Draža Mihailovic
Encyclopedia
Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović (Cyrillic script
: Драгољуб "Дража" Михаиловић; also known as "Uncle Draža"; 27 April 189317 July 1946) was a Yugoslav
Serbia
n general during World War II. A staunch royalist, he retreated to the mountains near Belgrade
when the Germans
overran Yugoslavia in April 1941 and there he organized bands of guerrillas known as the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army
. The organisation is commonly known as the Chetniks, although the name of the organisation was later changed to the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland
(JVUO, ЈВУО).
Founded as a royalist/nationalist Serbian resistance movement, it was the first Yugoslav resistance movement to be formed, followed shortly by the Partisans. Initially, the two groups operated in parallel, but by late 1941 began fighting each other in the attempt to gain control of the area following the end of the war. Many Chetnik groups collaborated
or established modus vivendi with Axis power
s. After the war, Mihailović was tried and convicted of high treason
and war crimes by the Yugoslav authorities, and executed by firing squad. The nature and extent of his responsibility for collaboration and ethnic massacres remain controversial.
, Kingdom of Serbia
, Mihailović was the son of a Court clerk
. Orphaned at seven, he was raised by his paternal uncle in Belgrade
. Both his uncles were military officers and he himself joined the Serbian military academy in October 1910. He fought as a cadet in the Balkan Wars
1912–1913. At the end of the First Balkan War
, he was awarded the Silver Medal of valor. At the end of the Second Balkan War
, during which he mainly led operations along the Albanian
border, he was given the rank of Second Lieutenant
as the top soldier in his class, ranked sixth at the Serbian military academy. He served in World War I
and together with the Serbian Army
marched through Albania
in 1915 during the long retreat. He later received several decorations for his achievements on the Salonica front. He was appointed to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes' Royal guard but had to leave his position in 1920 after taking part in a public argument between Communist and nationalist sympathizers. He was sent to Skopje
. In 1921, he was admitted to the Superior Military Academy of Belgrade. In 1923, having finished his studies, he was promoted as an assistant to the military staff, along with the fifteen other best alumni of his promotion. In 1930, he was made a Lieutenant Colonel
: that same year, he spent three months in Paris
, following classes at the École Militaire
. Some authors have asserted that he met and befriended Charles de Gaulle
during his stay, although there is no proof of this. He was appointed in 1935 in Sofia
, as a military attaché
to the Kingdom of Bulgaria
. On September 6, 1935, he achieved the rank of Colonel
. Mihailović then came in contact with members of Zveno
and considered taking part in a plot aiming to provoke Boris III
's abdication and set up an alliance between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, but, being untrained as a spy, he was soon identified by Bulgarian authorities and was asked to leave the country. He was then appointed as an attaché in Prague
, Czechoslovakia
.
His military career almost came to an abrupt end in 1937, when he submitted a report strongly criticizing the Yugoslav Royal Army's organization. Among his most important proposals were the idea of dividing the Yugoslav Royal Army along national lines, into (Serbs
, Croats
, and Slovenes), and the use of mobile Chetnik units along the borders. Milan Nedić
, Minister of the Army, was incensed by Mihailović's report and sentenced him to 30 days imprisonment. Afterwards, Mihailović was appointed as professor to Belgrade's staff college
. World War II
found Colonel Mihailović occupying a minor position of assistant to chief of staff of the Second Army. In the last years before World War II, he was stationed in Celje
, Slovenia
(then Drava Banovina
). In April 1941, he was chief of staff of the Yugoslav Second Army in northern Bosnia for a brief period, prior to taking over command of a "Rapid Unit" (brzi odred) shortly before the Yugoslav High Command capitulated to the Germans on April 17th, 1941.
and the country's defeat by Germany
in April 1941, a small group of officers and soldiers led by Mihailović escaped in the hope of finding Yugoslav army units still fighting in the mountains. Following skirmishes with Ustaze and Muslim band, and an attempt at sabotage, Mihailović and about 80 men crossed the Drina River on 29 April. Mihailović planned to establish an underground intelligence movement and establish contact with the Allies, though it is unclear if he initially envisioned to start an actual armed resistance movement.
For the time being, Mihailović established a small nucleus of officers with an armed guard, which he called the "Command of Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army". After arriving at Ravna Gora, Serbia
in early May, 1941, he realized that his group of seven officers and twenty four non-commissioned officers and soldiers was the only one. He began to draw up lists of conscripts and reservists for possible use. His men at Ravna Gora were joined by a group of civilians, mainly intellectuals of the Serb cultural club, who took charge of propaganda.
The Chetnik group
led by Kosta Pećanac
already in existence when the war in Yugoslavia broke out did not share Mihailović's desire for resistance. In order to distinguish his group and other groups calling themselves Chetniks, such as Nedic's followers, Mihailović and his followers identified themselves as the "Ravna Gora movement". The stated goal of the Chetniks was the liberation of the country from the occupying armies including mainly the forces of Nazi Germany
, Fascist Italy and the Ustaše
, the fascist regime of the Independent State of Croatia
.
Mihailović spent most of 1941 consolidating scattered army remnants and recruiting new forces. In August, Mihailović set up a civilian advisory body, the Central National Committee, composed of Serbian political leaders including some with strong nationalist views such as Dragiša Vasić and Stevan Moljević
. On June 19, a clandestine Chetnik courier reached Istanbul
, whence royalist Yugoslavs reported that Mihailović appeared to be organizing a resistance movement against Axis forces. Mihailović first established radio contact with the British in September 1941 when his radio operator raised a ship in the Mediterranean, and his first radio message to King Peter's government in exile announcing that he was organizing a resistance force formed of remnants of the Yugoslav army was received on September 13. He also received the help from officers in other areas of Yugoslavia, such as Slovene officer Rudolf Perinhek, who brought reports on the situation in Montenegro. Mihailović sent him back to Montenegro with written authorization to organize units there, and with oral approvals for other officers like Đorđe Lasić and Pavle Đurišić. He only gave vague and contradictory orders to Perinhek, mentioning the need to put off civil strife and to "remove enemies."
Mihailović's strategy was to avoid direct conflict with the Axis forces, intending to rise up after Allied forces arrived in Yugoslavia. Mihailović's Chetniks had had defensive encounters with the Germans, but reprisals and the tales of the massacres in the Independent State of Croatia
made them reluctant to engage directly in armed struggle, except against the Ustaše
at the border. In the meantime, following the invasion of the Soviet Union
, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia led by Tito
also went into action and called in July for an insurrection against the occupiers, setting up their armed force which came to be known as the Partisans. At the end of August, Chetniks and Partisans both came into action, sometimes jointly despite their mutual diffidence, capturing prisoners. But Mihailović discouraged sabotage due to German reprisals (such as more than 3,000 killed in Kraljevo
and Kragujevac
) unless some great gain could be accomplished; instead, he favored sabotage that could not easily be traced. His reluctance to engage in more active resistance meant that most sabotage carried out in the early period of the war were due to efforts by the Partisans, and Mihailović lost several commanders and a number of followers who wished to fight the Germans to the Partisan movement.
Even though Mihailović initially asked for discreet support, propaganda from the British and from the Yugoslav government in exile quickly began to exalt his feats. The creation of a resistance movement in occupied Europe was received as a morale booster. On November 15, the BBC
announced that Mihailović was the commander of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, which became the Chetniks' official name.
On September 19, Tito met with Mihailović to negotiate an alliance between the Partisans and Chetniks
, but they failed to reach an agreement as the disparity of the aims of their respective movements was great enough to preclude any real compromise. Tito was in favor of a joint full-scale offensive, while Mihailović considered a general uprising to be premature and dangerous, as he deemed it would trigger reprisals. For his part, Tito's goal was to prevent an assault from the rear by the Chetniks, as he was convinced that Mihailović was playing a "double game", maintaining contacts with German forces via the Nedic government. Mihailović was in contact with Nedic's government, receiving monetary aid via Col Popovic. On the other hand, Mihailović sought to prevent Tito from assuming the leadership role in the resistance, as Tito's goals were counter to his goal was the restoration of the Yugoslavian Monarchy and the establishment of a Greater Serbia. Further talks were scheduled for October 16.
At the end of September, the Germans launched a massive offensive against both Partisans and Chetniks
.
A joint British-Yugoslav intelligence mission, quickly assembled by the Special Operations Executive
and led by Captain D. T. Hudson had arrived on the Montenegrin coast on the 22nd of September, whence they had made their way with the help of Montenegrin Partisans to their headquarters, and then on to Tito's headquarters at Uzice. and arrived on or around October 25. Hudson reported that earlier promises of supplies made by the British to Mihailovic contributed to the poor relationship between Mihailovic and Tito, as Mihailovic correctly believed that no one outside of Yugoslavia knew about the Partisan movement, and felt that "the time was ripe for drastic action against the Communists"
Tito and Mihailović met again on October 27, 1941 in the town of Brajići near Ravna Gora
in an attempt to achieve an understanding, but found consensus only on secondary issues. Immediately following the meeting, Mihailovic began preparations for an attack on the Partisans, delaying the attack only for lack of arms. Mihailovic reported to his government in exile that he believed occupation of Užice, the location of a gun factory, was required to prevent strengthening of the Communists. On October 28, two Chetnik liaison officers approached first Nedic and later that day German officer Josef Matl of the Armed Forces Liaison Office, with an offer of Mihailovic's services in the struggle against the Partisans in exchange for weapons. This offer was relayed to the German General in charge of Serbia, and a meeting was proposed by the German for November 3. On November 1, the Chetniks attacked the Partisans' headquarters at Užice
, but were beaten back. On November 3, 1941 Milhailovic postponed the proposed meeting with the German officers until November 11 citing the "general conflict" in which the Chetniks and Partisans were engaged requiring his presence at his headquarters. The meeting, organized through one of Mihailović's representatives in Belgrade, took place between the Chetnik leader and an Abwehr
official, although it remains controversial if the initiative came from the Germans, from Mihailović himself, or from his liaison officer in Belgrade. It appears that Mihailović offered to cease activities in the towns and along the major communication lines, but ultimately no agreement was reached at the time due to German demands for the complete surrender of the Chetniks, and the German's belief that the Chetniks were likely to attack them despite Mihailović's offer. After the negotiations, an attempt was made by the Germans to arrest Mihailović. Mihailović carefully kept the negotiations with the Germans secret from the Yugoslav government-in-exile, as well as from the British and their representative Hudson.
Milhailović's assault on the Partisan headquarters at Užice and Pozega failed, and the Partisans mounted a rapid counter attack. Within two weeks, the Partisan forces repelled the Chetnik advances and surrounded Milhailović's headquarters at Ravna Gora. Due to the loss of troops from clashes with Germans, the loss of approximately one thousand troops and considerable equipment in the attack against the Partisans, and having received only one small delivery of arms from the British in early November, and having been unsuccessful in convincing the German to provide him with supplies, Mihailović found himself in a desperate situation.
In mid November, the Germans began an offensive against the Partisans, Operation Western Morava, which bypassed Chetnik forces. Having been unable to quickly overcome the Chetniks forces, faced with reports that the British considered Milhailović as the leader of the resistance, and under pressure from the German offensive, Tito approached Milhailović with an offer to negotiate which resulted in talks which led to an armistice between the two groups on November 20 or 21st. Tito and Mihailović had one last phone conversation on November 28; Tito announced that he would defend his positions, while Mihailović said that he would disperse. On November 30 Milhailović's unit leaders decided to join the "legalized" Chetniks under General Nedic's command, in order to be able to continue the fight against the Partisans without risk from the Germans and to avoid compromising Mihailovic's relationship with the British. Evidence suggests that Milhailović did not order this, but rather only sanctioned the decision. About 2-3,000 of Mihailović's men actually enlisted in this capacity within the Nedić regime. The legalization allowed his men to have a salary and an alibi provided by the collaborationist administration, while it provided the Nedić regime with more men to fight the communists, although under the control of the Germans. Mihailović also considered that he could, using this method, infiltrate the Nedić administration, which was soon fraught with sympathizers of his "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland". While this arrangement was different than all-out collaboration like Kosta Pećanac
's, it caused much confusion over who and what the Chetniks were. Others of Mihailović's men crossed to Bosnia to fight the Ustaše
, while most abandoned the struggle. Throughout November, the Mihailović's forces had been under pressure from German forces, and on December 3rd, the Germans issues orders for Operation Mihailović, an attack against Mihailović forces in Ravna Gora. The day before the attack, December 5th, Mihailović was warned by contacts serving under Nedić of the impending attack, and Mihailović closed down his radio transmitter on December 5 in order not to give the Germans hints of his whereabouts, dispersed his command and the remainder of his forces. The remnants of his Chetniks retreated to the hills of Ravna Gora
, but were under German attack throughout December, Mihailović narrowly avoiding capture. On December 10, a bounty was put on his head.
, using Mihailović's transmitter. In May, the British resumed their help to the Chetniks, although only to a small extent, with a single airdrop on 30 March. Mihailović left for Montenegro, arriving there on the first on June. He established his headquarters there and, on June 10, was formally appointed as Chief of staff of the Supreme command of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland. The Partisans, in the meantime, insisted to the Soviets that Mihailović was a traitor and a collaborator, and should be condemned as such. The Soviets initially saw no need for it, and their propaganda kept supporting Mihailović. Eventually, on July 6, 1942, the station Radio Free Yugoslavia, located in the Comintern
building in Moscow, broadcast a resolution from Yugoslav "patriots" in Montenegro and Bosnia labeling Mihailović a collaborator.
In Montenegro, Mihailović had found a complex situation, with local Chetnik leaders Stanišić and Đurišić having reached arrangements with the Italians, and cooperating with them against the communist-led Partisans. Mihailović later claimed at his trial in 1946 that he was unaware of these arrangements prior to his arrival in Montenegro, and had to accept them once he arrived, as Stanišić and Đurišić acknowledged him as their leader in name only and would only follow Mihailovic's orders if they supported their interests. Mihailović believed that Italian military intelligence was better informed than he of the activities of his commanders. He tried to make the best of the situation, and accepted the appointment of Blažo Đukanović as the figurehead commander of "nationalist forces" in Montenegro. While Mihailović approved the destruction of communist forces, he aimed to exploit the connections of Chetniks commanders with the Italians to get food, arms and ammunition in the expectation of an Allied landing. On 1 December, Pavle Đurišić organised a "Youth conference" of Chetnik units at Šahovići. At the Chetnik congress, which according to Stevan K.Pavlović expressed "extremism and intolerance", nationalist claims were made on parts of Albania
, Bulgaria
, Romania
and Italy, while the resolutions posited the restoration of a monarchy with a period of transitional Chetnik dictatorship. Mihailović and Đukanović did not attend the event, which was entirely dominated by Đurišić, but they sent representatives.
In the Independent State of Croatia
, Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin
, a leader of pre-world war II Chetnik organizations, commanded the Chetniks in Dalmatia
, Lika
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
. He led a "nationalist" resistance against Partisans and Ustaše
and acknowledged Mihailović as formal leader, but acted on his own, with his troops being used by the Italians as the local Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia
(MVAC). Italian commander Mario Roatta
aimed to spare Italian lives, but also to counter Ustaše and Germans, to undermine Mihailović's authority among the Chetniks by playing up local leaders, and to have possible links with Mihailović and the Allies in case the Axis lost the war. Chetniks, led by Dobroslav Jevđević, came from Montenegro to help Bosnia's Serb population against the Ustaše. They murdered and pillaged in Foča
until the Italians intervened in August. Help was also asked of the Italians by Chetniks for protection against the Ustaše's retributions. On 22 July, Mihailović met with Trifunović-Birčanin, Jevđević, and his newly-appointed delegate in Herzegovina Petar Baćović. The meeting was supposedly secret, but was known to Italian intelligence; Mihailović gave no precise orders but expressed his confidence in both his subordinates, adding, according to Italian reports, that he was waiting for help from the Allies to start a real guerrilla campaign, in order to spare Serb lives. Summoned by Roatta upon their return, Trifunović-Birčanin and Jevđević assured the Italian commander that Mihailović was merely a "moral head" and that they would not attack Italians, even if he should give such an order.
Having become more and more concerned with domestic enemies and concerned that he be in a position to control Yugoslavia after the Allies defeated the Axis occupation, Mihailović concentrated from Montenegro on directing operations, in the various parts of Yugoslavia, mostly against Partisans, but also against Ustaše
and Dimitrije Ljotić
's Serbian Volunteer Corps. During the autumn of 1942 at the request of the British Mihailović's organization undertook a series of sabotages against the railway lines used to supply Axis forces in the Western Desert In September and December, Mihailović's actions damaged the Serbian railway system seriously; the Allies gave him credit for inconveniencing Axis forces and contributing to their successes in Africa. Early in September 1942, Mihailović called through leaflets and clandestine radio transmitters from civil disobedience against the collaborationist Serbian regime of Milan Nedić
; fighting resulted between Chetniks and followers of the Nedić regime. The Germans, whom the Serbian administration had called for help against Mihailović, responded to Nedić's request and to the sabotages with mass terror, and attacked the Chetniks in late 1942 and early 1943. Roberts mentions Nedić's request for help as the main reason for German action, and does not mention the sabotage campaign. Pavlović, on the other hand, mentions the sabotages as simultaneous with the propaganda actions. Thousands of arrests were made and during December, 1,600 Chetnik combatants were killed in German reprisals. In response to these actions, Mihailović abandoned the active resistance to the Germans begun that summer and reverted to his previous strategy of avoiding open conflict and waiting for an Allied landing.
Mihailović had great difficulties controlling his local commanders, who often did not have radio contacts and relied on couriers to communicate. He was, however, apparently actually aware that many Chetnik groups were committing crimes against civilians and acts of ethnic cleansing
; according to Stevan K.Pavlović, Pavle Đurišić proudly reported to Mihailović that he had destroyed Muslim villages, in retribution against acts committed by Muslim militias. While Mihailović apparently did not order such acts himself, and disapproved of them, he also failed to take any action against them, being dependent on various armed groups whose policy he could neither denounce nor condone. He also hid the situation from the British and the Royal Yugoslav government-in-exile. Many terror acts were committed by Chetnik groups against their various enemies, real or perceived, reaching a peak between October 1942 and February 1943.
Chetnik ideology encompassed the notion of a Greater Serbia, to be achieved by forcing population shifts in order to create ethnically homogeneous areas. Partly due to this ideology and partly in response to violent actions undertaken by Ustasha and Muslim forces attached to them, Chetniks forces engaged in numerous acts of violence including massacres and destruction of property, and used terror tactics to drive out non-Serb groups.
Mihailović's role in such actions is unclear as there is "...no definite evidence that [he] himself ever called for ethnic cleansing. Instructions to his Montenegrin subordinates commanders, Lasic and Djurisic, which prescribe cleansing actions of non-Serb elements in order to create a Great Serbia have been attributed to Mihailović by some historians, but some historians argue that the document was a forgery made by Djurišić after he failed to reach Mihailović in December of 1941 after the latter was driven out of Ravna Gora by German forces. It is important to note that if a forgery, the document was forged by Chetniks hoping it would be taken as a legitimate order, not by their opponents seeking to discredit the Chetniks. The objectives outlined in the directive were:
Whether or not the instructions were forged, Mihailović was certainly aware of both the ideological goal of cleansing and of the violent acts taken to accomplish that goal. Stevan Moljević worked out the basics of the Chetnik program while at Ravna Gora in the summer of 1941, and Mihailović sent representatives to Conference of Young Chetnik Intellectuals of Montenegro where the basic formulations were expanded. Djurišić played the dominate role at this conference. Relations between Djurišić and Milhailovic were strained, and although Mihailovic did not participate, neither did he take any action to counter it. At his trial in 1946, Mihailović claimed that he never ordered the destruction of Croate and Muslim villages, and some of his subordinates hid such activities from him, but Djurišić, for example, boasted of his actions to Mihailović after leading actions to destroy Muslim villages.
On November 15, 1942, Captain Hudson cabled to Cairo that the situation was problematic, that opportunities for large-scale sabotage were not exploited because of Mihailović's willingness to avoid reprisals and that, while waiting for an Allied landing and victory, the Chetnik leader might come to "any sound understanding with either Italians or Germans which he believed might serve his purposes without compromising him", in order to defeat the communists. In December, Major Peter Boughey, a member of SOE
's London staff, insisted to Zivan Knežević, member of the Yugoslav cabinet, that Mihailović was a Quisling
, who was openly collaborating with the Italians. The Foreign Office called Boughey's declarations "blundering" but the British were worried about the situation and Mihailović's inactivity. A British senior officer, Colonel S. W. Bailey, was then sent to Mihailović and was parachuted into Montenegro on Christmas Day. His mission was to gather information and to see if Mihailović had carried out necessary sabotages against railroads. During the following months, the British's efforts concentrated on having Mihailović stop Chetnik collaboration with Axis forces and perform the expected actions against the occupiers, but they were not successful.
In January 1943, the SOE
reported to Churchill that Mihailović's subordinate commanders had made local arrangements with Italian authorities, although there was no evidence that Mihailović himself had ever dealt with the Germans. The report concluded that, while aid to Mihailović was as necessary as ever, it would be advisable to extend assistance to other resistance groups and to try to reunite the Chetniks and the Partisans. British liaison officers reported in February that Mihailović had "at no time" been in touch with the Germans, but that his forces had been in some instances aiding the Italians against the Partisans (the report was simultaneous with the Third anti-Partisan Offensive
). Bailey reported that Mihailović was increasingly dissatisfied with the insufficient help he was receiving from the British. Mihailović's movement had been so inflated by British propaganda that the liaison officers found the reality decidedly below expectations.
On January 3, 1943, just before the battle of the Neretva, an Axis conference was held in Rome, attended by German commander Alexander Löhr
, representatives of the Independent State of Croatia
, and by Dobroslav Jevđević who, this time, collaborated openly with the Axis forces against the Partisans, and had gone to the conference without Mihailović's knowledge. Mihailović disapproved of Jevđević's presence and reportedly sent him an angry message, but his actions were limited to announcing that Jevđević's military award would be withdrawn.
On February 28, 1943, in Bailey's presence, Mihailović addressed his troops in Lipovo
. Bailey reported that Mihailović had expressed his bitterness over "perfidious Albion" who expected the Serbs to fight to the last drop of blood without giving them any means to do so, had said that the Serbs were completely friendless, that the British were holding King Peter II and his government as virtual prisoners, and that he would keep accepting help from the Italians as long as it would give him the means to annihilate the Partisans. Also according to Bailey's report, he added that his enemies were the Ustaše, the Partisans, the Croats and the Muslims and that only after dealing with them would he turn to the Germans and the Italians.
While defenders of Mihailović have argued that Bailey had mistranslated the speech, and may have even done so intentionally, the effect on the British was disastrous and marked the beginning of the end for British-Chetnik cooperation. The British officially protested to the Yugoslav government-in-exile and demanded explanations regarding Mihailović's attitude and collaboration with the Italians. Mihailović answered to his government that he had had no meetings with Italian generals and that Jevđjević had no command to do so. The British announced that they would send him more abundant supplies. Also in early 1943, the tone of the BBC broadcasts became more and more favorable to the Partisans, describing them as the only resistance movement in Yugoslavia - Bailey complained to the Foreign Office that his position with Mihailović was being prejudiced by this - and occasionally attributing to them resistance acts actually undertaken by the Chetniks. The Foreign Office protested and the BBC apologized, but the line did not really change.
In May, the German intelligence service also tried to establish a contact with Mihailović to see if an alliance against the Partisans was possible. In Kolašin
, they met with a Chetnik officer, who did not introduce himself. They assumed they had met Mihailović himself, but the man was possibly not the general, whom Bailey reported to be in another area at the same period. The German command, however, reacted strongly against any attempt at "negotiating with the enemy".
The Germans then turned to their next operation, code-named Schwarz, and attacked the Montenegrin Chetniks. Pavle Đurišić appears to have suggested to Mihailović a short-term cooperation with the Germans against the Partisans, something Mihailović refused. Đurišić ended up defending his headquarters at Kolašin against the Partisans. On 14 May, the Germans entered Kolašin and captured Đurišić, while Mihailović escaped.
In late May, after regaining control of most of Montenegro, the Italians turned their efforts against the Chetniks, at least against Mihailović's forces, and put a reward of half a million lire for the capture of Mihailović, and one million for the capture of Tito.
Mihailović returned to Serbia and his movement rapidly recovered its dominance in the region. Receiving more weapons from the British, he undertook a series of actions and sabotages, disarmed Serbian State Guard detachments and skirmished with Bulgarian
troops, though he generally avoided the Germans, considering that his troops were not yet strong enough. In Serbia, his organization controlled the mountains where the occupation troops were absent. The collaborationist Serbian administration was largely infiltrated by his men, many Serbian State Guard troops being actually sympathetic to the "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland". After the defeat on the Neretva, Mihailović tried to improve his organization. Dragiša Vasić, the movement's ideologue who had opposed the Italian connection and clashed with Mihailović, left the supreme command. Mihailović tried to extend his contacts to Croats and traditional parties, and to revitalise his contacts in Slovenia. The United States
sent liaison officers to join Bailey's mission with Mihailovic, while also sending men to Tito. The Germans, in the meantime, became worried by the Partisans' growing strength and made local arrangements with Chetnik groups, though not with Mihailović himself. According to Walter R. Roberts, there is "little doubt" that Mihailović was aware of these arrangements and that he might have regarded them as the lesser of two evils, his primary aim being to defeat the Partisans.
From the beginning of 1943, British impatience with Mihailović grew. From the decrypts of German wireless messages, Churchill and his government concluded that the Chetniks' collaboration with the Italians went beyond what was acceptable and that the Partisans were doing the most severe damage to the Axis.
With Italy's withdrawal in September 1943, the Chetniks in Montenegro found themselves under attack by both the Germans and the Partisans, who took control of large parts of Montenegrin territory, including the former "Chetnik capital" of Kolašin. Pavle Đurišić, having escaped from a German camp in Galicia, found his way to Yugoslavia, was captured again, and was then asked by collaborationist prime minister Milan Nedić to form a Montenegrin Volunteer Corps
against the Partisans. He was pledged to Nedić, but also made a secret allegiance to Mihailović. Both Mihailović and Đurišić expected a landing by the Western Allies
. In Serbia, Mihailović was considered the representative of the victorious Allies. In the chaotic situation created by Italian surrender, several Chetnik leaders overtly collaborated with the Germans against the reinforced Partisans; approached by an Abwehr agent, Dobroslav Jevđević offered the services of about 5,000 men. Momčilo Đujić also went to the Germans for cover against Ustaše and Partisans, although he was distrusted. In October 1943, Mihailovic, at the Allies' request, agreed to undertake two sabotage operations, which had the effect of making him even more of a wanted man and forced him, according to British reports, to change his headquarters frequently.
By November and December 1943, the Germans had realized that Tito was their most dangerous opponent; German representative Hermann Neubacher
managed to conclude secret arrangements with four of Mihailović's commanders for the cessation of hostilities for periods of five to ten weeks. The Germans interpreted this as a sign of weakness from the Mihailović movement. The truces were kept secret, but came to the knowledge of the British through decrypts. There is no evidence that Mihailović had been involved or approved, though British Military Intelligence found it possible that he was "conniving".
The British were more and more concerned about the fact that the Chetniks were more willing to fight Partisans than Axis troops. At the third Moscow Conference
in October 1943, Anthony Eden
expressed impatience about Mihailović's lack of action. The report of Fitzroy MacLean, liaison officer to the Partisans, convinced Churchill that Tito's forces were the most reliable resistance group. The report of Charles Armstrong, liaison officer to Mihailović, arrived too late for Anthony Eden to take it to the Tehran Conference
in late November 1943, though Stevan K.Pavlowitch thinks that it would probably been insufficient to change Churchill's mind. At Tehran, Churchill argued in favor of the Partisans, while Joseph Stalin
expressed limited interest but agreed that they should receive the greatest possible support.
On December 10, Churchill met King Peter II in London and told him that he possessed irrefutable proofs of Mihailović's collaboration with the enemy and that Mihailović should be eliminated from the Yugoslav cabinet. Also in early December, Mihailovic was asked to undertake an important sabotage mission against railways, which was later interpreted as a "final opportunity" to redeem himself. However, possibly not realizing how Allied policy had evolved, he failed to give the go-ahead. On January 12, 1944, the SOE
in Cairo sent a report to the Foreign Office, saying that Mihailović's commanders had collaborated with Germans and Italians, and that Mihailović himself had condoned and in certain cases approved their actions. This hastened the British's decision to withdraw their thirty liaison officers to Mihailović. The mission was effectively withdrawn in Spring 1944. In April, one month before leaving, liaison officer Armstrong noted that Mihailović had been mostly active in propaganda against the Axis, that he had missed numerous occasions for sabotage in the last six or eight months and that the efforts of many Chetnik leaders to follow Mihailović's orders for inactivity had evolved in non-aggression pacts with Axis troops, although the mission had no evidence of collaboration with the enemy.
In the meantime, Mihailović tried to improve the organization of his movement. On 25 January 1944, with the help of Živko Topalović
, he organized in Ba, a village near Ravna Gora
, a Chetnik meeting also meant to remove the shadow of the previous congress held in Montenegro. The congress was attended by 274 people, representing various parties, and aimed to be a reaction against the arbitrary behaviour of some commanders; the organization of a new, democratic, possibly federal, Yugoslavia, was mentioned, though the proposals remained vague, and an appeal was even made the Communist Party of Yugoslavia to join. The Chetnik command structure was formally reorganized. Pavle Đurišić was still in charge of Montenegro and Momčilo Đujić of Dalmatia
, but Dobroslav Jevđević was excluded. Germans and Bulgarians reacted to the congress by conducting in February an operation against the Chetniks in northern Serbia, killing 80 and capturing 913.
After May and the withdrawal of the British mission, Mihailović kept transmitting radio messages to the Allies and to his government, but no longer received replies. In July and August, he ordered the rescue of about 250 downed allied airmen. Several Yugoslavs were also evacuated, along with Topalović; they tried to raise more support abroad for Mihailović's movement, but this came too late to reverse allied policy. The United States also sent an intelligence mission to Mihailović in March, but withdrew it after Churchill advised Roosevelt that all support should go to Tito and that "complete chaos" would ensue if the Americans also backed Mihailović.
In July, Ivan Šubašić
formed the new Yugoslav government in exile, which did not include Mihailović as Minister. Mihailović, however, remained the official chief of staff of the Yugoslav Army. On August 29, upon the recommendation of his government, King Peter II dissolved by royal decree the Supreme Command, therefore abolishing Mihailović's post. On September 12, King Peter II broadcast a message from London, announcing the gist of August 29's decree and calling upon all Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to "join the National Liberation Army under the leadership of Marshal Tito". He also proclaimed that he strongly condemned "the misuse of the name of the King and the authority of the Crown by which an attempt has been made to justify collaboration with the enemy". Though the King did not mention Mihailović, it was clear who he meant. According to his own account, Peter II had obtained after strenuous talks with the British not to say a word directly against Mihailović. The message had a devastating effect on the morale of the Chetniks. Many men left Mihailović after the broadcast; others remained out of loyalty to him.
's Red Army
arrived on the eastern borders of Yugoslavia. In early September, it invaded the Kingdom of Bulgaria
and coerced it into turning against the Axis. Mihailović's Chetniks, meanwhile, were so badly armed to resist the Partisans' incursions in Serbia that some of Mihailović's officers, including Nikola Kalabić, met German officers to try to work out a meeting with Hermann Neubacher
and obtain his support. Milan Nedić
, in turn, apparently picked up the idea and suggested forming an army of united anti-communist forces; he arranged a secret meeting with Mihailović, which apparently took place around 20 August. From the existing accounts, they met in a dark room and Mihailović remained mostly silent, so Nedić was not even sure afterwards that he had actually met the real Mihailović. According to British official Stephen Clissold, Mihailović was initially very reluctant to go to the meeting, but was finally convinced by Kalabić. It appears that Nedić offered to obtain arms from the Germans, and to place his Serbian State Guard under Mihailović's command, possibly as part of an attempt to switch sides as Germany was losing the war. Neubacher favored the idea, but it was vetoed by Hitler, who saw this as an attempt to establish an "English fifth column" in Serbia. According to Stevan K.Pavlowitch, Mihailović, who was reportedly not enthusiastic about the proposal, and Nedić might have been trying to "exploit each other's predicaments", while Nedić may have considered letting Mihailović "take over". At the end of August, Mihailović also met an OSS
mission, headed by Colonel Robert McDowell, who stayed with him until November.
As the Red Army approached, Mihailović thought that the outcome of war would depend on Turkey
entering the conflict, followed at last by an Allied incursion in the Balkans. He called upon all Yugoslavs to remain faithful to the King, and claimed that Peter II had sent him a message telling him not to believe what he had heard on the radio about his dismissal. His troops started to break up outside Serbia in Mid-August, as he tried to reach to Muslim and Croat leaders for a national uprising. However, whatever his intentions, he proved to have little attraction for non-Serbs. Đurišić, while leading his Montenegrin volunteer corps, who were related on paper to Dimitrije Ljotić
's forces, accepted once again Mihailović's command. Mihailović ordered a general mobilization on September 1; his troops were engaged against the Germans and the Bulgarians, while also under attack by the Partisans. The Partisans penetrated Chetnik territory, fighting a difficult battle and ultimately defeating Mihailović's main force by October. On 6 October, what was left of Nedić's troops openly joined Mihailović. In the meantinme, the Red Army initially found no Partisans while entering from Romania and Bulgaria; they briefly cooperated with the Chetniks against retreating Germans, before disarming the Chetniks. Mihailović sent a delegation to the Soviet command, but his representatives were ignored, and ultimately arrested. Mihailović's movement collapsed in Serbia under the attacks of Soviets, Partisans, Bulgarians and the fights with the retreating Germans. Still hoping for a landing by the Western Allies, he headed for Bosnia with his staff, McDowell and a force of a few hundreds. He set up a few Muslim units and appointed Croat Major Matija Parac as the head of an as yet non-existent Croatian Chetnik army. Nedić himself had fled to Austria. On 25 May 1945, he wrote to general Eisenhower
, asserting that he had always been a secret ally of Mihailović.
Now hoping for US support, Mihailović met a small British mission between the Neretva river and Dubrovnik, but realized that it wasn't the signal of the hoped-for landing. McDowell was evacuated on 1 November and was instructed to offer Mihailović the opportunity to leave with him. Mihailović refused, as he wanted to remain until the expected change of Western Allied policy. During the next weeks, the British government also raised the possibility of evacuating Mihailović by arranging a "rescue and honorable detention", and discussed the matter with the United States. In the end, no action was taken. In January 1945, Mihailović tried to regroup his forces on the Ozren
heights, planning Muslim, Croatian and Slovenian units. His troops were, however, decimated and worn out, some selling their weapons and ammunition, or pillaging the local population. Đurišić joined Mihailović, with his own depleted forces, and found out that Mihailović had no plan. Đurišić went his own way, and was killed on 12 April in a battle with the Ustaše.
On March 17, 1945, Mihailović was visited in Bosnia by German emissary Stärker, who requested that Mihailović transmit to the Allied headquarters in Italy a secret German offer of capitulation. Mihailović transmitted the message, which was to be his last. Dimitrije Ljotić
and several independent Chetnik leaders in Istria
proposed the forming of a common anti-communist front in the north-western coast, which could be acceptable to the Western Allies. Mihailović was not in favor of such a heterogeneous gathering, but did not reject Ljotić's proposal entirely, since the littoral area would be a convenient place to meet the Western Allies, and to join Slovene anti-communists, while Germany's collapse might make an anti-communist alliance possible. He authorized the departure of all who wanted to go, but few Chetniks ultimately arrived on the coast, with many being decimated on their way by Ustaše, Partisans, sickness and hunger. On 13 April, Mihailović set out for northern Bosnia, on a 280 km-long march back to Serbia, aiming to start over a resistance movement, this time against the communists. His units were decimated by clashes with Ustaša, with Tito's forces, as well as dissension and typhus
. On 10 May, they were under attack by the Yugoslav People's Army
, successor to the Partisans. Mihailović managed to escape with 1,000 to 2,000 men, who gradually dispersed. Mihailović himself went into hiding in the mountains with a handful of men.
The trial of Draža Mihailović
opened on 10 June 1946. His co-defendants were other prominent figures of the Chetnik movement as well as members of the Yugoslav government-in-exile, such as Slobodan Jovanović
, who were tried in absentia, but also members of ZBOR
and of the Nedić regime. The main prosecutor was Miloš Minić
, later Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Yugoslav government. Mihailović appeared physically and intellectually weakened, possibly by torture
. His answers were often incoherent. The Allied airmen he had rescued in 1944 were not allowed to testify in his favor. Mihailović evaded several questions by accusing some of his subordinates of incompetence and disregard of his orders. The trial shows, according to Jozo Tomasevich, that he had never firm and full control over his local commanders. A committee for the fair trial of General Mihailovic was set up in the United States, but to no avail. Mihailović is quoted as saying, in his final statement, "I wanted much; I began much; but the gale of the world carried away me and my work.".
Roberts considers that the trial was "anything but a model of justice" and that "it is clear that Mihailović was not guilty of all, or even many, of the charges brought against him" though Tito would probably not have had a fair trial either, had Mihailović prevailed. Mihailović was convicted of high treason
and war crimes, and executed 17 July 1946. He was executed together with nine other officers in Lisičiji Potok, about 200 meters from the former Royal Palace. His body was reportedly covered with lime and the position of his unmarked grave was kept secret.
Political views of Mihailović cover a wide range. After the war, Mihailović's wartime role was viewed in the light of his movement's collaboration, particularly in Yugoslavia where he was considered a collaborator convicted of high treason
. Charles de Gaulle
considered Mihailović a "pure hero", while Winston Churchill
stated he considered intelligence reports had shown that Mihailović had engaged "...in active collaboration with the Germans". In the United States, due to the efforts of Major Richard L. Felman
and his friends, President Harry S. Truman
, on the recommendation of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
, posthumously awarded Mihailović the Legion of Merit
for the rescue of American airmen by the Chetniks. The award and the story of the rescue was classified secret by the State Department so as not to offend the Yugoslav government.
Almost sixty years after his death, on 29 March 2005, Draža Mihailović's daughter, Gordana, was presented with the posthumous decoration by president George W. Bush
. The decision was controversial; in Croatia
Zoran Pusić, head of the Civil Committee for Human Rights, protested against the decision and stated that Mihailović was directly responsible for the war crimes committed by the Chetniks.
With the breakup of Yugoslavia and the renewal of ethnic nationalism, the historical perception of Mihailović's collaboration has been challenged by parts of the public in Serbia
and other ethnic Serb
-populated regions of Yugoslavia. In the 1980s, political and economic problems within Yugoslavia undermined faith in the communist regime, and historians in SR Serbia began a re-evaluation of current historiography and a rehabilitation of Mihailović and the Chetniks. In the 1990s, during the Yugoslav Wars
, several Serbian nationalist groups began calling themselves "Chetniks", while Serb paramilitaries often self-identified with them and were referred to as such. Vojislav Šešelj
's Serbian Radical Party
formed the White Eagles
, a paramilitary group considered responsible for war crimes and ethnic cleansing, which identified with the Chetniks. Vuk Drašković
's Serbian Renewal Movement
was closely associated with the Serbian Guard
, which was also associated with Chetniks and monarchism. Reunions of Chetnik survivors and nostalgics and of Mihailović admirers have been held in Serbia By the late 20th and early 21st century, Serbian history textbooks and academic works characterized Milhailović and the Chetniks as "fighters for a just cause", and Chetnik massacres of civilians and commission of war crimes were ignored or barely mentioned. In 2004 Mihailovic was officially rehabilitated in Serbia by an act of the Serbian Parliament.
The revised image of Mihailović is not shared in non-Serbian post-Yugoslav nations. In Croatia
and Bosnia and Herzegovina
analogies are drawn between war crimes committed during World War II and those of the Yugoslav wars, and Mihailović is "seen as a war criminal responsible for ethnic cleansing and genocidal massacres." The differences were illustrated in 2004, when a Serbian basketball player, Milan Gurović, who has a tattoo of Mihailović on his left arm, was banned by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior Zlatko Mehun from traveling to Croatia for refusing to cover the tattoo, as its display was deemed equivalent to "provoking hatred or violence because of racial background, national identity or religious affiliation." Serbian press and politicians reacted to the ban with surprise and indignation, while in Croatia the decision was seen as "wise and a means of protecting the player himself against his own stupidity."
In 2009, a Serb group based in Chicago offered a reward of $100,000.00 for help finding Mihailovic's grave. A commission formed by the Serbian government began an investigation and in 2010 suggested Mihailovic may have been interred at
Ada Ciganlija.
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
: Драгољуб "Дража" Михаиловић; also known as "Uncle Draža"; 27 April 189317 July 1946) was a Yugoslav
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n general during World War II. A staunch royalist, he retreated to the mountains near Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
when the Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
overran Yugoslavia in April 1941 and there he organized bands of guerrillas known as the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army
Chetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
. The organisation is commonly known as the Chetniks, although the name of the organisation was later changed to the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland
Chetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
(JVUO, ЈВУО).
Founded as a royalist/nationalist Serbian resistance movement, it was the first Yugoslav resistance movement to be formed, followed shortly by the Partisans. Initially, the two groups operated in parallel, but by late 1941 began fighting each other in the attempt to gain control of the area following the end of the war. Many Chetnik groups collaborated
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
or established modus vivendi with Axis power
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
s. After the war, Mihailović was tried and convicted of high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
and war crimes by the Yugoslav authorities, and executed by firing squad. The nature and extent of his responsibility for collaboration and ethnic massacres remain controversial.
Early life and military career
Born in IvanjicaIvanjica
Ivanjica is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of Serbia. The population of the town is 11,810, while population of the municipality is 32,047....
, Kingdom of Serbia
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia was created when Prince Milan Obrenović, ruler of the Principality of Serbia, was crowned King in 1882. The Principality of Serbia was ruled by the Karađorđevic dynasty from 1817 onwards . The Principality, suzerain to the Porte, had expelled all Ottoman troops by 1867, de...
, Mihailović was the son of a Court clerk
Court clerk
A court clerk is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining the records of a court. Another duty is to administer oaths to witnesses, jurors, and grand jurors...
. Orphaned at seven, he was raised by his paternal uncle in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. Both his uncles were military officers and he himself joined the Serbian military academy in October 1910. He fought as a cadet in the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
1912–1913. At the end of the First Balkan War
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success...
, he was awarded the Silver Medal of valor. At the end of the Second Balkan War
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...
, during which he mainly led operations along the Albanian
Provisional Government of Albania
The Provisional Government of Albania is the first Government created by Assembly of Vlorë in 4 December 1912. It was a paternal government, led by Ismail Qemali, until his resignation in 22 January 1914 and by Fejzi Bej Alizoti, until the coronation of William, Prince of Albania.- Government...
border, he was given the rank of Second Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
as the top soldier in his class, ranked sixth at the Serbian military academy. He served in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and together with the Serbian Army
Serbian Army
-Objectives:The Serbian Army is responsible for:* deterring armed threats* defending Serbia's territory* participation in peacekeeping operations* providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief-Personnel:...
marched through Albania
Principality of Albania
The Principality of Albania refers to the short-lived monarchy in Albania, headed by William, Prince of Albania and to the state after the First World War, until the abolition of the monarchy in 1925, when Albania was declared a republic.-Principality:The Principality was established on February...
in 1915 during the long retreat. He later received several decorations for his achievements on the Salonica front. He was appointed to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes' Royal guard but had to leave his position in 1920 after taking part in a public argument between Communist and nationalist sympathizers. He was sent to Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
. In 1921, he was admitted to the Superior Military Academy of Belgrade. In 1923, having finished his studies, he was promoted as an assistant to the military staff, along with the fifteen other best alumni of his promotion. In 1930, he was made a Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
: that same year, he spent three months in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, following classes at the École Militaire
École Militaire
The École Militaire is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars....
. Some authors have asserted that he met and befriended Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
during his stay, although there is no proof of this. He was appointed in 1935 in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, as a military attaché
Attaché
Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency...
to the Kingdom of Bulgaria
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Kingdom of Bulgaria was established as an independent state when the Principality of Bulgaria, an Ottoman vassal, officially proclaimed itself independent on October 5, 1908 . This move also formalised the annexation of the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia, which had been under the control...
. On September 6, 1935, he achieved the rank of Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
. Mihailović then came in contact with members of Zveno
Zveno
Zveno was a Bulgarian military and political organization, founded in 1927 by army officers. It was associated with a newspaper of that name....
and considered taking part in a plot aiming to provoke Boris III
Boris III of Bulgaria
Boris III the Unifier, Tsar of Bulgaria , originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver , son of Ferdinand I, came to the throne in 1918 upon the abdication of his father, following the defeat of the Kingdom of Bulgaria during World War I...
's abdication and set up an alliance between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, but, being untrained as a spy, he was soon identified by Bulgarian authorities and was asked to leave the country. He was then appointed as an attaché in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
.
His military career almost came to an abrupt end in 1937, when he submitted a report strongly criticizing the Yugoslav Royal Army's organization. Among his most important proposals were the idea of dividing the Yugoslav Royal Army along national lines, into (Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
, and Slovenes), and the use of mobile Chetnik units along the borders. Milan Nedić
Milan Nedic
Milan Nedić was a Serbian general and politician, he was the chief of the general staff of the Yugoslav Army, minister of war in the Royal Yugoslav Government and the prime minister of a Nazi-backed Serbian puppet government during World War II.After the war, Yugoslav communist authorities...
, Minister of the Army, was incensed by Mihailović's report and sentenced him to 30 days imprisonment. Afterwards, Mihailović was appointed as professor to Belgrade's staff college
Staff college
Staff colleges train military officers in the administrative, staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career...
. World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
found Colonel Mihailović occupying a minor position of assistant to chief of staff of the Second Army. In the last years before World War II, he was stationed in Celje
Celje
Celje is a typical Central European town and the third largest town in Slovenia. It is a regional center of Lower Styria and the administrative seat of the Urban Municipality of Celje . The town of Celje is located under Upper Celje Castle at the confluence of the Savinja, Ložnica, and Voglajna...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
(then Drava Banovina
Drava Banovina
The Drava Banovina or Drava Banate was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of most of present-day Slovenia and was named for the Drava River...
). In April 1941, he was chief of staff of the Yugoslav Second Army in northern Bosnia for a brief period, prior to taking over command of a "Rapid Unit" (brzi odred) shortly before the Yugoslav High Command capitulated to the Germans on April 17th, 1941.
World War II
Following the invasion of YugoslaviaInvasion of Yugoslavia
The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...
and the country's defeat by Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in April 1941, a small group of officers and soldiers led by Mihailović escaped in the hope of finding Yugoslav army units still fighting in the mountains. Following skirmishes with Ustaze and Muslim band, and an attempt at sabotage, Mihailović and about 80 men crossed the Drina River on 29 April. Mihailović planned to establish an underground intelligence movement and establish contact with the Allies, though it is unclear if he initially envisioned to start an actual armed resistance movement.
Formation of the Chetniks
Ravna Gora, Serbia
Ravna Gora is a highland in central Serbia, at the mountain of Suvobor. It is renowned as the birthplace of the modern Chetnik movement under the leadership of Dragoljub Mihailović in 1941. Ravna Gora was the site of a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of VE day in 1995. Among others, the...
in early May, 1941, he realized that his group of seven officers and twenty four non-commissioned officers and soldiers was the only one. He began to draw up lists of conscripts and reservists for possible use. His men at Ravna Gora were joined by a group of civilians, mainly intellectuals of the Serb cultural club, who took charge of propaganda.
The Chetnik group
Chetniks of Kosta Pecanac
The Pećanac Chetniks, also known as the Black' Chetniks were a Chetnik force which operated in Nedić's Serbia under the leadership of Kosta Pećanac. They were loyal to the fascist government and fought against Yugoslav Partisans and the Chetniks of Draža Mihailović.At the time of the invasion of...
led by Kosta Pećanac
Kosta Pecanac
Kosta Milovanović Pećanac was a Chetnik voivoda during the Second World War.-Origin:Kosta Milovanović was born in 1879, the exact date is not known as his military paper only has the year of birth. His father was a guardian of the Visoki Dečani monastery. His parents both died during an attack by...
already in existence when the war in Yugoslavia broke out did not share Mihailović's desire for resistance. In order to distinguish his group and other groups calling themselves Chetniks, such as Nedic's followers, Mihailović and his followers identified themselves as the "Ravna Gora movement". The stated goal of the Chetniks was the liberation of the country from the occupying armies including mainly the forces of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, Fascist Italy and the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
, the fascist regime of the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
.
Mihailović spent most of 1941 consolidating scattered army remnants and recruiting new forces. In August, Mihailović set up a civilian advisory body, the Central National Committee, composed of Serbian political leaders including some with strong nationalist views such as Dragiša Vasić and Stevan Moljević
Stevan Moljevic
Dr Stevan Moljević was Serbian and Yugoslav politician, lawyer and publicist, president of the Yugoslav-French Club, president of the Yugoslav-British Club, president of Rotary International Club of Yugoslavia and member of the Central National Committee of Yugoslavia in World War II...
. On June 19, a clandestine Chetnik courier reached Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, whence royalist Yugoslavs reported that Mihailović appeared to be organizing a resistance movement against Axis forces. Mihailović first established radio contact with the British in September 1941 when his radio operator raised a ship in the Mediterranean, and his first radio message to King Peter's government in exile announcing that he was organizing a resistance force formed of remnants of the Yugoslav army was received on September 13. He also received the help from officers in other areas of Yugoslavia, such as Slovene officer Rudolf Perinhek, who brought reports on the situation in Montenegro. Mihailović sent him back to Montenegro with written authorization to organize units there, and with oral approvals for other officers like Đorđe Lasić and Pavle Đurišić. He only gave vague and contradictory orders to Perinhek, mentioning the need to put off civil strife and to "remove enemies."
Mihailović's strategy was to avoid direct conflict with the Axis forces, intending to rise up after Allied forces arrived in Yugoslavia. Mihailović's Chetniks had had defensive encounters with the Germans, but reprisals and the tales of the massacres in the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
made them reluctant to engage directly in armed struggle, except against the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
at the border. In the meantime, following the invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia led by Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
also went into action and called in July for an insurrection against the occupiers, setting up their armed force which came to be known as the Partisans. At the end of August, Chetniks and Partisans both came into action, sometimes jointly despite their mutual diffidence, capturing prisoners. But Mihailović discouraged sabotage due to German reprisals (such as more than 3,000 killed in Kraljevo
Kraljevo
Kraljevo is a city and municipality in central Serbia, built beside the river Ibar, 7 km west of its confluence with the Western Morava. It is located in the midst of an upland valley, between the mountains of Kotlenik in the north, and Stolovi in the south.In 2011 the city has population of...
and Kragujevac
Kragujevac
Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...
) unless some great gain could be accomplished; instead, he favored sabotage that could not easily be traced. His reluctance to engage in more active resistance meant that most sabotage carried out in the early period of the war were due to efforts by the Partisans, and Mihailović lost several commanders and a number of followers who wished to fight the Germans to the Partisan movement.
Even though Mihailović initially asked for discreet support, propaganda from the British and from the Yugoslav government in exile quickly began to exalt his feats. The creation of a resistance movement in occupied Europe was received as a morale booster. On November 15, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
announced that Mihailović was the commander of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, which became the Chetniks' official name.
Conflicts with Axis troops and partisans
Mihailović soon realized that his men did not have the means to protect the civilians in Serbia against German reprisals. The prospect of reprisals also fed Chetnik concerns regarding a possible takeover of the Yugoslavia by the Partisans after the war, and they did not wish to engage in actions that might ultimately result in a post-war Serbian minority. Mihailović's strategy was to bring together the Serbian bands and build an organization capable of seizing power after the occupation forces withdrew or were defeated, rather than engaging in direct confrontation. In contrast to the reluctance of Chetnik leaders to directly engage the Axis forces, the Partisans advocated open resistance, which appealed to those Chetniks desiring to fight the occupation. By September, Mihailović began losing men such as Pop Vlada Secevic and Lt. Ratko Martinovic, and the Cer Chetniks led by Captain Dragoslav Racic, to the Partisans.On September 19, Tito met with Mihailović to negotiate an alliance between the Partisans and Chetniks
Chetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
, but they failed to reach an agreement as the disparity of the aims of their respective movements was great enough to preclude any real compromise. Tito was in favor of a joint full-scale offensive, while Mihailović considered a general uprising to be premature and dangerous, as he deemed it would trigger reprisals. For his part, Tito's goal was to prevent an assault from the rear by the Chetniks, as he was convinced that Mihailović was playing a "double game", maintaining contacts with German forces via the Nedic government. Mihailović was in contact with Nedic's government, receiving monetary aid via Col Popovic. On the other hand, Mihailović sought to prevent Tito from assuming the leadership role in the resistance, as Tito's goals were counter to his goal was the restoration of the Yugoslavian Monarchy and the establishment of a Greater Serbia. Further talks were scheduled for October 16.
At the end of September, the Germans launched a massive offensive against both Partisans and Chetniks
First anti-partisan offensive
The First anti-Partisan Offensive, known in ex-Yugoslavia as the First Enemy Offensive , was the first major military confrontation on the Yugoslav Front of World War II. It was an offensive by German and collaborationist troops against the "Užice Republic", the first of a large number of...
.
A joint British-Yugoslav intelligence mission, quickly assembled by the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
and led by Captain D. T. Hudson had arrived on the Montenegrin coast on the 22nd of September, whence they had made their way with the help of Montenegrin Partisans to their headquarters, and then on to Tito's headquarters at Uzice. and arrived on or around October 25. Hudson reported that earlier promises of supplies made by the British to Mihailovic contributed to the poor relationship between Mihailovic and Tito, as Mihailovic correctly believed that no one outside of Yugoslavia knew about the Partisan movement, and felt that "the time was ripe for drastic action against the Communists"
Tito and Mihailović met again on October 27, 1941 in the town of Brajići near Ravna Gora
Ravna Gora, Serbia
Ravna Gora is a highland in central Serbia, at the mountain of Suvobor. It is renowned as the birthplace of the modern Chetnik movement under the leadership of Dragoljub Mihailović in 1941. Ravna Gora was the site of a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of VE day in 1995. Among others, the...
in an attempt to achieve an understanding, but found consensus only on secondary issues. Immediately following the meeting, Mihailovic began preparations for an attack on the Partisans, delaying the attack only for lack of arms. Mihailovic reported to his government in exile that he believed occupation of Užice, the location of a gun factory, was required to prevent strengthening of the Communists. On October 28, two Chetnik liaison officers approached first Nedic and later that day German officer Josef Matl of the Armed Forces Liaison Office, with an offer of Mihailovic's services in the struggle against the Partisans in exchange for weapons. This offer was relayed to the German General in charge of Serbia, and a meeting was proposed by the German for November 3. On November 1, the Chetniks attacked the Partisans' headquarters at Užice
Republic of Užice
The Republic of Užice was a short-lived liberated Yugoslav territory and the first liberated territory in World War II Europe, organized as a military mini-state that existed in the autumn of 1941 in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia, more specifically the western part of Serbia...
, but were beaten back. On November 3, 1941 Milhailovic postponed the proposed meeting with the German officers until November 11 citing the "general conflict" in which the Chetniks and Partisans were engaged requiring his presence at his headquarters. The meeting, organized through one of Mihailović's representatives in Belgrade, took place between the Chetnik leader and an Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
official, although it remains controversial if the initiative came from the Germans, from Mihailović himself, or from his liaison officer in Belgrade. It appears that Mihailović offered to cease activities in the towns and along the major communication lines, but ultimately no agreement was reached at the time due to German demands for the complete surrender of the Chetniks, and the German's belief that the Chetniks were likely to attack them despite Mihailović's offer. After the negotiations, an attempt was made by the Germans to arrest Mihailović. Mihailović carefully kept the negotiations with the Germans secret from the Yugoslav government-in-exile, as well as from the British and their representative Hudson.
Milhailović's assault on the Partisan headquarters at Užice and Pozega failed, and the Partisans mounted a rapid counter attack. Within two weeks, the Partisan forces repelled the Chetnik advances and surrounded Milhailović's headquarters at Ravna Gora. Due to the loss of troops from clashes with Germans, the loss of approximately one thousand troops and considerable equipment in the attack against the Partisans, and having received only one small delivery of arms from the British in early November, and having been unsuccessful in convincing the German to provide him with supplies, Mihailović found himself in a desperate situation.
In mid November, the Germans began an offensive against the Partisans, Operation Western Morava, which bypassed Chetnik forces. Having been unable to quickly overcome the Chetniks forces, faced with reports that the British considered Milhailović as the leader of the resistance, and under pressure from the German offensive, Tito approached Milhailović with an offer to negotiate which resulted in talks which led to an armistice between the two groups on November 20 or 21st. Tito and Mihailović had one last phone conversation on November 28; Tito announced that he would defend his positions, while Mihailović said that he would disperse. On November 30 Milhailović's unit leaders decided to join the "legalized" Chetniks under General Nedic's command, in order to be able to continue the fight against the Partisans without risk from the Germans and to avoid compromising Mihailovic's relationship with the British. Evidence suggests that Milhailović did not order this, but rather only sanctioned the decision. About 2-3,000 of Mihailović's men actually enlisted in this capacity within the Nedić regime. The legalization allowed his men to have a salary and an alibi provided by the collaborationist administration, while it provided the Nedić regime with more men to fight the communists, although under the control of the Germans. Mihailović also considered that he could, using this method, infiltrate the Nedić administration, which was soon fraught with sympathizers of his "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland". While this arrangement was different than all-out collaboration like Kosta Pećanac
Kosta Pecanac
Kosta Milovanović Pećanac was a Chetnik voivoda during the Second World War.-Origin:Kosta Milovanović was born in 1879, the exact date is not known as his military paper only has the year of birth. His father was a guardian of the Visoki Dečani monastery. His parents both died during an attack by...
's, it caused much confusion over who and what the Chetniks were. Others of Mihailović's men crossed to Bosnia to fight the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
, while most abandoned the struggle. Throughout November, the Mihailović's forces had been under pressure from German forces, and on December 3rd, the Germans issues orders for Operation Mihailović, an attack against Mihailović forces in Ravna Gora. The day before the attack, December 5th, Mihailović was warned by contacts serving under Nedić of the impending attack, and Mihailović closed down his radio transmitter on December 5 in order not to give the Germans hints of his whereabouts, dispersed his command and the remainder of his forces. The remnants of his Chetniks retreated to the hills of Ravna Gora
Ravna Gora, Serbia
Ravna Gora is a highland in central Serbia, at the mountain of Suvobor. It is renowned as the birthplace of the modern Chetnik movement under the leadership of Dragoljub Mihailović in 1941. Ravna Gora was the site of a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of VE day in 1995. Among others, the...
, but were under German attack throughout December, Mihailović narrowly avoiding capture. On December 10, a bounty was put on his head.
Activities in Montenegro and Serbia
In early 1942, the Yugoslav Government in exile reorganized and appointed Slobodan Jovanović as the prime minister, and the cabinet took as a primary goal strengthening Milhailović's position, seeking unsuccessfully to obtain support from both the Americans and the British. The latter had suspended support in late 1941 following Hudson's reports of the conflict between the Chetniks and Partisans. Milhailovic, infuriated by Hudson's recommendations, denied Hudson radio access and had no contact with the British agent through the first months of 1942. Although Milhailović was in hiding, by March the Nedić government located him, and a meeting sanctioned by the German occupation took place between him and Aćimović. Following this meeting, General Bader was informed that Mihailović was willing to put himself at the disposal of the Nedić government in the fight against the Communists, but Bader refused the offer. In April 1942 Mihailović, still hiding in Serbia, resumed contact with British envoy Hudson, who was also able to resume his radio transmission to Allied headquarters in CairoCairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, using Mihailović's transmitter. In May, the British resumed their help to the Chetniks, although only to a small extent, with a single airdrop on 30 March. Mihailović left for Montenegro, arriving there on the first on June. He established his headquarters there and, on June 10, was formally appointed as Chief of staff of the Supreme command of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland. The Partisans, in the meantime, insisted to the Soviets that Mihailović was a traitor and a collaborator, and should be condemned as such. The Soviets initially saw no need for it, and their propaganda kept supporting Mihailović. Eventually, on July 6, 1942, the station Radio Free Yugoslavia, located in the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
building in Moscow, broadcast a resolution from Yugoslav "patriots" in Montenegro and Bosnia labeling Mihailović a collaborator.
In Montenegro, Mihailović had found a complex situation, with local Chetnik leaders Stanišić and Đurišić having reached arrangements with the Italians, and cooperating with them against the communist-led Partisans. Mihailović later claimed at his trial in 1946 that he was unaware of these arrangements prior to his arrival in Montenegro, and had to accept them once he arrived, as Stanišić and Đurišić acknowledged him as their leader in name only and would only follow Mihailovic's orders if they supported their interests. Mihailović believed that Italian military intelligence was better informed than he of the activities of his commanders. He tried to make the best of the situation, and accepted the appointment of Blažo Đukanović as the figurehead commander of "nationalist forces" in Montenegro. While Mihailović approved the destruction of communist forces, he aimed to exploit the connections of Chetniks commanders with the Italians to get food, arms and ammunition in the expectation of an Allied landing. On 1 December, Pavle Đurišić organised a "Youth conference" of Chetnik units at Šahovići. At the Chetnik congress, which according to Stevan K.Pavlović expressed "extremism and intolerance", nationalist claims were made on parts of Albania
Albania under Italy
The Albanian Kingdom existed as a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy. It was practically a union between Italy and Albania, officially led by Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III and its government: Albania was led by Italian governors, after being militarily occupied by Italy, from 1939 until 1943...
, Bulgaria
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Kingdom of Bulgaria was established as an independent state when the Principality of Bulgaria, an Ottoman vassal, officially proclaimed itself independent on October 5, 1908 . This move also formalised the annexation of the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia, which had been under the control...
, Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
and Italy, while the resolutions posited the restoration of a monarchy with a period of transitional Chetnik dictatorship. Mihailović and Đukanović did not attend the event, which was entirely dominated by Đurišić, but they sent representatives.
In the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin
Ilija Trifunovic-Bircanin
Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin was a Serbian Chetnik military commander with the title of Voivode.-Early life:Born in Topola in 1877, Trifunović-Birčanin served as a volunteer on the Macedonian side in the Balkan Wars, as well as in the First World War on the eastern front against Bulgaria...
, a leader of pre-world war II Chetnik organizations, commanded the Chetniks in Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, Lika
Lika
Lika is a mountainous region in central Croatia, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by the Malovan pass...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Herzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
. He led a "nationalist" resistance against Partisans and Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
and acknowledged Mihailović as formal leader, but acted on his own, with his troops being used by the Italians as the local Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia
Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia
The White Guard was a name given colloquially and collectively by the Partisans to an ensemble of Slovene anti-communist political and paramilitary groups during World War II...
(MVAC). Italian commander Mario Roatta
Mario Roatta
Mario Roatta was an Italian general, Mussolini's Chief-of-Staff, and head of the military secret service.-SIM:From 1934 to 1936, Roatta headed up the Italian Military Intelligence Service .-Spain:...
aimed to spare Italian lives, but also to counter Ustaše and Germans, to undermine Mihailović's authority among the Chetniks by playing up local leaders, and to have possible links with Mihailović and the Allies in case the Axis lost the war. Chetniks, led by Dobroslav Jevđević, came from Montenegro to help Bosnia's Serb population against the Ustaše. They murdered and pillaged in Foča
Foca
Foča is a town and municipality in southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Drina river, in the Foča Region of the Republika Srpska entity.-Early history:...
until the Italians intervened in August. Help was also asked of the Italians by Chetniks for protection against the Ustaše's retributions. On 22 July, Mihailović met with Trifunović-Birčanin, Jevđević, and his newly-appointed delegate in Herzegovina Petar Baćović. The meeting was supposedly secret, but was known to Italian intelligence; Mihailović gave no precise orders but expressed his confidence in both his subordinates, adding, according to Italian reports, that he was waiting for help from the Allies to start a real guerrilla campaign, in order to spare Serb lives. Summoned by Roatta upon their return, Trifunović-Birčanin and Jevđević assured the Italian commander that Mihailović was merely a "moral head" and that they would not attack Italians, even if he should give such an order.
Having become more and more concerned with domestic enemies and concerned that he be in a position to control Yugoslavia after the Allies defeated the Axis occupation, Mihailović concentrated from Montenegro on directing operations, in the various parts of Yugoslavia, mostly against Partisans, but also against Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
and Dimitrije Ljotić
Dimitrije Ljotic
Dimitrije Ljotić was a Serbian politician and Nazi German collaborationist during World War II.Although born in Belgrade he spent most of his life in Smederevo. His ancestors came to Serbia from the village of Blace in what is today Greek Macedonia during the first half of 19th century...
's Serbian Volunteer Corps. During the autumn of 1942 at the request of the British Mihailović's organization undertook a series of sabotages against the railway lines used to supply Axis forces in the Western Desert In September and December, Mihailović's actions damaged the Serbian railway system seriously; the Allies gave him credit for inconveniencing Axis forces and contributing to their successes in Africa. Early in September 1942, Mihailović called through leaflets and clandestine radio transmitters from civil disobedience against the collaborationist Serbian regime of Milan Nedić
Milan Nedic
Milan Nedić was a Serbian general and politician, he was the chief of the general staff of the Yugoslav Army, minister of war in the Royal Yugoslav Government and the prime minister of a Nazi-backed Serbian puppet government during World War II.After the war, Yugoslav communist authorities...
; fighting resulted between Chetniks and followers of the Nedić regime. The Germans, whom the Serbian administration had called for help against Mihailović, responded to Nedić's request and to the sabotages with mass terror, and attacked the Chetniks in late 1942 and early 1943. Roberts mentions Nedić's request for help as the main reason for German action, and does not mention the sabotage campaign. Pavlović, on the other hand, mentions the sabotages as simultaneous with the propaganda actions. Thousands of arrests were made and during December, 1,600 Chetnik combatants were killed in German reprisals. In response to these actions, Mihailović abandoned the active resistance to the Germans begun that summer and reverted to his previous strategy of avoiding open conflict and waiting for an Allied landing.
Mihailović had great difficulties controlling his local commanders, who often did not have radio contacts and relied on couriers to communicate. He was, however, apparently actually aware that many Chetnik groups were committing crimes against civilians and acts of ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
; according to Stevan K.Pavlović, Pavle Đurišić proudly reported to Mihailović that he had destroyed Muslim villages, in retribution against acts committed by Muslim militias. While Mihailović apparently did not order such acts himself, and disapproved of them, he also failed to take any action against them, being dependent on various armed groups whose policy he could neither denounce nor condone. He also hid the situation from the British and the Royal Yugoslav government-in-exile. Many terror acts were committed by Chetnik groups against their various enemies, real or perceived, reaching a peak between October 1942 and February 1943.
Ethnic conflict and terror tactics
- see also Chetniks: Ethnic conflict and terror tactics
Chetnik ideology encompassed the notion of a Greater Serbia, to be achieved by forcing population shifts in order to create ethnically homogeneous areas. Partly due to this ideology and partly in response to violent actions undertaken by Ustasha and Muslim forces attached to them, Chetniks forces engaged in numerous acts of violence including massacres and destruction of property, and used terror tactics to drive out non-Serb groups.
Mihailović's role in such actions is unclear as there is "...no definite evidence that [he] himself ever called for ethnic cleansing. Instructions to his Montenegrin subordinates commanders, Lasic and Djurisic, which prescribe cleansing actions of non-Serb elements in order to create a Great Serbia have been attributed to Mihailović by some historians, but some historians argue that the document was a forgery made by Djurišić after he failed to reach Mihailović in December of 1941 after the latter was driven out of Ravna Gora by German forces. It is important to note that if a forgery, the document was forged by Chetniks hoping it would be taken as a legitimate order, not by their opponents seeking to discredit the Chetniks. The objectives outlined in the directive were:
Whether or not the instructions were forged, Mihailović was certainly aware of both the ideological goal of cleansing and of the violent acts taken to accomplish that goal. Stevan Moljević worked out the basics of the Chetnik program while at Ravna Gora in the summer of 1941, and Mihailović sent representatives to Conference of Young Chetnik Intellectuals of Montenegro where the basic formulations were expanded. Djurišić played the dominate role at this conference. Relations between Djurišić and Milhailovic were strained, and although Mihailovic did not participate, neither did he take any action to counter it. At his trial in 1946, Mihailović claimed that he never ordered the destruction of Croate and Muslim villages, and some of his subordinates hid such activities from him, but Djurišić, for example, boasted of his actions to Mihailović after leading actions to destroy Muslim villages.
Relations with the British
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
's London staff, insisted to Zivan Knežević, member of the Yugoslav cabinet, that Mihailović was a Quisling
Quisling
Quisling is a term used in reference to fascist and collaborationist political parties and military and paramilitary forces in occupied Allied countries which collaborated with Axis occupiers in World War II, as well as for their members and other collaborators.- Etymology :The term was coined by...
, who was openly collaborating with the Italians. The Foreign Office called Boughey's declarations "blundering" but the British were worried about the situation and Mihailović's inactivity. A British senior officer, Colonel S. W. Bailey, was then sent to Mihailović and was parachuted into Montenegro on Christmas Day. His mission was to gather information and to see if Mihailović had carried out necessary sabotages against railroads. During the following months, the British's efforts concentrated on having Mihailović stop Chetnik collaboration with Axis forces and perform the expected actions against the occupiers, but they were not successful.
In January 1943, the SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
reported to Churchill that Mihailović's subordinate commanders had made local arrangements with Italian authorities, although there was no evidence that Mihailović himself had ever dealt with the Germans. The report concluded that, while aid to Mihailović was as necessary as ever, it would be advisable to extend assistance to other resistance groups and to try to reunite the Chetniks and the Partisans. British liaison officers reported in February that Mihailović had "at no time" been in touch with the Germans, but that his forces had been in some instances aiding the Italians against the Partisans (the report was simultaneous with the Third anti-Partisan Offensive
Third anti-partisan offensive
The Third anti-Partisan Offensive or Third Enemy Offensive was a battle during World War II between the Yugoslav Partisans on one side, German, Italian, and Independent State of Croatia forces on the second and Chetnik forces on the third side...
). Bailey reported that Mihailović was increasingly dissatisfied with the insufficient help he was receiving from the British. Mihailović's movement had been so inflated by British propaganda that the liaison officers found the reality decidedly below expectations.
On January 3, 1943, just before the battle of the Neretva, an Axis conference was held in Rome, attended by German commander Alexander Löhr
Alexander Löhr
Alexander Löhr was an Austrian Air Force commander during the 1930s and, after the "Political Union of Germany and Austria" , he was a German Air Force commander...
, representatives of the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, and by Dobroslav Jevđević who, this time, collaborated openly with the Axis forces against the Partisans, and had gone to the conference without Mihailović's knowledge. Mihailović disapproved of Jevđević's presence and reportedly sent him an angry message, but his actions were limited to announcing that Jevđević's military award would be withdrawn.
On February 28, 1943, in Bailey's presence, Mihailović addressed his troops in Lipovo
Lipovo, Montenegro
Lipovo is a village in northern Montenegro, in the municipality of Kolašin. It has a population of about 250 people. It is one of the largest and most beautiful villages in Montenegro....
. Bailey reported that Mihailović had expressed his bitterness over "perfidious Albion" who expected the Serbs to fight to the last drop of blood without giving them any means to do so, had said that the Serbs were completely friendless, that the British were holding King Peter II and his government as virtual prisoners, and that he would keep accepting help from the Italians as long as it would give him the means to annihilate the Partisans. Also according to Bailey's report, he added that his enemies were the Ustaše, the Partisans, the Croats and the Muslims and that only after dealing with them would he turn to the Germans and the Italians.
While defenders of Mihailović have argued that Bailey had mistranslated the speech, and may have even done so intentionally, the effect on the British was disastrous and marked the beginning of the end for British-Chetnik cooperation. The British officially protested to the Yugoslav government-in-exile and demanded explanations regarding Mihailović's attitude and collaboration with the Italians. Mihailović answered to his government that he had had no meetings with Italian generals and that Jevđjević had no command to do so. The British announced that they would send him more abundant supplies. Also in early 1943, the tone of the BBC broadcasts became more and more favorable to the Partisans, describing them as the only resistance movement in Yugoslavia - Bailey complained to the Foreign Office that his position with Mihailović was being prejudiced by this - and occasionally attributing to them resistance acts actually undertaken by the Chetniks. The Foreign Office protested and the BBC apologized, but the line did not really change.
Defeat in the battle of the Neretva
During the battle of the Neretva, the Italians heavily supported the Chetniks in the hope that they would deal a fatal blow to the Partisans. The Germans disapproved of this collaboration, about which Hitler personally wrote to Mussolini. At the end of February, shortly after his speech, Mihailović himself joined his troops in Herzegovina near the Neretva in order to try to salvage the situation. The Partisans nevertheless defeated the opposing Chetniks troops, who were in a state of disarray, and managed to go across the Neretva. In March, the Partisans negotiated a truce with Axis forces in order to gain some time and use it to defeat the Chetniks. While Ribbentrop and Hitler finally overruled the orders of their subordinates and forbade any such contacts, the Partisans benefited from this brief truce, during which Italian support for the Chetniks was suspended, and which allowed Tito's forces to deal a severe blow to Mihailović's troops.In May, the German intelligence service also tried to establish a contact with Mihailović to see if an alliance against the Partisans was possible. In Kolašin
Kolašin
Kolašin , is a town in northern Montenegro. It has a population of 2,989 .Kolašin is the centre of the municipality and unofficial centre of Morača region, named after Morača River....
, they met with a Chetnik officer, who did not introduce himself. They assumed they had met Mihailović himself, but the man was possibly not the general, whom Bailey reported to be in another area at the same period. The German command, however, reacted strongly against any attempt at "negotiating with the enemy".
The Germans then turned to their next operation, code-named Schwarz, and attacked the Montenegrin Chetniks. Pavle Đurišić appears to have suggested to Mihailović a short-term cooperation with the Germans against the Partisans, something Mihailović refused. Đurišić ended up defending his headquarters at Kolašin against the Partisans. On 14 May, the Germans entered Kolašin and captured Đurišić, while Mihailović escaped.
In late May, after regaining control of most of Montenegro, the Italians turned their efforts against the Chetniks, at least against Mihailović's forces, and put a reward of half a million lire for the capture of Mihailović, and one million for the capture of Tito.
Allied support shifts
In April and May 1943, the British sent a mission to the Partisans and strengthened their mission to the Chetniks. Major Jasper Rootham, one of the liaison officers to the Chetniks, reported that engagements between Chetniks and Germans did occur, but were invariably started by German attacks. During the summer, the British sent supplies to both Chetniks and Partisans.Mihailović returned to Serbia and his movement rapidly recovered its dominance in the region. Receiving more weapons from the British, he undertook a series of actions and sabotages, disarmed Serbian State Guard detachments and skirmished with Bulgarian
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Kingdom of Bulgaria was established as an independent state when the Principality of Bulgaria, an Ottoman vassal, officially proclaimed itself independent on October 5, 1908 . This move also formalised the annexation of the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia, which had been under the control...
troops, though he generally avoided the Germans, considering that his troops were not yet strong enough. In Serbia, his organization controlled the mountains where the occupation troops were absent. The collaborationist Serbian administration was largely infiltrated by his men, many Serbian State Guard troops being actually sympathetic to the "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland". After the defeat on the Neretva, Mihailović tried to improve his organization. Dragiša Vasić, the movement's ideologue who had opposed the Italian connection and clashed with Mihailović, left the supreme command. Mihailović tried to extend his contacts to Croats and traditional parties, and to revitalise his contacts in Slovenia. The United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sent liaison officers to join Bailey's mission with Mihailovic, while also sending men to Tito. The Germans, in the meantime, became worried by the Partisans' growing strength and made local arrangements with Chetnik groups, though not with Mihailović himself. According to Walter R. Roberts, there is "little doubt" that Mihailović was aware of these arrangements and that he might have regarded them as the lesser of two evils, his primary aim being to defeat the Partisans.
From the beginning of 1943, British impatience with Mihailović grew. From the decrypts of German wireless messages, Churchill and his government concluded that the Chetniks' collaboration with the Italians went beyond what was acceptable and that the Partisans were doing the most severe damage to the Axis.
With Italy's withdrawal in September 1943, the Chetniks in Montenegro found themselves under attack by both the Germans and the Partisans, who took control of large parts of Montenegrin territory, including the former "Chetnik capital" of Kolašin. Pavle Đurišić, having escaped from a German camp in Galicia, found his way to Yugoslavia, was captured again, and was then asked by collaborationist prime minister Milan Nedić to form a Montenegrin Volunteer Corps
Montenegrin Volunteer Corps
The Montenegrin Volunteer Corps was a collaborationist military formation that was created in the spring of 1944 under Chetnik leader Pavle Đurišić with assistance from the Germans, Milan Nedić, and Dimitrije Ljotić. It was formally a part of the Serbian Volunteer Corps...
against the Partisans. He was pledged to Nedić, but also made a secret allegiance to Mihailović. Both Mihailović and Đurišić expected a landing by the Western Allies
Western Allies
The Western Allies were a political and geographic grouping among the Allied Powers of the Second World War. It generally includes the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth, the United States, France and various other European and Latin American countries, but excludes China, the Soviet Union,...
. In Serbia, Mihailović was considered the representative of the victorious Allies. In the chaotic situation created by Italian surrender, several Chetnik leaders overtly collaborated with the Germans against the reinforced Partisans; approached by an Abwehr agent, Dobroslav Jevđević offered the services of about 5,000 men. Momčilo Đujić also went to the Germans for cover against Ustaše and Partisans, although he was distrusted. In October 1943, Mihailovic, at the Allies' request, agreed to undertake two sabotage operations, which had the effect of making him even more of a wanted man and forced him, according to British reports, to change his headquarters frequently.
By November and December 1943, the Germans had realized that Tito was their most dangerous opponent; German representative Hermann Neubacher
Hermann Neubacher
Hermann Neubacher was an Austrian Nazi politician who held a number of diplomatic posts in the Third Reich. During the Second World War, he was appointed as the leading German official for the Balkans.-Austrian activism:...
managed to conclude secret arrangements with four of Mihailović's commanders for the cessation of hostilities for periods of five to ten weeks. The Germans interpreted this as a sign of weakness from the Mihailović movement. The truces were kept secret, but came to the knowledge of the British through decrypts. There is no evidence that Mihailović had been involved or approved, though British Military Intelligence found it possible that he was "conniving".
The British were more and more concerned about the fact that the Chetniks were more willing to fight Partisans than Axis troops. At the third Moscow Conference
Moscow Conference (1943)
The Third Moscow Conference between the major Allies of World War II took place from October 18 to November 11, 1943, at the Moscow Kremlin and Spiridonovka Palace....
in October 1943, Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
expressed impatience about Mihailović's lack of action. The report of Fitzroy MacLean, liaison officer to the Partisans, convinced Churchill that Tito's forces were the most reliable resistance group. The report of Charles Armstrong, liaison officer to Mihailović, arrived too late for Anthony Eden to take it to the Tehran Conference
Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference was the meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill between November 28 and December 1, 1943, most of which was held at the Soviet Embassy in Tehran, Iran. It was the first World War II conference amongst the Big Three in which Stalin was present...
in late November 1943, though Stevan K.Pavlowitch thinks that it would probably been insufficient to change Churchill's mind. At Tehran, Churchill argued in favor of the Partisans, while Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
expressed limited interest but agreed that they should receive the greatest possible support.
On December 10, Churchill met King Peter II in London and told him that he possessed irrefutable proofs of Mihailović's collaboration with the enemy and that Mihailović should be eliminated from the Yugoslav cabinet. Also in early December, Mihailovic was asked to undertake an important sabotage mission against railways, which was later interpreted as a "final opportunity" to redeem himself. However, possibly not realizing how Allied policy had evolved, he failed to give the go-ahead. On January 12, 1944, the SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
in Cairo sent a report to the Foreign Office, saying that Mihailović's commanders had collaborated with Germans and Italians, and that Mihailović himself had condoned and in certain cases approved their actions. This hastened the British's decision to withdraw their thirty liaison officers to Mihailović. The mission was effectively withdrawn in Spring 1944. In April, one month before leaving, liaison officer Armstrong noted that Mihailović had been mostly active in propaganda against the Axis, that he had missed numerous occasions for sabotage in the last six or eight months and that the efforts of many Chetnik leaders to follow Mihailović's orders for inactivity had evolved in non-aggression pacts with Axis troops, although the mission had no evidence of collaboration with the enemy.
In the meantime, Mihailović tried to improve the organization of his movement. On 25 January 1944, with the help of Živko Topalović
Živko Topalović
Živko Topalović was a Yugoslav socialist politician. Topalović became a leading figure in the Socialist Party of Yugoslavia, founded in 1921....
, he organized in Ba, a village near Ravna Gora
Ravna Gora, Serbia
Ravna Gora is a highland in central Serbia, at the mountain of Suvobor. It is renowned as the birthplace of the modern Chetnik movement under the leadership of Dragoljub Mihailović in 1941. Ravna Gora was the site of a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of VE day in 1995. Among others, the...
, a Chetnik meeting also meant to remove the shadow of the previous congress held in Montenegro. The congress was attended by 274 people, representing various parties, and aimed to be a reaction against the arbitrary behaviour of some commanders; the organization of a new, democratic, possibly federal, Yugoslavia, was mentioned, though the proposals remained vague, and an appeal was even made the Communist Party of Yugoslavia to join. The Chetnik command structure was formally reorganized. Pavle Đurišić was still in charge of Montenegro and Momčilo Đujić of Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, but Dobroslav Jevđević was excluded. Germans and Bulgarians reacted to the congress by conducting in February an operation against the Chetniks in northern Serbia, killing 80 and capturing 913.
After May and the withdrawal of the British mission, Mihailović kept transmitting radio messages to the Allies and to his government, but no longer received replies. In July and August, he ordered the rescue of about 250 downed allied airmen. Several Yugoslavs were also evacuated, along with Topalović; they tried to raise more support abroad for Mihailović's movement, but this came too late to reverse allied policy. The United States also sent an intelligence mission to Mihailović in March, but withdrew it after Churchill advised Roosevelt that all support should go to Tito and that "complete chaos" would ensue if the Americans also backed Mihailović.
In July, Ivan Šubašić
Ivan Šubašic
Ivan Šubašić was a Croatian and Yugoslav politician, best known as the last Ban of Banovina of Croatia.He was born in Vukova Gorica, then in Austria-Hungary. He finished grammar and high school in Zagreb, and enrolled onto the Faculty of Theology at the University of Zagreb...
formed the new Yugoslav government in exile, which did not include Mihailović as Minister. Mihailović, however, remained the official chief of staff of the Yugoslav Army. On August 29, upon the recommendation of his government, King Peter II dissolved by royal decree the Supreme Command, therefore abolishing Mihailović's post. On September 12, King Peter II broadcast a message from London, announcing the gist of August 29's decree and calling upon all Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to "join the National Liberation Army under the leadership of Marshal Tito". He also proclaimed that he strongly condemned "the misuse of the name of the King and the authority of the Crown by which an attempt has been made to justify collaboration with the enemy". Though the King did not mention Mihailović, it was clear who he meant. According to his own account, Peter II had obtained after strenuous talks with the British not to say a word directly against Mihailović. The message had a devastating effect on the morale of the Chetniks. Many men left Mihailović after the broadcast; others remained out of loyalty to him.
Defeat in 1944-45
At the end of August 1944, the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
arrived on the eastern borders of Yugoslavia. In early September, it invaded the Kingdom of Bulgaria
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Kingdom of Bulgaria was established as an independent state when the Principality of Bulgaria, an Ottoman vassal, officially proclaimed itself independent on October 5, 1908 . This move also formalised the annexation of the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia, which had been under the control...
and coerced it into turning against the Axis. Mihailović's Chetniks, meanwhile, were so badly armed to resist the Partisans' incursions in Serbia that some of Mihailović's officers, including Nikola Kalabić, met German officers to try to work out a meeting with Hermann Neubacher
Hermann Neubacher
Hermann Neubacher was an Austrian Nazi politician who held a number of diplomatic posts in the Third Reich. During the Second World War, he was appointed as the leading German official for the Balkans.-Austrian activism:...
and obtain his support. Milan Nedić
Milan Nedic
Milan Nedić was a Serbian general and politician, he was the chief of the general staff of the Yugoslav Army, minister of war in the Royal Yugoslav Government and the prime minister of a Nazi-backed Serbian puppet government during World War II.After the war, Yugoslav communist authorities...
, in turn, apparently picked up the idea and suggested forming an army of united anti-communist forces; he arranged a secret meeting with Mihailović, which apparently took place around 20 August. From the existing accounts, they met in a dark room and Mihailović remained mostly silent, so Nedić was not even sure afterwards that he had actually met the real Mihailović. According to British official Stephen Clissold, Mihailović was initially very reluctant to go to the meeting, but was finally convinced by Kalabić. It appears that Nedić offered to obtain arms from the Germans, and to place his Serbian State Guard under Mihailović's command, possibly as part of an attempt to switch sides as Germany was losing the war. Neubacher favored the idea, but it was vetoed by Hitler, who saw this as an attempt to establish an "English fifth column" in Serbia. According to Stevan K.Pavlowitch, Mihailović, who was reportedly not enthusiastic about the proposal, and Nedić might have been trying to "exploit each other's predicaments", while Nedić may have considered letting Mihailović "take over". At the end of August, Mihailović also met an OSS
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
mission, headed by Colonel Robert McDowell, who stayed with him until November.
As the Red Army approached, Mihailović thought that the outcome of war would depend on Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
entering the conflict, followed at last by an Allied incursion in the Balkans. He called upon all Yugoslavs to remain faithful to the King, and claimed that Peter II had sent him a message telling him not to believe what he had heard on the radio about his dismissal. His troops started to break up outside Serbia in Mid-August, as he tried to reach to Muslim and Croat leaders for a national uprising. However, whatever his intentions, he proved to have little attraction for non-Serbs. Đurišić, while leading his Montenegrin volunteer corps, who were related on paper to Dimitrije Ljotić
Dimitrije Ljotic
Dimitrije Ljotić was a Serbian politician and Nazi German collaborationist during World War II.Although born in Belgrade he spent most of his life in Smederevo. His ancestors came to Serbia from the village of Blace in what is today Greek Macedonia during the first half of 19th century...
's forces, accepted once again Mihailović's command. Mihailović ordered a general mobilization on September 1; his troops were engaged against the Germans and the Bulgarians, while also under attack by the Partisans. The Partisans penetrated Chetnik territory, fighting a difficult battle and ultimately defeating Mihailović's main force by October. On 6 October, what was left of Nedić's troops openly joined Mihailović. In the meantinme, the Red Army initially found no Partisans while entering from Romania and Bulgaria; they briefly cooperated with the Chetniks against retreating Germans, before disarming the Chetniks. Mihailović sent a delegation to the Soviet command, but his representatives were ignored, and ultimately arrested. Mihailović's movement collapsed in Serbia under the attacks of Soviets, Partisans, Bulgarians and the fights with the retreating Germans. Still hoping for a landing by the Western Allies, he headed for Bosnia with his staff, McDowell and a force of a few hundreds. He set up a few Muslim units and appointed Croat Major Matija Parac as the head of an as yet non-existent Croatian Chetnik army. Nedić himself had fled to Austria. On 25 May 1945, he wrote to general Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, asserting that he had always been a secret ally of Mihailović.
Now hoping for US support, Mihailović met a small British mission between the Neretva river and Dubrovnik, but realized that it wasn't the signal of the hoped-for landing. McDowell was evacuated on 1 November and was instructed to offer Mihailović the opportunity to leave with him. Mihailović refused, as he wanted to remain until the expected change of Western Allied policy. During the next weeks, the British government also raised the possibility of evacuating Mihailović by arranging a "rescue and honorable detention", and discussed the matter with the United States. In the end, no action was taken. In January 1945, Mihailović tried to regroup his forces on the Ozren
Ozren
Ozren is a mountain in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies between cities of Doboj and Zavidovići, partly in the Republika Srpska and partly in the Federation entity....
heights, planning Muslim, Croatian and Slovenian units. His troops were, however, decimated and worn out, some selling their weapons and ammunition, or pillaging the local population. Đurišić joined Mihailović, with his own depleted forces, and found out that Mihailović had no plan. Đurišić went his own way, and was killed on 12 April in a battle with the Ustaše.
On March 17, 1945, Mihailović was visited in Bosnia by German emissary Stärker, who requested that Mihailović transmit to the Allied headquarters in Italy a secret German offer of capitulation. Mihailović transmitted the message, which was to be his last. Dimitrije Ljotić
Dimitrije Ljotic
Dimitrije Ljotić was a Serbian politician and Nazi German collaborationist during World War II.Although born in Belgrade he spent most of his life in Smederevo. His ancestors came to Serbia from the village of Blace in what is today Greek Macedonia during the first half of 19th century...
and several independent Chetnik leaders in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
proposed the forming of a common anti-communist front in the north-western coast, which could be acceptable to the Western Allies. Mihailović was not in favor of such a heterogeneous gathering, but did not reject Ljotić's proposal entirely, since the littoral area would be a convenient place to meet the Western Allies, and to join Slovene anti-communists, while Germany's collapse might make an anti-communist alliance possible. He authorized the departure of all who wanted to go, but few Chetniks ultimately arrived on the coast, with many being decimated on their way by Ustaše, Partisans, sickness and hunger. On 13 April, Mihailović set out for northern Bosnia, on a 280 km-long march back to Serbia, aiming to start over a resistance movement, this time against the communists. His units were decimated by clashes with Ustaša, with Tito's forces, as well as dissension and typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
. On 10 May, they were under attack by the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
, successor to the Partisans. Mihailović managed to escape with 1,000 to 2,000 men, who gradually dispersed. Mihailović himself went into hiding in the mountains with a handful of men.
Capture, trial and execution
The communist Yugoslav authorities wanted to catch Mihailović alive in order to stage a full-scale political trial. He was finally caught on 13 March 1946. The elaborate circumstances of his capture were kept secret for sixteen years. According to one existing version, Mihailović was approached by men who were supposedly British agents offering him help and an evacuation by airplane. After hesitating, he boarded the airplane, only to discover that it was a trap set up by the OZNA. Another version, proposed by Tito's regime, is that he was betrayed by Nikola Kalabić, who revealed his place of hiding in exchange for leniency.The trial of Draža Mihailović
Trial of Draža Mihailovic
The Trial of Draža Mihailović, or the Belgrade Process, was the trial of Draža Mihailović and a number of other alleged so-called prominent collaborators for high treason and war crimes in 1946. Mihailović was tried as a leader of the Chetnik movement during World War II...
opened on 10 June 1946. His co-defendants were other prominent figures of the Chetnik movement as well as members of the Yugoslav government-in-exile, such as Slobodan Jovanović
Slobodan Jovanovic
Slobodan Jovanović was one of Serbia's most prolific jurists, historians, sociologists, journalists and literary critics. He distinguished himself with a characteristically clear and sharp writing style later called the "Belgrade style"...
, who were tried in absentia, but also members of ZBOR
ZBOR
Yugoslav National Movement "Zbor" , commonly known simply as ZBOR, was a Yugoslav fascist and conservative nationalist movement formed in 1935 by Dimitrije Ljotić. ZBOR's ideology was a blend of Italian Fascism, Nazism, and Serbian Orthodox Christian fundamentalism...
and of the Nedić regime. The main prosecutor was Miloš Minić
Miloš Minic
Miloš Minić was a Serbian communist politician....
, later Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Yugoslav government. Mihailović appeared physically and intellectually weakened, possibly by torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
. His answers were often incoherent. The Allied airmen he had rescued in 1944 were not allowed to testify in his favor. Mihailović evaded several questions by accusing some of his subordinates of incompetence and disregard of his orders. The trial shows, according to Jozo Tomasevich, that he had never firm and full control over his local commanders. A committee for the fair trial of General Mihailovic was set up in the United States, but to no avail. Mihailović is quoted as saying, in his final statement, "I wanted much; I began much; but the gale of the world carried away me and my work.".
Roberts considers that the trial was "anything but a model of justice" and that "it is clear that Mihailović was not guilty of all, or even many, of the charges brought against him" though Tito would probably not have had a fair trial either, had Mihailović prevailed. Mihailović was convicted of high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
and war crimes, and executed 17 July 1946. He was executed together with nine other officers in Lisičiji Potok, about 200 meters from the former Royal Palace. His body was reportedly covered with lime and the position of his unmarked grave was kept secret.
Family
In 1920, Draža Mihailović married Jelica Branković; they had three children. One of his sons, Branko Mihailović, was a sympathizer of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and later supported the Partisans. His daughter, Gordana Mihailović, also sided with the Partisans; she spent most of the war in Belgrade and, after the Partisans took the city, spoke on the radio to denounce her father as a traitor. While Mihailović was in prison, his children did not come to see him, and only his wife visited him. In 2005, Gordana Mihailović personally came to accept her father's posthumous award in the United States. Another son, Vojislav Mihailović, fought alongside his father and was killed in battle in May 1945.Legacy
Historians vary in their assessments of Mihilaović. Tomasevich suggests one main cause of his defeat was his failure to grow professionally, politically or ideologically as his responsibilities increased, rendering him unable to face both the exceptional circumstances of the war and the complex situation of the Chetniks. Tomasevich also criticizes Mihailović's loss of the Allies' support through the Chetniks' collaboration with the Axis, as well as his doctrine of "passive resistance" which was perceived as idleness, stating "of generalship in the general there was precious little." Pavlowitch also points to Mihilaović's failure to grow and evolve during the conflict and describes him as a man "generally out of his depth". Roberts asserts that Mihailović's policies were "basically static", that he "gambled all in the faith of an Allied victory," and that ultimately he was unable to control the Chentiks, who, "although hostile to the Germans and the Italians ... allowed themselves to drift into a policy of accommodations with both in the face of what they considered the greatest danger."Political views of Mihailović cover a wide range. After the war, Mihailović's wartime role was viewed in the light of his movement's collaboration, particularly in Yugoslavia where he was considered a collaborator convicted of high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
. Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
considered Mihailović a "pure hero", while Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
stated he considered intelligence reports had shown that Mihailović had engaged "...in active collaboration with the Germans". In the United States, due to the efforts of Major Richard L. Felman
Richard L. Felman
Richard L. Felman was a distinguished officer in the United States Air Force who flew combat missions during World War II and the Korean War, receiving 27 awards and decorations over the course of his military career....
and his friends, President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
, on the recommendation of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, posthumously awarded Mihailović the Legion of Merit
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
for the rescue of American airmen by the Chetniks. The award and the story of the rescue was classified secret by the State Department so as not to offend the Yugoslav government.
- "General Dragoljub Mihailovich distinguished himself in an outstanding manner as Commander-in-Chief of the Yugoslavian Army Forces and later as Minister of War by organizing and leading important resistance forces against the enemy which occupied Yugoslavia, from December 1941 to December 1944. Through the undaunted efforts of his troops, many United States airmen were rescued and returned safely to friendly control. General Mihailovich and his forces, although lacking adequate supplies, and fighting under extreme hardships, contributed materially to the Allied cause, and were instrumental in obtaining a final Allied victory." (March 29, 1948, Harry S. TrumanHarry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
)
- "The unparalleled rescue of over 500 American Airmen from capture by the Enemy Occupation Forces in Yugoslavia during World War II by General Dragoljub Mihailovich and his Chetnik Freedom Fighters for which this "Legion of Merit" medal was awarded by President Harry S. Truman, also represents a token of deep personal appreciation and respect by all those rescued American Airmen and their descendants, who will be forever grateful." (NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF AMERICAN AIRMEN RESCUED BY GENERAL MIHAILOVICH - 1985)
Almost sixty years after his death, on 29 March 2005, Draža Mihailović's daughter, Gordana, was presented with the posthumous decoration by president George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. The decision was controversial; in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
Zoran Pusić, head of the Civil Committee for Human Rights, protested against the decision and stated that Mihailović was directly responsible for the war crimes committed by the Chetniks.
With the breakup of Yugoslavia and the renewal of ethnic nationalism, the historical perception of Mihailović's collaboration has been challenged by parts of the public in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and other ethnic Serb
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
-populated regions of Yugoslavia. In the 1980s, political and economic problems within Yugoslavia undermined faith in the communist regime, and historians in SR Serbia began a re-evaluation of current historiography and a rehabilitation of Mihailović and the Chetniks. In the 1990s, during the Yugoslav Wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
, several Serbian nationalist groups began calling themselves "Chetniks", while Serb paramilitaries often self-identified with them and were referred to as such. Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj, JD is a Serbian politician, writer and lawyer. He is the founder and president of the Serbian Radical Party and was vice-president of Serbia between 1998 and 2000...
's Serbian Radical Party
Serbian Radical Party
The Serbian Radical Party is a far-right Serbian nationalist political party in Serbia, founded in 1991. Currently the second-largest party in the Serbian National Assembly, it has branches in three of the nations that currently border Serbia – all former federal republics of Yugoslavia...
formed the White Eagles
White Eagles (paramilitary)
The White Eagles , also known as the Avengers , were a Serbian paramilitary group associated with the Serbian National Renewal and the Serbian Radical Party...
, a paramilitary group considered responsible for war crimes and ethnic cleansing, which identified with the Chetniks. Vuk Drašković
Vuk Draškovic
Vuk Drašković , leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, is a Serbian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia.He graduated from the University of Belgrade's Law School in 1968...
's Serbian Renewal Movement
Serbian Renewal Movement
The Serbian Renewal Movement is a political party in Serbia.It was founded in 1990.In 1997 a dissident group abandoned the party and formed New Serbia....
was closely associated with the Serbian Guard
Serbian Guard
The Serbian Guard was a Serbian paramilitary active in Croatia during its War of Independence with close ties to the Serbian Renewal Movement . Eighty percent of the guard's members were members of the SPO...
, which was also associated with Chetniks and monarchism. Reunions of Chetnik survivors and nostalgics and of Mihailović admirers have been held in Serbia By the late 20th and early 21st century, Serbian history textbooks and academic works characterized Milhailović and the Chetniks as "fighters for a just cause", and Chetnik massacres of civilians and commission of war crimes were ignored or barely mentioned. In 2004 Mihailovic was officially rehabilitated in Serbia by an act of the Serbian Parliament.
The revised image of Mihailović is not shared in non-Serbian post-Yugoslav nations. In Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
analogies are drawn between war crimes committed during World War II and those of the Yugoslav wars, and Mihailović is "seen as a war criminal responsible for ethnic cleansing and genocidal massacres." The differences were illustrated in 2004, when a Serbian basketball player, Milan Gurović, who has a tattoo of Mihailović on his left arm, was banned by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior Zlatko Mehun from traveling to Croatia for refusing to cover the tattoo, as its display was deemed equivalent to "provoking hatred or violence because of racial background, national identity or religious affiliation." Serbian press and politicians reacted to the ban with surprise and indignation, while in Croatia the decision was seen as "wise and a means of protecting the player himself against his own stupidity."
In 2009, a Serb group based in Chicago offered a reward of $100,000.00 for help finding Mihailovic's grave. A commission formed by the Serbian government began an investigation and in 2010 suggested Mihailovic may have been interred at
Ada Ciganlija.
See also
- ChetniksChetniksChetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
- Operation HalyardOperation HalyardOperation Halyard, also known as the Halyard Mission, was the largest Allied airlift operation behind enemy lines during World War II. A total of 512 allied airmen who had been downed over Nazi-occupied Serbia were rescued by Serbian Chetniks, led by General Draža Mihailović...
- Richard L. FelmanRichard L. FelmanRichard L. Felman was a distinguished officer in the United States Air Force who flew combat missions during World War II and the Korean War, receiving 27 awards and decorations over the course of his military career....
- Operation Hydra (Yugoslavia)Operation Hydra (Yugoslavia)Operation Hydra was a failed British attempt during World War II at the Yugoslav Front to develop contact with Yugoslav partisans in the Podgorica area, led by Josip Broz Tito...
- Trial of Draža MihailovićTrial of Draža MihailovicThe Trial of Draža Mihailović, or the Belgrade Process, was the trial of Draža Mihailović and a number of other alleged so-called prominent collaborators for high treason and war crimes in 1946. Mihailović was tried as a leader of the Chetnik movement during World War II...
- Yugoslavia and the AlliesYugoslavia and the AlliesIn 1941 when the Axis invaded Yugoslavia, King Peter II formed a Government in exile in London, and in January 1942 the royalist Draža Mihailović became the Minister of War with British backing. But by June or July 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had decided to withdraw support from...
- Kosta PećanacKosta PecanacKosta Milovanović Pećanac was a Chetnik voivoda during the Second World War.-Origin:Kosta Milovanović was born in 1879, the exact date is not known as his military paper only has the year of birth. His father was a guardian of the Visoki Dečani monastery. His parents both died during an attack by...
- Pećanac Chetniks
- Ljubo NovakovićLjubo NovakovićLjubo Novaković was a Serbian brigadier-general active in the Royal Yugoslav Army who was later a figure in the Chetnik resistance. After the Invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 he was confined to a military hospital in Valjevo within occupied Serbia...
Further reading
- Juce, Sinoc. Pjetlovi nad Tigrovima, Sanski Most, BiH: Begovic-Bosanska Krajina Press 2007
- Martin, David. Ally Betrayed: The Uncensored Story of Tito and Mihailović. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1946.
- 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 Draja Mihailović. Hoover Archival Documentaries. Hoover Institution Publication, volume 191. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1978.http://www.jstor.org/view/00028762/di951412/95p01152/0
- Roberts, Walter R. Tito, Mihailović, and the Allies, 1941–1945. New Brunswick, New Jersey: 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.
- Tucaković, SemsoŠemso TucakovićDr. Šemso Tucaković, Ph.D, is a Bosnian writer, historian and faculty member in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Sarajevo....
. Srpski zlocini nad Bosnjacima Muslimanima, 1941 - 1945. Sarajevo: El Kalem, 1995.
External links
- Execution of Draža's Instructions by his Commander, "Bloody Priest" Momcilo Djujić
- Trial of Draža Mihailović
- General Mihailovich on TIME Magazine cover, 1942
- V-E Day celebrations in Serbia with Chetnik and U.S. veterans
- Mihailović's bio at Columbia Encyclopedia
- Biography of Dragoljub-Draža Mihailović at Vojska.net
- Australian Government - Historical Publications on Mihailović
- SUC Biography
- Congressional Record on Mihailović
- General Mihailović's Legion of Merit
- Erection of Mihailović monument in US
- Stenographic record of trial
- Chetniks movie