Chetniks

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Serbian Chetnik Movement
Српски Четнички Покрет
Srpski Četnicki Pokret
Flag of the Chetnik movement
Active1904 - 1929
13 May 1941
- 14 August 1944
1992 - 1998
AllegianceKingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Karađorđević dinasty)
Typeguerrilla force
Roleformation of Greater Serbia
Garrison/HQRavna Gora (WW2)
Commanders
Deputy Commander-in-ChiefJovan Babunski
Kosta Pećanac
Gligor Sokolović
Vasilije Trbić
Draža Mihailović

The Chetniks (Serbian: Четници, Četnici) were a Royalist paramilitary formations operating in the Balkans before and during World Wars. During World War II, the Chetniks were known officially as "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland" (Serbian: Југословенска војска у отаџбини, Jugoslovenska vojska u otadžbini, ЈВУО, JVUO), and consisted mostly of radical nationalist Serbs loyal to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's government in exile. The name "Chetnik" was also used by some guerrilla squads active in the wars in the Balkans prior to World War I. The name chetnik is derived from the Serbian word četa (чета) which means "military company", itself derived from Turkish çete, gang or band (e.g., of brigands).

In modern times, especially during and after Yugoslav Wars, "chetnik" come to be used as an ethnic slur against Serbs. However, some Serb nationalist and paramilitary organizations self-identified with the term.

1904-1929

Jovan Babunski

The word chetnik was first used in early XX century Macedonia by the IMRO freedom fighters against the Ottoman Empire. Soon, most ethnic groups in the Balkans had their own chetnik detachments: Serbs, Bulgarians, Greek Andartes and Albanian Kacak. Part of the IMRO members that fought till 1903 as pro-Bulgarian Macedonians, in 1903 started fighting as pro-Serbian Macedonians. This was due the offers made by Serb officials vis-a-vis the new policy of the Serbian kingdom towards Macedonia. In Vranje in 1904 the organization "Serb Chetnik Movement" (Српски Четнички Покрет) was formed by the members of the St. Sava organization, by members of the army and representatives of the ministry of foreign affairs. Besides the autonomist IMRO chetniks that already existed in Macedonia, Serbia started equipping and sending pro-Serbian Macedonian chetniks which started attacking both the autonomist and the pro-Bulgarian chetniks. The Serb chetniks were fighting against the Macedonian liberation movement and were conducting Belgrade's plans of force Serbisation of the Slavic population of Macedonia. This started the begging of the so-called "Macedonian struggle".

Pro-Serbian chetniks in Skopje 1908

The Macedonian pro-Serbian chetniks from 1904 till 1908 created strongholds in Skopje and Prilep (Porech) regions after several battles against the Turks and the IMRO, but could not extend their territory due to the IMRO presence in the other parts of Macedonia. The most prominent Serbian chetniks from Macedonia were Jovan Babunski and Gligor Sokolovic. After the proclamation of the Young Turk revolution in 1908 and the proclamation of the constitution, all of the brigands in Macedonia, including the pro-Serbian chetniks put down their weapons. This period lasted till 1912, when the Balkan countries once again started arming guerrilla bands in Macedonia in order to help them in operations against the ottoman army.

At the start of the Balkan wars there were 110 Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), 108 Greek, 30 Serbian, and 5 Vlach detachments. They fought against the Turks in the First Balkan War, while in World War I they fought against Austria-Hungary.

World War I

In WWI the Chetniks were fighting against the Bulgarian army and organized the Toplicko inssurection, which was quickly crushed by the Bulgarian army with help from the Ottoman Empire.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

After the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the arrival of peacetime, the Chetnik movement experienced a transition from merely a guerrila force. In 1921 the Organization of Chetniks for Freedom in Honour of the Fatherland (Udruženje četnika za slobodu i čast Otadžbine) was formed and in 1924 the Organization of Serbian Chetniks for King and Fatherland (Udruženje srpskih četnika za Kralja i Otadžbinu) and Organization of Serbian Chetniks Petar Mrkonjić (Udruženje srpskih četnika Petar Mrkonjić) followed. These last two merged together the following year as the Organization of Serbian Chetniks Petar Mrkonjić.

After King Alexander's dictatorship in 1929 Organization of Serbian Chetniks Petar Mrkonjić was banned while the Organization of Chetniks for Freedom in Honour of the Fatherland was allowed to continue operating. Kosta Pećanac was the organization's leader from 1932 to the end of the state in 1941.[1].

1941-1944

File:DrazamWW2.jpg
Draza Mihailovic, the leader of the Chetniks

During WWII, the Chetnik Movement was reactivated under the form of the "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland". The "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland" was founded during on 13 May 1941 in the Ravna Gora province of Serbia, by Colonel Dragoljub Mihailović. The founding of the army was mobilized by young Prince Petar II. The period was dated around Nazi Germany's invasion of Yugoslavia and ended during Yugoslavia's surrender on 17 April. Although most of its members were Serbs and Montenegrins, the army also included some Slovenes, Croats, and Muslims by nationality.

Mihailović never officially approved of the term Chetnik for his forces and. in 1944, when reorganising the JVUO, announced: "The 'Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland' has done its work under that title. It has never had, nor does it have, the title Chetnik, or militia commands."

In Dalmatia and Montenegro, and in accordance with British policy that they should ensure civilians were not subjected to reprisals, many Chetniks made deals with the Italians—sometimes to protect themselves from the Ustaše, sometimes to help them fight the Communists. Opinion varies as to how much Mihailović knew or approved of what some of his commanders did, but his control of th JVUO was tenuous, and it was difficult for him to extend his authority far beyond his headquarters. Some, like Kosta Pećanac, one of the pre-1914 Chetnik leaders, were loyal to King Peter II but never accepted Mihailović as commander-in-chief. Pećanac, leading a force of 3,000 in southern Serbia, felt that he, as a man with 40 years service, was senior to Mihailović. Mihailović also had to contend with commanders like Dobroslav Jevđević. They paid lip-service to him while doing as they wished.

World War II activities

File:Chetniks with German soldiers.jpg
Chetniks posing with soldiers of the German occupation forces.

After the surrender of the Yugoslav Royal Army in April 1941, some of the remaining Yugoslav soldiers organized "Yugoslav Royal Army in the Fatherland" in the Ravna Gora district of western Serbia under Colonel Dragoljub (Draža) Mihailović to fight the German occupation. They were mostly ethnic Serbs though there were some Slovenes and Croats, Muslims as well. Mihailović directed his units to arm themselves and await his orders for the final push. He avoided actions which he judged were of low strategic importance. The reason behind his resolve was the fact that he had been a World War I officer.

Between 1941 and 1943, Mihailović's Chetniks had the support of the Western Allies. In 1942, TIME Magazine featured an article which described the success of Mihailović's Chetniks. TIME heralded him as the sole defender of freedom in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Josip Broz Tito's Partisans fought the Nazis too. But they were generally inactive until after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. At one time, the Germans offered a bounty of 100,000 Reichsmarks for the head of Mihailović.

Throughout World War II, the Chetniks were faced with the two main categories of enemies. On one side were the German occupiers and the Ustaše. On the other side were the Communist Partisans. The rival anti-fascist movements, Tito's Partisans and Mihailović's Chetniks collaborated initially. But they soon turned against each other. Inside Serbia a bitter civil war ensued.

After the 1941 summer uprising, the guerilla activity of the Chetniks increased, and the forces of Nazi Germany retaliated very harshly against the civilian population. The Germans introduced exacting punitive measures for guerilla activities. For example, 100 Serb civilians were to be executed for every German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) soldier killed. 50 civilians were executed for each German wounded.

In late 1941, the Germans started a massive offensive on the areas of Ravna Gora and Užice. The bulk of the Chetnik forces had to retreat for eastern Bosnia and Sandžak. There they came in direct conflict with the Ustaše, the fascist regime of Independent State of Croatia.

The Western Allies originally supported the Chetniks because they were a better option for them than the potentially pro-Soviet Communist Partisans. The Allies had planned an invasion of the Balkans, and so the Yugoslav resistance movements were strategically important, and there was a need to make a decision which of the two factions to support. A number of Special Operations Executive missions were sent to the Balkans to determine the facts on the ground. In the mean time, the Allies stopped planning an invasion of the Balkans and finally reverted their support from the Chetniks and instead supported the Partisans. At the Teheran Conference of 1943 and the Yalta Conference of 1945, Stalin and Churchill decided to split their influence in Yugoslavia in half.

On 14 August 1944, the Tito-Šubašić agreement between Partisans and the royal government was signed on the island of Vis. The document called on all Slovenes, Croats, Serbs to join Partisans. Partisans were recognized by the royal government as Yugoslavia's regular Army but were not so recognized by Mihailović and many Chetniks. On 29 August King Peter II dismissed General Mihailović as Chief-of-Staff of Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland (possibly because of collaboration with the Axis) and on 12 September appointed Tito in his place. In late 1944, Serbian leader Milan Nedić transferred all the fascist Serbian troops under his command to Mihailović.[2]

In April and May 1945, as the victorious Yugoslav army took possession of the country's territory, many Chetniks retreated toward Italy and a smaller group retreated to Austria. Many were captured by Partisans or returned to Yugoslavia by British forces and a number were killed afterwards at Bleiburg. Some were tried in Kangaroo courts for treason and either sentenced to prison terms or death. Many were summarily executed, especially in the first months after the end of the war. In 1946, the last Chetnik units under the command of Draža Mihajlović were captured in eastern Bosnia.

During the closing years of World War II, many Chetniks defected from their units in 1944 and early 1945, when there was a general amnesty granted for royalist forces. Many Chetniks took up the offer; this treatment was also received by the Domobran fighters, but it was also extended to the Ustaše. By the end of the war, the Chetniks were still important in numbers. Some retreated with German forces north to surrender to Anglo-American forces; Mihailović and his few remaining followers tried to fight their way back to the Ravna Gora, but he was captured by Tito's Partisans. In March 1946, Mihailović was brought to Belgrade, where he was tried and executed on charges of treason in July even though he never fought under Tito.

The last remaining "World War II" Chetnik, the commandant Vladimir Šipčić, called "Vlado", was captured on the Herzegovina-Montenegro border area in 1957.

Allied pilot rescues and Legion of Merit

Main article: Operation Halyard

The Chetniks rescued 500 U.S. airmen who crashed over Yugoslavia in 1944-45.

Due to the efforts of Major Richard L. Felman and 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 (Operation Airbridge).

For the first time in history, this high award and the story of the rescue was classified secret by the State Department so as not to offend the communist government of Yugoslavia. Such a display of appreciation for the Chetniks would not be welcomed as they switched sides to Tito's Partisans during the war.

Chetnik ideology

The Chetniks were founded as a Royalist movement. The Chetnik salute was: "For King and Fatherland" ("За краља и отаџбину", "Za kralja i otadžbinu").

Many Chetniks started to grow elaborate beards during the war. Growing beards is a traditional Orthodox Christian way to sorrow. It was said that they would keep their beards until their King returned.

Some ethnic Croats,[3] Slovenes[4] and Bosnian Muslims[5][6] also joined Chetnik forces. Most of them were democratically oriented Yugoslav patriots or monarchists, anti-communists and anti-fascists. They didn’t fight for Greater Serbia but for the liberation of their homeland, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. But, as the Chetnik movement didn't have a strong hierarchy, a number of Chetnik units had a clear Serbian nationalist ideology. Also, during the war Mihailović was changing his position from Yugoslavian unitarist to Serbian nationalist. Yet in January, 1944, Mahailović convened the Congress of St Sava Mihailović which was organised by Zivko Topalovic, leader of the Yugoslav Socialist Party, and held at Ba in the Suvobor Mountains, Serbia. It was attended by delegates from all over Yugoslavia. Mihailović has often been termed an 'ultra Serb' but that label is not borne out by his comments at the Congress, or the resolutions adopted. In his statement at the opening, he said: "With the utmost vigour I refute all suggestions, wherever they may come from, that the army, and I personally, have any dictatorial intentions... "In addition, our laws are sufficient guarantee that right will be satisfied. Because of that, the innocent cannot suffer. They will receive protection from me, personally, and from the army. We will not tolerate any unilateral initiatives." The Congress made seven resolutions. They were undoubtedly anti-communist, but there was no suggestion that communism should be banned after the war or that Yugoslavia should become a Greater Serbia. Instead, the resolutions called for a federal state with political and cultural rights for all citizens. Peter Karadjordjevic was to be the constitutional monarch until such time as a freely elected national assembly chose to remove him.

Collaboration

File:Meeting between German, Chetniks and Ustaša commander.jpg
German General Major Friedrich Stahl stands alongside an Ustasa officer and Chetnik Commander Rade Radic in central Bosnia.

In occupied Serbia, Nazis had Milan Aćimović installed as leader, and later the former Minister of War, General Milan Nedić, who governed until 1944.

Milan Nedić operated semi-independently. One group remained under the pre-war leader, Kosta Pećanac, and started collaborating with the Germans against the Communist Partisans. In Independent State of Croatia (NDH), Chetniks were under the command of Vojvoda Đujić in the Serbian Krajina region where they organized themselves in response to Ustaša attacks on Serbian villages.

Nedić reluctantly supported Hitler and met with him in 1943. Nedić who in fact hated the Kingdom formed his own paramilitary storm troops known as the State Guard. The Guard was comprised of former ex-members of the Chetniks which had existed as an all-Serbian para-military police force under King Alexander and Prince Paul. When Yugoslavia disintegrated, a minor faction of so-called Chetniks swore allegiance to the new Serbian Nazi government. Another minor group remained under the pre-war leader, Kosta Pećanac, who openly collaborated with the Germans. A third pseudo-Chetnik faction followed the Serbian Fascist Dimitrije Ljotić, but they were in fact more collaborators than real Chetniks. Ljotić's units were primarily responsible for tracking down Chetniks from Mihailović units for execution or deportation to concentration camps. Only 1,115 of Belgrade's twelve thousand Jews would survive. Ninety-five per cent of the Jewish population of Serbia was exterminated by German forces.

In the areas of NDH, which included Bosnia and Croatia, a bitter ethnic war was fought. The ruling Ustaše regime had proclaimed as its goal to exterminate one third of the Serbs, expel the other third and convert the rest to the Catholic faith. Chetniks fought both the Ustaše and Partisans in these areas and collaborated with Italy. The areas around Višegrad, Zvornik, Foča, Čajniče, Pljevlja were gravely impacted by this kind of ethnic cleansing until Tito's Partisans arrived at the site in large numbers in 1942. There's one report of 2,000 Serb men killed in Foča, and another report of 1,200 fighters and 8,000 civilians killed in easternmost Bosnia and Sandžak during this time.

It is to be noted that Partisans too were involved in numerous war crimes. These included the murder of thousands of Ustaše and Domobran fighters in the Bleiburg massacre and unselective execution of large groups of people in the aftermath of the war, including native Germans from Vojvodina, Italians in northern Yugoslavia, Hungarians in Vojvodina, ideological and political opponents, as well as people whose collaboration with Germans was only suspected. After the war, the communist police were also trying to catch Chetnik commanders.

Second Yugoslavia

After the end of World War II, the Chetniks and the Royalist movement were banned in Communist Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Socijalistička federativna republika Jugoslavija ). On 29 November1945, King Peter II of Yugoslavia was deposed by a Communist Constituent Assembly controlled by Josip Broz Tito.

Chetnik leaders either escaped the country or were captured and executed by the Communists. On 13 March 1946, Draža Mihailović was captured by Tito's security agency, Department for Protection of the People (Organ Zaštite Naroda (Armije), or OZNA). Mihailović was executed on 18 July.

Later, Momčilo Đujić formed the Movement of Serbian Chetniks of Ravna Gora in the United States and Canada.[7]

Contemporary period

Rehabilitation in Serbia

In late 2004, the National Assembly of Serbia passed a new law that equalized the rights of the former Chetnik members with those of the former Partisans, including the right to war pensions. Rights were granted on the basis that both were anti-fascist movements that fought occupiers, and this formulation has entered the law. The vote was 176 for, 24 against and 4 abstained. The socialist party (SPS) of Slobodan Milošević was the one voting against the decision.

File:LegionMeritDraza.gif
Dragoljub Mihailović was posthumously awarded with the Legion of Merit by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, 1948

There have been varying reactions to the law in Serbian public opinion. Many have praised it as just and long overdue, including the Prince Alexander Karađorđević of Yugoslavia (son of the last Yugoslav king), as well as most political parties (with the most notable exception of SPS). Others protested the decision, including the Serbian Association of Former Partisans, the Serbian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the Croatian Anti-Fascist Movement, and the President and Prime Minister of Croatia.

Since 1992, the Serbian Renewal Movement has annually organized the Ravna Gora Parliament.[8] In 2005, Croatian president Stipe Mesić cancelled a planned visit to Serbia as it coincided with the gathering, officially supported by the Serbian government, and attended by Vuk Drašković. Predsjednik Mesiæ O Odgodi Posjeta Scg-U]</ref> People who attend the Parliament wear Chetnik-World War II insignia.[9]

Modern Chetnik movements include:

References

  1. ^ www.glas-javnosti.co.yu
  2. ^ Serbian State Guard
  3. ^ General Mihailović with Zvonko Vuckovic, commandant of 1st Chetnik Corps. Mr. Vuckovic was an ethnic Croat – loyal officer of Royal Yugoslav Army.
  4. ^ Uros Sustaric, one of famous Slovene Chetniks Template:Sl icon
  5. ^ Mr. Mustafa Mulalic, a Muslim officer in Chetnik headquarters, together with General Mihailović and Mr. Stevan Moljević (only three of them are in uniform)
  6. ^ General Mihailović with Muslim leaders in Bijeljina.
  7. ^ NOVINAR.de » Tekst Pisma Vojvode Momčila - episkopu kanadskom Georgiju (Đokiću) | online novine koje zajedno stvaramo - vesti iz zemlje i sveta
  8. ^ Ravna Gora Parliament, 15th time
  9. ^ Ravna Gora Parliament
  10. ^ The Movement of Serbian Chetniks Ravne Gore Chapters

Bibliography

  • Tomasevich, Jozo, War and Revolution in Yugoslavia: The Chetniks. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975
  • Milazzo, Matteo J., The Chetnik Movement and the Yugoslav Resistance. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975
  • Hoare, Marko A., Genocide and Resistance in Hitler's Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks, 1941-1943. London: Oxford University Press, 2006
  • Karchmar, Lucien. Draža Mihailović and the Rise of the Četnik Movement, 1941-1942. New York: Garland Pub., 1987.
  • Lees, Michael. The Rape of Serbia: The British Role in Tito's Grab for Power, 1943-1944. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991.
  • Martin, David. Ally Betrayed: The Uncensored Story of Tito and Mihailović. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1946.
  • Sipcic, Radoje. Vladimir "Vlado" Sipcic, The Last King's Soldier of the Kingdom Paris, FR: Integra; Beograd: Paris, 2004.
  • Martin, David. Patriot or Traitor: The Case of General Mihailović: Proceedings and Report of the Commission of Inquiry of the Committee for a Fair Trial for Draža Mihailović. Hoover Archival Documentaries. Hoover Institution Publication, Volume 191. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1978.
  • Martin, David. The Web of Disinformation: Churchill’s Yugoslav Blunder. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990.
  • Pavasovic, Mike "Cetniks, Heroes or Villains?" History Today, April, 1992
  • Roberts, Walter R. Tito, Mihailović, and the Allies, 1941–1945. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1973.
  • Trew, Simon. Britain, Mihailović, and the Chetniks, 1941–42. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin’s Press in association with King’s College, London, 1998.
  • Freeman, Gregory A. "The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All For the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II" NAL Hardcover 2007, ISBN-10: 0451222121

See also

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