix -nik is of Slavic origin. It approximately corresponds to the suffix "-er" and nearly always denotes an agent noun (that is, it describes a person related to the thing, state, habit, or action described by the word to which the suffix is attached).[5]

Organization

Balkan wars

1903-1908

  • Prilep
  • Skopje

World War II

Divisions:

1942

  • Herzegovina, commander of Odreds Danilo N. Salatić seated in Nevesinje[6]

Template:Standard table ! style="text-align: left; background: #949bf6;"|Odred
(Seat) ! style="text-align: left; background: #949bf6;"|Region ! style="text-align: left; background: #949bf6;"|Commander ! style="text-align: left; background: #949bf6;"|Numbers ! style="text-align: left; background: #949bf6;"|Info |----- | Nevesinje | Herzegovina | Miloje Lazarević | 6 battalions
2000 | |----- | Gacko | Herzegovina | Milorad Popović | 3 battalions
1300 | |----- | Bileća | Herzegovina | Miloš Kureš | 5 battalions
1800 | |----- | Trebinje | Herzegovina | Radovan Pejanović | 3 battalions
1700 | |----- | Ljubinje | Herzegovina | Savo Kovač | 2 battalions
600 | |----- | Stolac | Herzegovina | Ilija Ilić | 2 battalions
500 | |----- | Kalinovac | Herzegovina | Ilija Ilić | 2 battalions
400 | |-----

|}

January 1943

Three-man cell (trojka)
Company: 15-30 trojkas
Battalion: 3 companies
Brigades: 3 battalions
Corps: 3-5 brigades
Area Commands of Corps#:

Mobile forces were extracted from the Corps and designated "Shock Corps, Flying Brigades".

March 1944

Groups of Corps: 1 to 12
Groups of Shock Corps

Early Chetniks in Macedonia

See also: Balkan Wars
Chetniks volunteers fighting against pro-Bulgarians in Macedonia, late 19th century

Gligor Sokolović formed several detachments in and around Prilep 1903, after meeting with Dr. Gođevac, an ideologist of the Serb Chetniks. The Serb Chetniks defeated the Bulgarians at Prilep, Kičevo, Veles and Poreč.

In Vranje in 1904 the organization known as the "Serb Chetnik Movement" (Српски Четнички Покрет) was formed by the members of the Saint Sava organization, by members of the army and representatives of the ministry of foreign affairs. Serbia started equipping Macedonian Serb Chetniks who were in conflict with the autonomist and pro-Bulgarian Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO). In the summer of 1906 the Serbian Chetniks attacked the Bulgarians at Krapa.

The Macedonian Serb Chetniks from 1904 till 1908 created strongholds in Skopje and Prilep regions after several battles against the Turks and the IMRO, but could not extend their territory due to the IMRO presence in the other parts of Macedonia. The most prominent Chetniks from Macedonia were Jovan Babunski and Gligor Sokolović. After the proclamation of the Young Turk revolution in 1908 and the proclamation of the constitution, all of the brigands in Macedonia, including the Serbian Chetniks put down their weapons.

This period lasted until 1912, when the Balkan countries once again started arming guerrilla bands in Macedonia in order to help them in operations against the Ottoman army. At the start of the Balkan wars there were 110 IMRO, 108 Greek, 30 Serbian, and 5 Vlach detachments. They fought against the Turks in the First Balkan War, while in World War I they fought against Austria-Hungary.

World War I and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Chetniks in Skopje, 1908, march against the Ottoman Empire and other Central Powers

In World War I bands of Chetniks fought against the Bulgarian Army and organized the Toplica Insurrection, which was quickly crushed by the Bulgarians with assistance of the Ottoman Empire.

After the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and the arrival of peacetime, the Chetnik movement ceased functioning as a guerrilla force, and became a civilian organization. In 1921 the Organization of Chetniks for the Freedom and Honor of the Fatherland (Udruženje Četnika za slobodu i čast Otadžbine) was formed, and in 1924 the Organization of Serbian Chetniks for King and Fatherland (Udruženje srpskih četnika za Kralja i Otadžbinu), while the formation of the Organization of Serbian Chetniks Petar Mrkonjić (Udruženje srpskih četnika Petar Mrkonjić) also followed. These latter two merged together the following year as the Organization of Serbian Chetniks Petar Mrkonjić.

After the unitarianist King Alexander I proclaimed a dictatorship in 1929, the Organization of Serbian Chetniks Petar Mrkonjić was banned while the Organization of Chetniks for Freedom and Honour of the Fatherland was allowed to continue operating. Kosta Pećanac was the organization's leader from 1932 up to the occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941.[7]

World War II

Main article: Yugoslav People's Liberation War

Formation and ideology

File:Homogena Srbija.gif
A 1941 Chetnik conception based on a Chetnik leaflet entitled "Our Way" from the archives of the Institute of Military History in Belgrade.[8]

In April 1941 the Germans and Italians invaded Yugoslavia leading to the swift collapse of the Yugoslav state and the surrender of the Yugoslav army. Many Serbian detachments refused to surrender and took to the hills. The Chetnik tradition of paramilitary activity and outrage at Ustase atrocities quickly attracted recruits to the Chetnik banner. The aging pre-war Chetnik leader Kosta Pecanac soon came to an arrangement with Nedic's collaborationist regime in Serbia but Colonel Draza Mihailovic set up his Chetnik heaquarters in Ravna Gora and established contact with the Allies. It is these forces that are generally referred to as the Chetniks during World War II although the name was also used generally for other smaller groups. In June 1941, following Operation Barbarossa the communist Partisans under Tito organised an uprising and in the period between June and November 1941, the Chetniks and Partisans largely co-operated in anti-Axis activity. Despite a number of meetings the co-operation did not last and in November the Chetniks attacked the Partisans headquarters in Uzice with the Partisans counter-attacking the following day.[9] The Chetniks were essentially a royalist and Serb nationalist militia which resisted against Nazis and communists simultaneously at least up to 1943.[10][11][12]

The Chetnik salute was: "For King and Fatherland" (Za kralja i otadžbinu, За краља и отаџбину). The Chetnik code, usually displayed on flags, was "With faith in God! For King and Fatherland! Freedom or Death!".[13] Many Chetniks started to grow elaborate beards during the war, as growing beards is traditional in Orthodox Christian mourning, with the intent to keep them until their King returned. This trait earned them the derogatory nickname "Bradonje", Serbo-Croatian for "bearded ones", or "bearded guys". However, Chetnik units had a clear Serbian nationalist ideology and aimed towards the recreation of the Serb-dominated monarchic Yugoslavia or Greater Serbia. Dragiša Vasić and Stevan Moljević, two leading intellectuals of the Chetniks, elaborated, in June 1941, a memorandum entitled "Homogeneous Serbia", that claimed that the territories of "Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, Vojvodina, most of Croatia, northern (and possibly all of) Albania, and parts of Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary as well as Serbia proper" would be included in a Greater Serbia.[14] It was proposed to be accomplished through the "cleansing the lands of all anti-state elements and non-Serb minorities".[14] During the course of the war, Mihailović increasingly changed his position from Yugoslavian unitarianist to Serbian nationalist. As his international support eroded, however, and Allied recognition and support was being switched to the Partisans, he decided to convene the "Congress of St Sava" (the patron saint of Serbia) which was organized by Živko Topalović, and held at Ba in the Suvobor Mountains, Serbia. It was attended by a number of delegates from all over Yugoslavia. In his statement at the opening, he stated:

With the utmost vigor I refute all suggestions, wherever they may come from, that the army, and I personally, have any dictatorial intentions. ... In addition, our laws are sufficient guarantee that right will be satisfied. Because of that, the innocent cannot suffer. They will receive protection from me, personally, and from the army. We will not tolerate any unilateral initiatives.

The Congress brought forth seven resolutions, these called for a federal state with political and cultural rights for all citizens. King Peter II was to remain the constitutional monarch until such time as a freely elected national assembly chose to remove him. This move came too late to result in a shift of Allied support from Marshal Josip Broz Tito's Partisans.

The movement consisted at all times of a vast majority of nationalist Serbs and Montenegrins.[3] However, a small number of Croats, Slovenes, and Bosnian Muslims, who were loyal to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's government in exile, were royalists, or simply wanted to defend their homes against Nazi oppression were also Chetniks. The Chetniks viewed the influx of non-Serbs such as Jews, Muslims, Croats and others as 'dilution and contamination of their "pure Serb struggle"'.[15]

Early activities

Chetnik leaders conducted a number of operations against Axis forces, some jointly with the Partisans. However, by September 1941 Mihailovic was advocating postponement of military action against the Germans, in contrast to the significant number of actions organised by the Partisans.[9] According to Mihailovic the reason was humanitarian: the prevention of German reprisals against Serbs at the published rate of 100 civilians for every German soldier killed, 50 civilians for every soldier wounded.[16] Nevertheless, in December 1941 the Yugoslav government in exile in London under King Peter II promoted him to Brigadier-General and named him commander of the Yugoslav Home Army. That same month the Germans launched an attack on Mihajlovic's forces in Ravna Gora and effectively routed the Chetniks from Serbia. The bulk of the Chetnik forces retreated into eastern Bosnia and Sandžak and the centre of Chetnik activity moved to the Independent State of Croatia, a Nazi puppet state.[9]

However, by this time Mihailovic had already asked the Germans for munitions to fight the communists. The Germans declined to negotiate, instead demanding unconditional surrender.[9] The British liaison to Mihajlović advised London to stop supplying the Chetniks after their assistance in the German attack on Užice (see First anti-Partisan Offensive), but Britain continued to do so.[17][18]

File:DrazawantedbyNazis.jpg
The 1941 wanted poster reads, whoever brings Draža Mihailović, dead or alive, will get 100,000 German Reichsmark as a reward. In the following years, Draža Mihailović was to start collaborating with the Axis occupation,[19] placing his Chetniks fully in their command.[8]

From a relatively short time after Yugoslavia was invaded, the Chetniks enjoyed high-profile support from the American media[20] and received financial aid; Billy Mitchell's sister was one of the many Americans that supported and or financed the cause of the Yugoslav Army of the Fatherland.[21][22]

Operation Halyard

Main article: Operation Halyard

Operation Halyard, the safe evacuation of 417 Allied pilots (including 343 Americans) from Chetnik-held territories in Serbia during the latter half of 1944 has often been cited as "evidence" of the Chetniks' strong pro-Allied sympathies.[3] It was the largest Allied airlift operation behind enemy lines of World War II.[23] Most of the airmen were shot down during bombing runs of oil fields in Romania. Most pilots evaded capture and made contact with the Chetniks. Having by now lost all Allied support to the Partisans (along with the recognition of the King), and with the Axis defeat in Europe a certainty, Mihailović was going to great lengths to regain Allied support, and to depict himself in a favorable light to the western Allies. However, the Allies were aware that Mihailović's troops were at the same time also rescuing German and Ustaše aviators from the Partisans (as indicated in a Nedić government report of February 1944) and, on other occasions, even hunted down Allied aviators on behalf of the Axis occupation.[3]

The Yugoslav Partisans also resuced and evacuated downed Allied airmen from the Balkans. Between 1 January and 15 October 1944, according to statistics compiled by the US Air Force Air Crew Rescue, 1,152 American airmen were airlifted from Yugoslavia: 795 with Partisan assistance and 356 with the help of the Chetniks.[24]

Axis offensives

Main article: Seven anti-Partisan offensives
File:Document from William Donovan, head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).jpg
Document from William Donovan, head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), stating that his intelligence unit in Yugoslavia personally observed the Partisans attacking Chetniks while the latter were fighting Germans

Later during the War, the Allies were seriously considering an invasion of the Balkans, so the Yugoslav resistance movements increased in strategic importance, and there was a need to determine which of the two factions was fighting the Germans. A number of Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents were sent to Yugoslavia to determine the facts on the ground. In the meantime, the Germans, also aware of the growing importance of Yugoslavia, decided to wipe out the Partisans with determined offensives. The Chetniks, by this time, had agreed to provide support for the German operations, and were in turn granted supplies and munitions to increase their effectiveness.

The first of these large anti-Partisan offensives was Fall Weiss, also known as the Battle of Neretva. The Chetniks participated with a significant, 20,000-strong, force providing assistance to the German and Italian encirclement from the east (the far bank of the river Neretva). However, Tito's Partisans managed to break through the encirclement, cross the river, and engage the Chetniks. The conflict resulted in a near-total Partisan victory, after which the Chetniks were almost entirely incapacitated in the area west of the Drina river. The Partisans continued on, and later again escaped the Germans in the Battle of Sutjeska.

In the meantime, the Allies stopped planning an invasion of the Balkans and finally rescinded their support for the Chetniks and instead supplied the Partisans. At the Teheran Conference of 1943 and the Yalta Conference of 1945, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided to split their influence in Yugoslavia in half.

Loss of support and final war years

To gather intelligence, agents of the western Allies were infiltrated into both the Partisans and the Chetniks. The intelligence gathered by liaisons to the resistance groups was crucial to the success of supply missions and was the primary influence on Allied strategy in Yugoslavia. The search for intelligence ultimately resulted in the demise of the Chetniks and their eclipse by Tito’s Partisans. In 1942, though supplies were limited, token support was sent equally to each. The new year would bring a change. The Germans were executing Operation Schwarz (the Battle of Sutjeska, i.e., the Fifth anti-Partisan offensive), one of a series of offensives aimed at the resistance fighters, when F.W.D. Deakin was sent by the British to gather information.

His reports contained two important observations. The first was that the Partisans were courageous and aggressive in battling the German 1st Mountain and 104th Light Division, had suffered significant casualties, and required support. The second observation was that the entire German 1st Mountain Division had transited from Russia on rail lines through Chetnik-controlled territory. British intercepts (ULTRA) of German message traffic confirmed Chetnik timidity. All in all, intelligence reports resulted in increased Allied interest in Yugoslavia air operations, and a shift in policy. In September 1943, at Churchill’s request, Brigadier Fitzroy Maclean was parachuted to Tito’s headquarters near Drvar to serve as a permanent, formal liaison to the Partisans. While the Chetniks were still occasionally supplied, the Partisans received the bulk of all future support.[25][26]

Thus, after the Tehran Conference the Partisans received official recognition as the legitimate national liberation force by the Allies, who subsequently set-up the RAF Balkan Air Force (under the influence and suggestion of Brigadier Fitzroy MacLean) with the aim to provide increased supplies and tactical air support for Marshal Tito's Partisan forces. On 14 August 1944, the Tito-Šubašić agreement between Partisans and the Government in exile was signed on the island of Vis. The document called on all Croats, Slovenes, and Serbs to join the Partisans. Mihailović and the Chetniks refused to accept the Royal Government's agreement and continued to engage the Partisans, by now the official Yugoslav Allied force. Consequently on 29 August 1944, King Peter II dismissed Mihailović as Chief-of-Staff of the Yugoslav Army and on 12 September appointed Marshal Josip Broz Tito in his place. In late 1944, the leader of the Serbian fifth column, Milan Nedić, transferred all fascist Serbian troops under his command to Mihailović.[27]

Throughout the war the Chetniks were nevertheless involved in operations in which Allied (mostly United States) airmen were rescued and sheltered from the occupation forces.[28][29] The largest of these operations came to be Operation Halyard, which took place shortly before the Chetnik movement was destroyed in 1945. Due to the efforts of Major Richard L. Felman, President Harry S. Truman posthumously awarded Mihailović the "Legion of Merit", for the rescue of American Airmen (Operation Airbridge). This award was classified secret by the United States Department of State so as not to offend Yugoslavs.

Finally, in April and May 1945, as the victorious Partisans took possession of the country's territory, many Chetniks retreated toward Italy and a smaller group toward Austria. Many were captured by the Partisans or returned to Yugoslavia by British forces while a number were killed afterwards at Bleiburg. Some were tried for treason and were sentenced to prison terms or death. Many were summarily executed, especially in the first months after the end of the war. Mihailović and his few remaining followers tried to fight their way back to the Ravna Gora, but he was captured by Partisan forces. In March 1946, Mihailović was brought to Belgrade, where he was tried and executed on charges of treason in July. During the closing years of World War II, many Chetniks defected from their units, as the Partisan commander-in-chief, Marshal Josip Broz Tito, proclaimed a general amnesty to all defecting forces for a time.[30]

Non-Serbian Chetniks

Slovene Chetniks

Besides Partisans in Slovenia, during World War II there was also an movement of Slovene Chetniks (Jugoslovanska vojska v domovini). After the occupation of Yugoslavia, number of Slovene soldiers of former Yugoslav royal army organized themselves as resistance fighters against German occupation. They were organized as Slovene branch of Mihajlović's "Yugoslav army in the fatherland". Their goal was restoration of Yugoslav monarchy, and expansion of Slovene territory. Leader of Slovene Chetniks was Karl Novak, and a subordinate to general Mihajlović.[31][32][33] Created in 1941, Slovene Chetniks originally had around 300.-600. fighters and their number later increased to 2.000. fighters.

They were organized into several groups: 1. "Primorski" under command of captain Ratomir Cotić. 2. "Gorenjski" under command of colonel Jože Hlebc. 3. "Centralni četniški odred" under command of captain Milan Kranjc. 4. "Štajerski" under command of sergeant (later lieutenant) Jože Melaherj.

Other notable commanders were vice-colonel Ernest Peterlin - Logar, colonel Vladimir Vauhnik, Ivan Prezelj, Anton Kokalj - Tonči and naval captain Andrej Klinar - Hren.[34] After victory of Tito's partisans, most Slovene Chetnik soldiers and commanders fled to Italy. Since most Slovene Chetnik commanders worked for SOE,during the war, they continued to work for British and US intelligence after the war.[35]

Croat Chetniks

During World War II a number of ethnic Croats participated in various Chetnik units, mostly in Dalmatia. Many of those Croats were Yugoslav monarchists, pan-Slavists, anti-communists, and members of pre–World War II ORJUNA organization. Two Chetnik battalions - "Splitsko-šibenički četnički bataljon" and "Odred vojvode Birčanina" were mostly dominated by ethnic Croats.[36] Most famous Croat Chetnik commanders were people like captain Krešimir Vranić (leader of second Chetnik detachment, dominated by Croats), Ivo Jankov, colonel Anton Šuster from Sušak and lieutenant Niko Lazarić from island of Krk.[37] Around 30% of Croats from Split, of Yugoslav and non-communist orientation joined Dalmatian Chetnik units.[38]

Axis collaboration

File:Meeting between German, Chetniks and Domobran commander.jpg
German General Major Friedrich Stahl stands alongside an Ustaše officer and Chetnik commander Rade Radić in central Bosnia, 1942.[39]

Throughout the War, the Chetnik movement remained almost completely inactive against the occupation forces, and increasingly collaborated with the Axis, losing its international recognition as the Yugoslav resistance force.[17][25][3][9] After a brief initial period of cooperation, the Partisans and the Chetniks quickly started fighting against each other. Gradually, the Chetniks ended up primarily fighting the Partisans[40] instead of the occupation forces, and started cooperating with the Axis in their struggle to destroy the resistance, receiving increasing amounts of logistical assistance. Mihailović admitted to a British colonel that the Chetniks' principle enemies were "the partisans, the Ustasha, the Muslims, the Croats and last the Germans and Italians" in that order.[14]

At the start of the conflict, Chetnik forces were merely relatively inactive towards the occupation, and negotiated with the Partisans. This changed when these talks broke down, and they proceeded to attack the latter (who were actively fighting the Germans), while continuing to engage the Axis only in minor skirmishes. Attacking the Germans provoked strong retaliation, and the Chetniks increasingly negotiated with them. Negotiations were aided by their mutual goal of destroying the Partisans. This collaboration first appeared during the attack on the Partisan "Užice Republic", where Chetniks played a part in the general Axis attack.[8]

Collaboration with the Italians

Chetnik collaboration with the occupation forces of fascist Italy took place in three main areas: in Italian-occupied (and Italian-annexed) Dalmatia, in the Italian puppet state of Montenegro, and in German and Italian-occupied Slovenia. The collaboration in Dalmatia and parts of Bosnia was the most widespread, however, and the 1941 split between the Partisans and the Chetniks took place earlier in those areas.[8] The Partisans considered all occupation forces the fascist enemy, while the Chetniks hated the Ustaše but balked at fighting the Italians, and had approached the Italian VI Army Corps (General Renzo Dalmazzo, Commander) as early as July and August 1941 for assistance via a Serbian politician from Lika, Stevo Rađenović. In particular, Chetnik leaders (vojvoda-s) Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin and Dobroslav Jevđević were favorably disposed towards the Italians, because they believed Italian occupation over the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina would be detrimental to the influence of the Ustaše state. For this reason, they sought an alliance with the Italian occupation forces in Yugoslavia. The Italians (General Dalamazzo) looked favorably on these approaches and hoped first to avoid fighting the Chetniks, and then use them against the Partisans, which they thought would give them an "enormous advantage". An agreement was concluded on January 11, 1942 between the representative of the Italian 2nd Army, Captain Angelo De Matteis and the Chetnik representative for southeastern Bosnia, Mutimir Petković, and was later signed by Draža Mihailović's chief delegate in Bosnia, Major Boško Todorović. Among other provisions of the agreement, it was agreed that Italians would support the Chetnik formations with arms and provisions, and would facilitate the release of "recommended individuals" from Axis concentration camps (Jasenovac, Rab...). The chief interest of both the Chetniks and Italians would be to assist each other in combating the Partisan resistance.[8] [9]

In the following months of 1942, General Mario Roatta, commander of the Italian 2nd Army, worked on developing a Policy Directive (Linea di condotta) on relations with the Chetniks, the Ustaše and the Partisans. In line with these efforts, General Vittorio Ambrosio outlined the Italian policy in Yugoslavia: all negotiations with the (quisling) Ustaše were to be avoided, but contacts with the Chetniks were "advisable" - as for the Partisans: "struggle to the bitter end". This meant that General Roatta was essentially free to take action with regard to the Chetniks as he saw fit.[8] He outlined the four points of his policy in his report to the Italian Army General Staff:

{{Quote|To support the Chetniks sufficiently to make them fight against the communists, but not so much as to allow them too much latitude in their own action; to demand and assure that the Chetniks do not fight against the Croatian forces and authorities; to allow them to fight against the communists on their own initiative (so that they can "slaughter each other"); and finally to allow them to fight in parallel with the Italian and German forces, as do the nationalist bands [Chetniks and separatist Zelenaši] in Montenegro.|General Mario Roatta, 1942[8]

During 1942 and 1943, an overwhelming proportion of Chetnik forces in the Italian-controlled areas of occupied Yugoslavia were organized as Italian auxiliary forces in the form of the Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia (Milizia volontaria anti comunista, MVAC). According to General Giacomo Zanussi (then a Colonel and Roatta's chief of staff), there were 19,000 to 20,000 Chetniks in the MVAC in Italian-occupied parts of the Independent State of Croatia alone. The Chetniks were extensively supplied with thousands of rifles, grenades, mortars and artillery pieces. In a memorandum dated March 26, 1943 to the Italian Army General Staff entitled "The Conduct of the Chetniks", Italian officers noted the ultimate control of these collaborating Chetnik units remained in the hands of Draža Mihailović, and contemplated the possibility of a hostile reorientation of these troops in light of the changing strategic situation. The commander of these troops was vojvoda Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin, who arrived in Italian-annexed Split in October 1941 and received his orders directly from Mihailović in the spring of 1942.
The Chetnik-Italian collaboration lasted until the Italian capitulation on September 8, 1943, when Chetnik troops switched to supporting the German occupation in forcing the Partisans out of the coastal cities which they liberated upon the Italian withdrawal.[25][9] The German 114th Jäger Division even incorporated a Chetnik detachment in its advance to the Adriatic.[41]

Collaboration with the NDH

See also: Ustaše
Representatives of the Chetniks, Ustaše, and Croatian Home Guard meet in Bosnia

After the 1941 split between the Partisans and the Chetniks in Serbia, the Chetnik groups in central, eastern, and northwestern Bosnia found themselves caught between the German and Ustaše (NDH) forces on one side and the Partisans on the other. In early 1942 Chetnik Major Jezdimir Dangić approached the Germans in an attempt to arrive at an understanding, but was unsuccessful, and the local Chetnik leaders were forced to look for another solution. The Chetnik groups were in fundamental disagreement with the Ustaše on practically all issues, but they found a common enemy in the Partisans, and this was the overriding reason for the collaboration which ensued between the Ustaše authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and Chetnik detachments in Bosnia. The first formal agreement between Bosnian Chetniks and the Ustaše was concluded on May 28, 1942, in which Chetnik leaders expressed their loyalty as "citizens of the Independent State of Croatia" both to the state and its Poglavnik (Ante Pavelić). During the next three weeks, three additional agreements were signed, covering a large part of the area of Bosnia (along with the Chetnik detachments within it). By the provision of these agreements, the Chetniks were to cease hostilities against the Ustaše state, and the Ustaše would establish regular administration in these areas.[25] The Chetniks recognized the sovereignty of the Independent State of Croatia and became a legalized movement in it.[42] The main provision, Art. 5 of the agreement, states as follows:

As long as there is danger from the Partisan armed bands, the Chetnik formations will cooperate voluntarily with the Croatian military in fighting and destroying the Partisans and in those operations they will be under the overall command of the Croatian armed forces. (...) Chetnik formations may engage in operations against the Partisans on their own, but this they will have to report, on time, to the Croatian military commanders.

— Chetnik-Ustaše collaboration agreement, May 28, 1942[8]

The necessary ammunition and provisions were supplied to the Chetniks by the Ustaše military. Chetniks who were wounded in such operations would be cared for in NDH hospitals, while the orphans and widows of Chetniks killed in action would be supported by the Ustaše state. Persons specifically recommended by Chetnik commanders would be returned home from the Ustaše concentration camps (Jasenovac concentration camp). These agreements covered the majority of Chetnik forces in Bosnia east of the German-Italian demarcation line, and lasted throughout most of the war. Since Croatian forces were immediately subordinate to the German military occupation, collaboration with Croatian forces was, in fact, indirect collaboration with the Germans.[8] [3]

Battle of the Neretva

Main article: Battle of the Neretva

One of the highpoints of Chetnik collaboration with the Axis took place during the Battle of the Neretva, which was the final phase of operation Fall Weiss or the Fourth Enemy Offensive. In 1942, Partisans forces were on the rise, having established large liberated territories within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Chetnik forces, partially because of their collaboration with the Italian occupation, were also gaining in strength, however, but were no match to the Partisans and required Axis logistical support to attack the liberated territories. In light of the changing strategic situation, Adolf Hitler and the German high command decided to disarm the Chetniks and destroy the Partisans for good. In spite of Hitler's insistence, Italian forces in the end refused to disarm the Chetniks (thus rendering that course of action impossible), under the justification that the Italian occupation forces could not afford to lose the Chetniks as allies in their maintenance of the occupation.

Collaboration with the Germans

File:Chetniks with German soldiers.jpg
Chetniks posing with soldiers of the German occupation forces during World War II in an unidentified Serbian village in occupied Yugoslavia

As early as spring 1942, the Germans favored the collaboration agreement the Ustaše and the Chetniks had established in a large part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since the Ustaše military was supplied by, and immediately subordinate to, the German military occupation, collaboration between the two constituted indirect German-Chetnik collaboration. This was all favorable to the Germans primarily because the agreement was directed against the Partisans, contributed to the pacification of areas significant for German war supplies, and reduced the need for additional German occupation troops (as Chetniks were assisting the occupation). After the Italian capitulation on September 8, 1943, the German 114th Jäger Division even incorporated a Chetnik detachment in its advance to retake the Adriatic coast from the Partisans who had temporarily liberated it.[41] The report on German-Chetnik collaboration of the XV Army Corps on November 19, 1943 to the 2nd Panzer Army states that the Chetniks were "leaning on the German forces" for close to a year.[8]

German-Chetnik collaboration entered a new phase after the Italian surrender, because the Germans now had to police a much larger area than before and fight the Partisans in the whole of Yugoslavia. Consequently, they significantly liberalized their policy towards the Chetniks and mobilized all Serbian nationalist forces against the Partisans. The 2nd Panzer Army oversaw these developments: the XV Army Corps was now officially allowed to utilize Chetniks troops and forge a "local alliance". The first formal and direct agreement between the German occupation forces and the Chetniks took place in early October 1943 between the 373rd Infantry Division and a detachment of Chetniks under Mane Rokvić operating in western Bosnia and Lika. The Germans subsequently even used Chetnik troops for guard duty in occupied Split, Dubrovnik, Šibenik, and Metković.[41] Independent State of Croatia (NDH) troops were not used, despite Ustaše demands, because mass desertions of Croat troops to the Partisans rendered them unreliable. From this point on, the German occupation actually started to "openly favor" Chetnik (Serbian) troops to the Croat formations of the NDH, due to the pro-Partisan dispositions of the Croatian rank-and-file. The Germans paid little attention to frequent Ustaše protests about this.[9][8] 

Ustaše Major Mirko Blaž (Deputy Commander, 7th Brigade of the Poglavnik's Personal Guard) observed that:

The Germans are not interested in politics, they take everything from a military point of view. They need troops that can hold certain positions and clear certain areas of the Partisans. If they ask us to do it, we cannot do it. The Chetniks can.

— Major Mirko Blaž, March 5, 1944[8]

When appraising the situation in western Serbia, Bosnia, Lika, and Dalmatia, Captain Merrem, intelligence officer with the German commander-in-chief southeastern Europe, was "full of praise" for Chetnik units collaborating with the Germans, and for the smooth relations between the Germans and Chetnik units on the ground.
In addition, the Chief of Staff of the 2nd Panzer Army observed in a letter to the Ustaše liaison officer that the Chetniks fighting the Partisans in Eastern Bosnia were "making a worthwhile contribution to the Croatian state", and that the 2nd Army "refused in principle" to accept Croatian complaints against the usage of these units. German-Chetnik Collaboration continued to take place until the very end of the war, with the tacit approval of Draža Mihailović and the Chetnik Supreme Command in Serbia. Though Mihailović himself never actually signed any agreements, he endorsed the policy for the purpose of eliminating the Partisan threat.[3][8] 

Field Marshal Maximilian von Weichs commented:

Though he himself [Draža Mihailović] shrewdly refrained from giving his personal view in public, no doubt to have a free hand for every eventuality (e.g. Allied landing on the Balkans), he allowed his commanders to negotiate with Germans and to co-operate with them. And they did so, more and more...

— Field Marshal Maximilian von Weichs, 1945[43]

The loss of Allied support in 1943 caused the Chetniks to lean more than ever towards the Germans for assistance against the Partisans. On 14 August 1944, the Tito-Šubašić agreement between the Partisans and the Yugoslav King Peter II and government-in-exile was signed on the island of Vis. The document called on all Croats, Slovenes, and Serbs to join the Partisans. Mihailović and the Chetniks refused to follow the order and abide by the agreement and continued to engage the Partisans (by now the official Yugoslav Allied force). Consequently on 29 August 1944, King Peter II dismissed Mihailović as Chief-of-Staff of the Yugoslav Army and on 12 September appointed Marshal Josip Broz Tito in his place. Josip Broz Tito at this point became the Prime Minster of the Yugoslav state and the joint government.

Collaboration in Serbia

Draža Mihailović, World War II senior Chetnik leader was found guilty of high treason and war crimes by the Yugoslav government and executed by firing squad in 1946

In occupied Serbia, the Germans installed Milan Aćimović as leader, and later the former Minister of War, General Milan Nedić, who governed until 1944. Nedić formed his own troops, the Serbian State Guard, made up of ex-members of the Royal Yugoslav Army. However, his forces were also augmented by several formations of Chetniks, one under the pre-war leader Kosta Pećanac (this formation was independent of Mihajlović). The former led a force of around 3,000 men in southern Serbia, and felt that he, as a man with 40 years of service, was senior to Mihailović. In 1944, having lost all Allied recognition, Mihailović was granted command over the entire military force of Nedić's Serbia, including the Serbian State Guard. General Edmund Glaise von Horstenau commented:

The units that could really be used against the Partisans were Serbian and partly Russian volunteers and - Draža Mihailović's people. My liaison officer with them was a certain Major, Ritterkreuztraeger.

— General Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, German military attaché in Zagreb[44]

As the war drew to a close, Chetnik forces continued to fight the Partisans and (on a few occasions) the Red Army alongside German forces. The movement was by this time, though still commanded by Mihailović, plagued with a lack of discipline. Splinter factions emerged, one of which was the Montenegrin People's Army led by Pavle Đurišić which, in a belated bid for Allied recognition, unsuccessfully attacked Ustaše formations in what is known as the Battle on Lijevča field. Remnants of Chetnik troops eventually retreated alongside Ustaše and other Axis forces towards the northwestern regions of Yugoslavia, where they all either surrendered or, in earlier stages, defected to the Partisans. For those troops who took the opportunity, a general amnesty was granted by the Yugoslav Prime Minister.

Ethnic cleansing

Draža Mihajlović's infamous "Instrukcije" ("Instructions") of 1941, ordering the ethnic cleansing of Muslims (Bosniaks), Croats, and others
Serbian Wikisource has original text related to this article:
See also: Ethnic cleansing

Chetnik supreme commander Draža Mihailović issued the following "Instructions" to his commanders on 20 December 1941 outlining, among other things, the cleansing of all non-Serb elements in order to create a Greater Serbia:[3][45][46]

The mission of our units is:

  1. The struggle for the freedom of all of our people under the scepter of His Majesty, the King Peter II;
  2. The creation of Greater Yugoslavia, and within it Greater Serbia, ethnically clean within the borders of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Srem, Banat, and Bačka;
  3. The struggle for the incorporation into our social structure of those non-liberated Slovenian territories under Italy and Germany (Trieste, Gorizia, Istria, and Carinthia), as well as Bulgaria and northern Albania with Shkodra;
  4. The cleansing of all national minorities and anti-state elements from state territory;
  5. The creation of direct common borders between Serbia and Montenegro, as well as Serbia and Slovenia by cleansing the Muslim population from Sandžak, and the Muslim and Croat populations from Bosnia and Herzegovina;
  6. The punishment of all Ustaše and Muslims who have mercilessly destroyed our people in these tragic days;
  7. The settlement of the areas cleansed of national minorities and anti-state elements by Montenegrins (to be considered are poor, nationally patriotic, and honest families).

There may be no collaboration with the communists - Partisans, as they are fighting against the Dynasty and in favor of socialist revolution. [...] Albanians, Muslims, and Ustaše are to be treated in accordance with their merit for the horrendous crimes against our population, i.e. they are to be turned over to the People's Court. The Croats living on the territory under Italian occupation are to be treated based on their disposition at the given moment.

The exact number of Bosniak, Croat and other civilians murdered under the direct command of Mihailović's Chetniks has never been established. In his book Crimes Against Bosnian Muslims 1941-1945, historian Šemso Tucaković estimated that out of 150,000 Bosniaks who lost their lives in World War II, some 100,000 were murdered by Chetniks. He also listed at least 50,000 Bosnian Muslim names directly known to have been killed by Chetniks. According to World War II historian Vladimir Žerjavić, approximately 29,000 Muslims and 18,000 Croats were killed by Chetniks during World War II.[47] Žerjavić's figures have also been cited as too conservative and figures of up to 300,000 non-Serbs have been suggested.[48]

Some of the major World War II Chetnik massacres against ethnic Croats and Bosniaks include:[49][50][51]

  • April 15, 1941, Knin, Grahovo, Sinj - 100 civilians killed in horrible manner, victims were cut off their ears, hands, and eyes before being killed;[52]
  • July 1941, Herzegovina (Bileća, Stolac) - approximately 1,150 civilians killed;
  • August 1941, Pogrom in Krnjeuša[53]
  • December 1941/January 1942, eastern Bosnia (Foča, Goražde) - approximately 2,050 civilians killed;
  • August 1942, eastern Bosnia and Sandžak (Foča, Bukovica) - approximately 1,000 civilians killed;
  • August 1942, eastern Bosnia (Ustikolina, Jahorina) - approximately 2,500 civilians killed;
  • September 1942, southern Dalmatia (Makarska) - approximately 900 civilians killed;
  • October 1942, Herzegovina (Prozor) - approximately 2,500 civilians killed;
  • January 1943, Sandžak (Bijelo Polje) - approximately 1,500 civilians killed;
  • February 1943, eastern Bosnia and Sandžak (Foča, Čajniče, Pljevlja) - 9,200-20,000 civilians killed. While Chetniks themselves admitted killed over 9,000 people, other estimates put the number in 20,000 people killed. It was the largest single Chetnik massacre of World War II.

Mihailović was captured on 13 March 1946 by agents of the Yugoslav security agency, the Odeljenje Zaštite Naroda (Armije) (OZNA). He was charged on 47 counts. The court found him guilty on 8 counts, including crimes against humanity and high treason. The trial lasted from 10 June to 15 July. He was found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad on 15 July. The Presidium of the National Assembly rejected the clemency appeal on 16 July. He was executed together with nine other officers in the early hours of 18 July 1946, in Lisičiji Potok, about 200 meters from the former Royal Palace, and buried in an unmarked grave on the same spot. His main prosecutor was Miloš Minić, later Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Yugoslav Government.

Massacres

Against Muslims

The Muslim population of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sandžak were one of the primary victims of Chetniks.[8] The Chetniks systemically massacred Muslims in villages that they captured.[54] These actions were portrayed by the Chetniks as countermeasures against Muslim aggressive activities; however, all circumstances show that these massacres were committed in accordance with implementing Mihailović's directive of December 20, 1941 that ordered Chetnik commanders to ethnically cleanse Muslims (among others).[8]

These massacres began in late autumn of 1941 after the Italians handed over the towns of south-east Bosnia to the Chetniks.[54] The Chetniks gained control of Goražde on 29 November 1941 and began a massacre of Home Guard prisoners and NDH officials that became a systematic massacre of the local Muslim civilian population.[54] Several hundred Muslims were murdered and their bodies were left hanging in the town or thrown into the Drina river.[54] On 5 December 1941, the Chetniks received the town of Foča from the Italians and proceeded to massacre around five hundred Muslims.[54] Additional massacres against the Muslims in the area of Foča took place in August 1942.[8] In total, over two thousand people were killed in Foča.[8] In early January, the Chetniks entered Srebrenica and killed around a thousand Muslim civilians in the town and in nearby villages.[54] Around the same time the Chetniks made their way to Visegrád where deaths were reportedly in the thousands.[54] Massacres continued in the following months in the region.[54] In the village of Žepa alone about three hundred were killed in late 1941.[54] In early January, Chetniks massacred fifty-four Muslims in Čelebić and burned down the village.[54] On 3 March, the Chetniks burned forty-two Muslim villagers to death in Drakan.[54]

Pavle Đurišić, the commander of Montenegrin Chetniks, was responsible for most operations that were carried out against Muslims, especially in Montenegro and Sandžak.[55] In a briefing to the Mihailović, Đurišić reported on 10 January 1943, that "thirty-three Muslim villages had been burned down, and 400 Muslim fighters (members of the Muslim self-protection militia supported by the Italians) and about 1,000 women and children had been killed, as against 14 Chetnik dead and 26 wounded".[8] In another report by Đurišić dated 13 February 1943, he reported that "Chetniks killed about 1,200 Muslim fighters and about 8,000 old people, women, and children; Chetnik losses in the action were 22 killed and 32 wounded".[8] The total number of deaths caused by the anti-Muslim operations between January and February 1943 is estimated at 10,000.[8] The casualty rate would have been higher had a great number of Muslims not already fled the area, most to Sarajevo, when the February action began.[8]

Against Partisans

The Chetniks used mass terror against the Partisans, their principal enemy, regardless of nationality or religion at every opportunity beginning in late fall of 1941.[8] According to the verdict of Mihailović's trial Serbian Chetniks attacked Serbian Partisan villages and systematically murdered villagers. For example, on the night between 20 and 21 December 1943, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Miodrag Palošević and Major Sveta Trifković, the Chetniks attacked a Serbian village of Vranić, south-west of Belgrade, and slaughtered 72 civilians, among whom were two small children.[56]

SFR Yugoslavia

After the end of World War II, the Chetniks were banned in the new Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 29 November 1945, King Peter II was deposed by the Yugoslav Constituent Assembly after an overwhelming referendum result. Chetnik leaders either escaped the country or were arrested by the authorities. On 13 March 1946, Draža Mihailović was captured by OZNA, the Yugoslav security agency. He was put to trial, found guilty of high treason against Yugoslavia, sentenced to death he was duly executed on July 17. Later, Momčilo Đujić formed the 'Movement of Serbian Chetniks of Ravna Gora' in the United States and Canada.[57]

Recent history

Yugoslav Wars

Main articles: Yugoslav Wars and Serbian Radical Party
See also: White Eagles (paramilitary), Serb Volunteer Guard, and Serbian Guard (paramilitary)

During the Yugoslav wars, Serb paramilitaries often self-identified and were referred to as Chetniks (either as a pejorative, or they pretended to look like Chetniks and use their insignia, without any real relationship to the original movement).[58] Vojislav Šešelj's Serbian Radical Party formed the White Eagles group which identified themselves as Chetniks.[59] Vuk Drašković's Serbian Renewal Movement was closely associated with the Serbian Guard, which was also associated with Chetniks and monarchism.[60]

During the war five Serb soldiers received the title of Chetnik voivodes from World War II veteran Momčilo Đujić: Rade Čubrilo, Slavko Aleksić, Branislav Gavrilović, Rade Radović, and Mitar Mandić. The title to Šešelj was given in 1989 but later taken off in 1998 when it became obvious that Šešelj is in cooperation with Slobodan Milošević.[61] Rade Čubrilo became the flag-bearer of Đujić's former unit, the Dinara Chetnik Division.[61] Serb politician Vojislav Šešelj was also named a voivode prior to the start of the wars by Đujić and the title was taken from Šešelj in later decade, since he was anti-monarchist and in cooperation with Milošević.[62]

Contemporary period

A Chetnik banquet hall honoring senior Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović

The current situation of the movement is different from place to place.

Modern Chetnik movements include:

  • Serbian Chetnik Movement of Republika Srpska[63]
  • Ravna Gora Chetnik Movement of Republika Srpska, based in Brčko.
  • Serbian Movement of Ravna Gora, with branches in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.[64]

Serbia

Since 1992, the Serbian Renewal Movement has annually organized the "Ravna Gora Parliament".[65] People who attend the Parliament wear World War II Chetnik iconography and t-shirts with the image of Draža Mihailović or war crimes suspect Ratko Mladić.[65][66] In 2005, Croatian president Stjepan Mesić cancelled a planned visit to Serbia as it coincided with the gathering, officially supported by the Serbian government, and attended by Vuk Drašković.[67]

In March 2004, the National Assembly of Serbia passed a new law that equalized the Chetniks and Partisans as equivalent anti-fascists.[68] Rights were granted on the basis that both were anti-fascist movements that fought occupiers, and this formulation has entered the law. The vote was 176 for, 24 against and 4 abstained (the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) of Slobodan Milošević was the one voting against the decision). There have been varying reactions to the law in Serbian public opinion. Many have praised it as just and long overdue, including Prince Alexander Karađorđević (son of Peter II, the last Yugoslav king), as well as most political parties (with the most notable exception of the SPS). Others protested the decision, including the Serbian Association of Former Partisans, the Serbian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the Croatian Anti-Fascist Movement, and the President and Prime Minister of Croatia. In 2009, Serbian courts rehabilitated Chetnik ideologist Dragiša Vasić.[69]

The Serbian basketball player Milan Gurović has a tattoo of World War II Chetnik Draža Mihailović on his left arm which has resulted in a ban since 2004 in playing in Croatia under its anti-fascist laws.[70] Turkey has also threatened to enact such a ban.[71] Serbian rocker Bora Đorđević is also a self-declared Chetnik, but calling it a "national movement that is much older than the WWII", and adding that he does not hate other nations and never been a member of the Radical Party nor advocated Greater Serbia.[72]

Montenegro

In 2002, preparations for a memorial complex dedicated to Pavle Đurišić near Berane began.[73] In 2003, Vesna Kilibarda, the Montenegrin Minister of Culture, banned the construction of the monument saying that the Ministry of Culture had not applied for the approval to erect monuments.[74] The Association of War Veterans of the National Liberation Army (SUBNOR) objected to the construction of the monument saying that Đurišić was a war criminal who was responsible for the deaths of many colleagues of the veterans association and 7,000 Muslims.[75] The following month the Montenegrin government forbade the unveiling of the monument stating that it "caused public concern, encouraged division among the citizens of Montenegro, and incited national and religious hatred and intolerance."[76] A press release from the committee in charge of the construction of the monument stated that the actions taken by the government was "absolutely illegal and inappropriate."[77] The stand that was prepared for the erection of the monument was later removed by the police.[78]

Bosnia and Herzegovina

On July 12, 2007, a day after the 12th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide and the burial of a further 465 victims, a group of men dressed in Chetnik uniforms marched the streets of Srebrenica. They all wore badges of military units which committed the massacre in July 1995.[79][80] On July 11, 2009, after the burial of 543 victims in Srebrenica, members of the Ravna Gora Chetnik movement desecrated the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina, marched in the streets wearing T-shirts with the face of Ratko Mladić and sang Chetnik songs.[81][82][83] A group of men and women associated with the Serbian far-right group Obraz "chanted insults directed towards the victims and in support of the Chetnik movement, calling for eradication of Islam."[84] A full report of the incident was submitted to the local District Prosecutor's Office but no one has been prosecuted.[85] The Bosniak political party SDP has been campaining for a creation of a law that would ban the group within Bosnia.[86]

Croatia

Milorad Pupovac of the Independent Democratic Serbian Party in Croatia (the present-day leader of Serbs of Croatia and member of the Croatian Parliament), has described the organization as "fascist collaborators".[87]

United States

Monuments dedicated to Draža Mihailović, Momčilo Đujić, and Pavle Đurišić exist at the Serbian cemetery in Libertyville, Illinois.[88]

See also

References

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  27. ^ http://www.vojska.net/hrv/drugi-svjetski-rat/srbija/srpska-drzavna-straza/ Serbian State Guard
  28. ^ Two airmen who shared a B-24 stint in WWII are reunited - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
  29. ^ WWII Veterans visit Serbia - Embassy of the United States in Belgrade, Serbia
  30. ^ "Foreign News: New Power". Time. 1944-12-04. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
  31. ^ Pavle Borštnik, Pozabljena zgodba slovenske nacionalne ilegale, Ljubljana, 1998
  32. ^ Katja Zupanič, Četništvo na Štajerskem, diplomska naloga, Maribor, 2000
  33. ^ Marijan F. Kranjc in Slobodan Kljakić, Plava garda – poveljnikovo zaupno poročilo, Pro-Andy, Maribor, 2006
  34. ^ Slobodan Kljakić i Marijan F. Kranjc, Slovenački četnici, Filip Višnjić, Belgrade, 2006
  35. ^ Metod M. Milač, Resistance, imprisonment & forced labor : a slovene student in World War II˝,New York : P. Lang, 2002
  36. ^ Zbornik dokumenata Vojnoistorijskog institute: tom XIV, Dokumenti četničkog pokreta Draže Mihailovića, Beograd
  37. ^ Dinko Šuljak, Tražio sam Radićevu Hrvatsku, Knjižnica Hrvatske Revije, Barcelona, 1988, pages 163-167
  38. ^ Dinko Šuljak, Tražio sam Radićevu Hrvatsku, Knjižnica Hrvatske Revije, Barcelona, 1988, page 150
  39. ^ "Photograph #46717". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  40. ^ Chetnik - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  41. ^ a b c Tomasevich, Jozo; War and revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: occupation and collaboration, Volume 2; Stanford University Press, 2001 ISBN 0-80473-615-4 [3]
  42. ^ Redžić, Enver (2005). Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War. Routledge. p. 141. ISBN 0714656259.
  43. ^ Werner Roehr (zusammengestellt), Europa unterm Hakenkreuz-Okkupation und Kollaboration (1938-1945), 1994, s.358
  44. ^ Peter Broucek, Ein General in Zwielicht; Errinerungen Edmund Glaises von Horstenau, Wien-Koeln-Graz, 1988; p.421
  45. ^ Redžić, Enver (2005). Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War. Routledge. p. 131. ISBN 0714656259.
  46. ^ Ramet, Sabrina P. (2006). The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918-2004. Indiana University Press. p. 145. ISBN 0271016299.
  47. ^ Vladimir Žerjavić, Response to dr.Bulajić on his writing on Internet of April 8, 1998
  48. ^ Zdravko Dizdar, Chetnik Genocidal Crimes against Croatians and Muslims during World War II (1941-1945)
  49. ^ Malcolm, Noel (1996). Bosnia: A Short History. New York University Press. p. 188. ISBN 0814755615.
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  51. ^ Glenny, Misha (2001). The Balkans: Nationalism, War & the Great Powers, 1804-1999. Penguin Books. pp. 494–495. ISBN 0140233776.
  52. ^ Omrcanin, Ivo (1957). Istina o Drazi Mihailovicu. "Logos"-Verlag. p. 100 and 107.
  53. ^ Ana Došen (1994). Krnjeuša u srcu i sjećanju (in Croatian). Rijeka: Matica hrvatska, Rijeka branch. ISBN 953-6035-01-4.
  54. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hoare, Marko Attila (2006). Genocide and Resistance in Hitler's Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks. Oxford University Press. pp. 143–147. ISBN 0197263801.
  55. ^ Cohen, Philip J.; Riesman, David (1996). Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History. Texas A&M University Press. p. 45. ISBN 0890967601.}
  56. ^ The Trial of Dragoljub-Draža Mihailović: Stenographic Record and Documents from the Trial of Dragoljub-Draža Mihailović. Documentary Publications. 1977.
  57. ^ http://www.novinar.de/2007/12/15/tekst-pisma-vojvode-momcila-episkopu-kanadskom-georgiju-dokicu.html NOVINAR.de » Tekst Pisma Vojvode Momčila - episkopu kanadskom Georgiju (Đokiću) | online novine koje zajedno stvaramo - vesti iz zemlje i sveta
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  59. ^ United Nations Commission on Breaches of Geneva Law in Former Yugoslavia
  60. ^ Giška and guards died for nothing, Glas javnosti
  61. ^ a b Title of voivode only for military service, Danas
  62. ^ The Prosecutor of the Tribunal Against Vojislav Šešelj
  63. ^ Provokacija iz Trebinja: osnovan "Srpski četnički pokret Republike Srpske", Slobodna Dalmacija
  64. ^ The Movement of Serbian Chetniks Ravne Gore Chapters
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  66. ^ "Ravnogorski sabor". B92. 13 May 2007.
  67. ^ Predsjednik Mesiæ O Odgodi Posjeta Scg-U
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  69. ^ Rehabilitovan Dragiša Vasić, Blic
  70. ^ ISN Security Watch - Serbia rehabilitates Chetniks with pensions
  71. ^ http://arhiva.bljesak.info/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13422
  72. ^ Bora Čorba kod Hrge: Ponosan sam četnik - Dnevnik.hr
  73. ^ "Ovih dana u selu Gornje Zaostro kod Berana počinje gradnja spomen-kompleksa Pavlu Đurišiću". Glas javnosti. 7 May 2002.
  74. ^ "Ministarka kulture zabranila podizanje spomenika Đurišiću". B92. 11 June 2003.
  75. ^ Sekulović, Milutin (10 June 2003). "Partizanski komandant, pa - vojvoda". Večernje novosti.
  76. ^ "Zabranjen skup za otkrivanje spomenika Đurišiću". B92. 4 July 2003.
  77. ^ "Zašto je crnogorskoj vlasti smetalo najavljeno otkrivanje spomenika u Gornjem Zaostru kod Berana?". Glas javnosti. 13 June 2003.
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  80. ^ Voloder, Vanda (12 July 2007). "Četnici bili u Srebrenici, ali policija nije reagirala". 24 sata.
  81. ^ Horvat, Karmen (13 July 2009). "Chetniks Urinate On Bosnia-Herzegovina Flag". Dalje.
  82. ^ "Sramotno: četničko orgijanje po Srebrenici i Bratuncu". Slobodna Dalamacija. 13 July 2009.
  83. ^ "Četnički simboli u Srebrenici". Index.hr. 13 July 2009.
  84. ^ "Controversial group in Srebrenica incident". B92. 13 July 2009.
  85. ^ "Incidenti u Srebrenici i Bratuncu: Četničko orgijanje ne zanima tužioce?". 24 sata. 7 August 2009.
  86. ^ "Paljenje zastave BiH: Nema kazni za četničko divljanje". 24 sata. 24 February 2010.
  87. ^ Chetniks "personae non gratae"
  88. ^ Gudžević, Sinan (18 June 2010). "Na kapi zvezda, u glavi kokarda". e-Novine.

Bibliography

  • Tomasevich, Jozo, War and Revolution in Yugoslavia: The Chetniks. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975
  • Milazzo, Matteo J., The Chetnik Movement and the Yugoslav Resistance. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975
  • Karchmar, Lucien. Draža Mihailović and the Rise of the Četnik Movement, 1941-1942. New York: Garland Pub., 1987.
  • Lees, Michael. The Rape of Serbia: The British Role in Tito's Grab for Power, 1943-1944. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991.
  • Martin, David. Ally Betrayed: The Uncensored Story of Tito and Mihailović. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1946.
  • Sipcic, Radoje. Vladimir "Vlado" Sipcic, The Last King's Soldier of the Kingdom Paris, FR: Integra; Beograd: Paris, 2004.
  • Martin, David. Patriot or Traitor: The Case of General Mihailović: Proceedings and Report of the Commission of Inquiry of the Committee for a Fair Trial for Draža Mihailović. Hoover Archival Documentaries. Hoover Institution Publication, Volume 191. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1978.
  • Martin, David. The Web of Disinformation: Churchill’s Yugoslav Blunder. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990.
  • Pavasovic, Mike "Cetniks, Heroes or Villains?" History Today, April, 1992
  • Roberts, Walter R. Tito, Mihailović, and the Allies, 1941–1945. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1973.
  • Trew, Simon. Britain, Mihailović, and the Chetniks, 1941–42. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin’s Press in association with King’s College, London, 1998.
  • Freeman, Gregory A. "The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All For the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II" NAL Hardcover 2007, ISBN 0451222121
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