The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Germany in April 1941.
After 12 days the kingdom was overthrown. After this two resistance groups emerged within Axis-
occupied Yugoslavia: there were Tito's communist partisans and the royalist Chetniks, who were led by "Draža" Mihailović
Now at some point Chetnik units started to collaborate with the Axis powers... why was
this? In this video you're going to learn about the Chetniks during World War II in Yugoslavia.
Good to have you back on the channel. If you're new: I'm Stefan, I'm a Dutch history teacher and I make
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Thanks; you can all find the information below the video. Okay, so first and foremost: what you
must realize is when I talk about the Chetniks in World War II it was not an homogenous group; it
perhaps started as such under Colonel Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović but soon fractured in different groups that either
collaborated with the Axis or resisted Axis rule. And Mihailović was not in control
of all units. Mid-April 1941 Mihailović formed a guerrilla movement with the leftovers of the now
bygone Royal Yugoslav Army. He headed for German occupied Serbia; mid-May he established its HQ on
Mount Ravna Gora near Valjevo. Till August he expanded his forces: first named 'Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army'
and later redesignated 'Military Chetnik Detachments'. “He understood that the war against
Germany would be a long one. Although he does not seem to have thought of starting immediate active
resistance, he envisaged his movement as one to be coordinated with outside plans and support. […]
Mihailović was a legitimist. He had no political agenda beyond maintaining, if only symbolically,
the persistence of the Yugoslav state, and opposing the mood of defeatism.” When on the 31st of August
1941 they took control over a town called Loznica in Western Serbia this was actually the
first town to be liberated from the Axis forces. In the months after they took other towns and cities
as well. In September Mihailović was recognized by the Yugoslav government-in-exile in London as
well as the British as the leader of the Yugoslav Resistance: the British sent 30 missions to the
country. Around the same time Tito's partisans established the Uzice Republic in the area. Mihailović
organized 10,000 Chetniks into 27 Detachments in four Commands: Western Serbia, Eastern
and South Serbia and Bosnia. Another isolated Slovene Command was also established. Chetnik
and partisans attacked German forces combined in August 1941. In September they fought side by side
again and also during the Siege of Kraljevo in October. It resulted in a German retaliation
in which over two thousands citizens of Kraljevo were massacred by the Germans and here we see a
reason why Mihailović became hesitant to attack the Germans full on: the brutal reprisals that
occurred after it; for every German soldier wounded the Germans announced 50 Serbian civilians would
be shot, 100 for a dead German and 1000 for a dead senior officer. Mihailović believed this
was not worth the resistance; he had witnessed what happened to his country in World War One where he
fought in the Serbian Army and was involved in the Great Retreat through Albania in 1915... and a great
deal of the Serbian population perished at the hands of the Central Powers. He was afraid that the
Serbian nation would cease to exist if he would continue his resistance. “The Chetniks’ conviction
that they were fighting for the survival of the Serb race was, of course, an exaggeration. But in the
light of Serb experiences during the Great War; in light of the Ustaše’s genocidal policy against Serbs in Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina;
and in light of the ruthless behaviour of the Nazis, the Chetniks may be forgiven for thinking that there did exist a plan to liquidate all Serbs.
For this reason, Mihailovic and his commanders were most reluctant to provoke the Germans for fear of reprisals against civilians.”
Mihailović met with Tito on several occasions but they failed to
reach an agreement; armed confrontations between Chetniks and partisans followed on the 1st of
November Chetnik forces attacked Uzice but were driven back to Ravna Gora. Now on the 11th
of November Mihailović met with the Germans but he failed to reach an understanding with them too... yet
around 3500 Chetniks joined the collaborationist forces of Milan Nedić and were known as 'Legalized Chetniks'.
Confrontations with the Germans made Mihailović retreat to Sandzak and Tito to
Bosnia. Let's take a look at the Chetnik ideology. The Chetniks were Serbian dominated; originally
these were Serbian guerrilla bands in the 19th century that protected Serbians against the
Ottomans. The tradition was preserved in interwar Yugoslavia where in 1921 the Chetnik Association
was established and in April 1940, one year before the Axis invasion, the Chetnik Assault Troops
were formed as a part of the Royal Yugoslav Army. Now after the Axis take over a year later remnants
of the Yugoslav Army organized themselves together and formed a resistance movement against the
Germans. Since they were recognized by the Yugoslav government-in-exile they stood for the Yugoslav
monarchy that was headed by King Peter who had sit on a throne for a short time. See Regent Paul
succeeded King Alexander I after he was assassinated in 1934 and the 25th of March 1941
Paul signed the Tripartite Pact. He thought there was no other option but two days later a coup
took place in Belgrade, Paul had to resign and King Peter II was put on the throne. And on the
6th of April the Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia. In June 1941 Stevan Moljević wrote a discourse
named Homogeneous Serbia in which he envisioned a Greater Serbia where there was no room for
non-Serbs. The Chetniks they hoped for Allied landings on Dalmatia so their approach was mostly
static protecting: Serbian villages and minimize casualties. The idea was that the Allies would
arrive sooner or later. “The bulk of Chetnik forces, on the other hand, were attached not just
to specific districts but to individual villages. Their tactics were defensive, aimed at maintaining local freedom of action.
As such, the Chetniks were not highly organized or flexible; although most payed lip service to Mihailovic as their leader, they did not consider themselves bound to him:
if they did not feel like leaving their villages on a mission, they would not do so.” In June 1942
the USSR are stopped supporting the Chetniks and they condemned Mihailović as a collaborator.
Instead they now supported Tito's partisans. Although local Chetnik leaders did make
agreements with the Axis, Mihailović remained loyal to London and the British they wanted the Chetniks
to be more aggressive: in the second half of 1942 the Chetniks derailed ten Axis trains, sabotaging
tracks and railway buildings and destroying bridges. As a result 27 000 Serbs were massacred
by the Germans. Early 1943 another reorganization took place, late 1943 the Chetniks counted for 30 000
men. That year Mihailović carried out sabotage missions and attacked the partisans, despite London's
orders to only focus on the Axis. Between February and March the partisans crossed into
Eastern Herzegovina as up to 50 000 Chetniks with Italian support failed to stop them. In
May0June during the Battle of Sutjeska (known as the 5th Enemy Offensive by the partisans
Case Black by the Germans) the Axis drove the partisans into Eastern Bosnia and disarmed 7000
Chetniks as Mihailović made it to Serbia. As Italy surrendered in September 1943 many Croats joined
the partisans and also the partisans captured much of the Italian weaponry and this eventually gave
them the upper hand. I the second half of 1943 the Chetniks had not much success against either the
partisans or the Germans. Between November 1943 and March 1944 Chetnik officers concluded short-term
cooperation agreements with the Germans; this split Chetnik opinion. At the Teheran conference (the
meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill) at the end of 1943 the Allies
agreed to abandon Mihailović in favor of Tito. The British withdrew their aid in March 1944.
The Americans undertook operations to rescue 500 downed Allied airmen. The Chetniks contributed
ten thousand men to fight sign by side with the Germans against the partisans: on the
1st of September 1944 Mihailović announced general Chetnik mobilization in Serbia producing 30 to 40 000
men. They conquered several towns and cities... yet on the 12th of September King Peter under British
pressure broadcasted to all Yugoslavs to join Tito and reject Mihailović. In October 1944 Nedić's
Serbian State Guard was reformed into the Chetnik Serbia Assault Corps. This unit was disbanded
early 1945. As the partisans gained control of Serbia the Chetniks were driven into Bosnia and
had to keep up good terms with the Germans as their other allies had halted their support.
The final battle against the partisans occurred mid-May after the German surrender: the Battle of
Zelengora. This resulted in the destruction of the Chetnik forces. Mihailović escaped yet again
and he was captured a year later in Visegrad. He was tried and shot by furing squad in Belgrade on the 17th of
July 1948. Many other Chetniks were hunted down as thousands became fugitives. They hid
from Tito's secret police, many moved at night to stay out of sight... many went to their families but
not always was this a safe haven. Nazi and ustasha camps were now used by the communists to intern
many people: in total tens of thousands of people were executed by the communists in 1946-47. While
hundreds of thousands were interned of them tens of thousands were eventually pardoned because
of the labor shortage in post-war Yugoslavia. One feature that made the Chetniks very distinctive
was their long beards and long hair, now not all men had this though. In general they wore pre-1941
Yugoslav uniforms and equipment was gradually replaced with Axis, British or civilian items.
Many wore the Šajkača cap. The role of the Chetniks and especially Mihailović c during WW2
is debated till this very day. We must not forget that Chetnik units committed horrifying
atrocities against Croatian and Muslim civilians, this can be linked to the discussed written
discourse of Stevan Moljević - Homogeneous Serbia - in which a Greater Serbia was envisioned with no
room for non-Serbs. To what extent this discourse attributed to the massacres that were carried out
by the Chetniks remains disputed. It is certain that Chetnik units committed grave atrocities
against civilians - Muslims and Croats - but what is not certain is the exact death toll: this ranges
from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands and also to what extent Mihailović was involved
in this also remains disputed... some argue that he encouraged the killings and others say he
wanted to prevent these killings, but even if Mihailović wanted to prevent or halt the
atrocities against civilians, he had no effective command structure to do this. This is also proven
by the many Chetnik units that went their own way and did not listen to Mihailović.