Chetniks in the Balkan Wars | |
---|---|
Active | 8 Oct 1912 – 10 Aug 1913 |
Country | Serbia |
Allegiance | Kingdom of Serbia |
Type | Auxiliaries |
Engagements | Balkan wars |
The Chetniks in the Balkan Wars, were paramilitary groups issued of the Serbian Chetnik Organization which, after fighting in the Macedonian Struggle, came under the supervision of the Royal Serbian Army as auxiliary force. During the Balkan Wars, the Chetniks detachments were used as a vanguard to soften up the enemy forward of advancing armies, for attacks on communications behind enemy lines, as field gendarmerie and to establish basic administration in occupied areas. [1] They were used in both Balkan Wars. [1]
The Chetniks were members of Serbian irregular units that were active following Serbia's struggle for independence against the Turks in the nineteenth century starting with the Macedonian Struggle. Those guerrilla detachments, known to the Ottomans as Komitadji, first fought for the liberation of Christian territories from imperial Ottoman rule then mostly against rival komitadji bands in Ottoman Macedonia such as the Bulgarian IMRO as both group aimed to maintain and assert their respective national interests in Macedonia. The Chetniks were territorially based fighting forces, organised into small bands and under the command of a Vojvoda (Field Marshal). [2]
At the outbreak of the Balkan War, two Chetnik detachments were set up in Macedonia under Serbian high command: the Kozjak detachment, under Voivoda Vojin Popović (known as Vojvoda Vuk) covering an area stretching from Skopska Crna Gora to Kriva Palanka, a force of 11 companies, and the Transvardar detachment, under the command of military commander Voivoda Milivoje Čolak-Antić, which covered the area of Azot, Porecie, Kicevo and Debar and was composed of 16 companies. [3]
During the Serbian mobilization, the Chetnik detachments of the Serbian 3rd Army included: Medveđa, detachment headed by captain Dusan Sekulic, Ljubomir Vulović and Nikodim Racic (Lisica-Prapaštice-Priština), and detachment headed by Božin Simić (Svirci-Novo Brdo-Kačanik); Kuršumlija, under the command of captain and Chetnik vojvoda Vojislav Tankosić and captain Dragutin Nikolic (Kuršumlija-Merdare-Malo Kosovo-Štimlje-Crnoljeva-Prizren-Ljuma); Lukovo, under the command of captain Pavle Blažarić (Lukovo-Madljika-Drenica); and Kolašin, under the command of prota Vukajlo Božović. [4] Alongside these detachments, were two smaller ones located at the front of the Ibar Army, the first headed by reserve lieutenant Panta Miladinović, the second headed by Chetnik vojvoda Živko Gvozdić. [4] The commander of all these detachments was major Marjanović. [4]
Other notable detachments:
Konstantin "Kosta" Milovanović Pećanac was a Serbian and Yugoslav Chetnik commander (vojvoda) during the Balkan Wars, World War I and World War II. Pećanac fought on the Serbian side in both Balkan Wars and World War I, joining the forces of Kosta Vojinović during the Toplica uprising of 1917. Between the wars he was an important leader of Chetnik veteran associations, and was known for his strong hostility to the Yugoslav Communist Party, which made him popular in conservative circles. As president of the Chetnik Association during the 1930s, he transformed it into an aggressively partisan Serb political organisation with over half a million members. During World War II, Pećanac collaborated with both the German military administration and their puppet government in the German-occupied territory of Serbia.
During World War II, Pećanac Chetniks, also known as the Black Chetniks, were a collaborationist Chetnik irregular military force which operated in the German-occupied territory of Serbia under the leadership of vojvoda Kosta Pećanac. They were loyal to the Government of National Salvation, the German-backed Serbian puppet government.
Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin was a Serbian Chetnik military commander. He took part in the Balkan Wars and World War I and afterwards served as the president of the Association of Serb Chetniks for Freedom and the Fatherland in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the spring of 1942, he was appointed by Mihailović as the commander of Chetniks in Dalmatia, Herzegovina, western Bosnia and southwestern Croatia. He died in Split on 3 February 1943, having suffered from poor health for a considerable period of time.
The Serbian Revolutionary Organization or Serbian Chetnik Organization was a paramilitary revolutionary organization with the aim of liberation of Old Serbia from the Ottoman Empire. Its Central Committee was established in 1902, while the Serbian Committee was established in September 1903 in Belgrade, by the combined Central Boards of Belgrade, Vranje, Skopje and Bitola. Its armed wing was activated in 1904. Among the architects were members of the Saint Sava society, Army Staff and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It operated during the Struggle for Macedonia, a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts in the region of Macedonia; its operations are known as Serb Action in Macedonia.
Jovan Stojković, known as Jovan Babunski, was a Serbian Chetnik commander during the Macedonian Struggle, Balkan Wars and World War I. Following the murder of his brother and nephew by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), he joined a Chetnik band and took command of Chetnik units on the Vardar River, where he and his men often engaged Bulgarian and Ottoman forces.
Živko Gvozdić was a Serbian Chetnik commander active in Old Serbia and Macedonia between 1903 and 1908, and a Serbian regiment commander in the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and First World War (1914–18). He was born in Vučitrn. He finished the Belgrade Military School with the rank of sergeant (podnarednik). He joined the Serbian Chetnik Organization upon its establishment. While fighting in West Povardarje, he was subordinate vojvoda Gligor Sokolović. In documents from 1906 and 1907, he is described as an able and courageous fighter.
Borko Paštrović was a Serbian Chetnik commander and later a major of artillery in the Serbian Army during the First Balkan War.
Krsta Kovačević, known as Krsta Trgoviški, was a Serbian Chetnik commander that was active in Old Serbia and Macedonia during the Macedonian Struggle (1903–08), then participated in the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and World War I (1914–18). In Bulgaria he is considered a Bulgarian renegade who switched sides, i.e. (sic) Serboman.
Pavle Mladenović-Jačinski, known as Čiča Pavle and Pavle Jačinski, was a Serbian Chetnik commander active in Macedonia during the Macedonian Struggle.
Vukajlo Božović, known as Priest Vukajlo was a Serbian Orthodox priest and revolutionary. Božović participated in the Balkan Wars, as a commander of a detachment in Ibarski Kolašin. He was the father of writer Grigorije Božović.
The Battle of Čelopek was fought at the Čelopek plateau, near Kozjak, between the Serbian Chetnik Organization and Ottoman officers accompanied by Ottoman Albanian bashi-bozuks, on 16 April 1905.
Vojislav Tankosić was a Serbian military officer, vojvoda of the Serbian Chetnik Organization, major of the Serbian Army, and member of the Black Hand, who participated in the May Coup and was accused of involvement in the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Kosta Vojinović, known by his nickname Kosovac (Косовац), was a Serbian soldier who fought in the Balkan Wars and World War I, most notably as a leader of the Toplica Uprising.
Aleksandar Marković, known by his nickname Cene, was a Serbian Chetnik commander (voivoda) in Macedonia, in the Balkan Wars and World War I.
Chetniks in World War I were members of auxiliary units used by the Royal Serbian Army for special operations against invading Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian and German forces.
Alimpije Marjanović was a Serbian revolutionary and commander who fought in the struggle for Macedonia, the Balkan Wars and the Great War. His military reputation is equal to Vojin Popović and Vojislav Tankosić as leading Chetniks in the Balkan Wars and World War I.
Pavle Blažarić, also known as Pavle Blažarić-Bistrički was a distinguished Serbian officer and Chetnik leader in Old Serbia from the time of the struggle for Macedonia in the early 20th century right up until the end of World War II.
Vladimir "Vlada" T. Milanović, nicknamed Vlada Voskar was a Serbian Chetnik voivode from Arandjelovac. He was a member of Voivode Vojislav Tankosić's band (1903-1912). After participating in the Balkan Wars and World War I, he joined the First Serbian Volunteer Division in Odessa and continued fighting against the Bolsheviks in the White movement. That was the last record of him.
Emilio Milutinović was a Chetnik voivode in Old Serbia during the struggle for Macedonia. As a subject of Austria-Hungary at the turn of the twentieth century, he was called to serve in the army but later his conscience would not allow him to continue because it went against his patriotic feelings as a Serb. He deserted and fled to Serbia where he entered the Serbian army with the rank of sergeant. From the year 1904, he was a Chetnik in the company of Đorđe Ristić-Skopljance, Vanđel Skopljanče, Rista Starački, and Vojislav Tankosić. Because he had a military education and Chetnik experience at the end of 1905, he was appointed voivode by the Serbian Chetnik Organization to head their staff headquarters in Skopska Crna Gora. Vasilije Trbić was given the task to take Emilio Milutinović to his post in Skopska Crna Gora. But they never reached their destination. On 21 January 1906, Vasilije Trbić came close to losing his entire četa of 22 men when a Turkish force together with Albanians from surrounding areas ambushed them at Čelopek. Emilio Milutinović, who survived the slaughter with Trbič and a couple of his men, was so grieved that he resigned from further guerrilla action. Later, however, he went on to participate in both Balkan Wars and the Great War as a Chetnik volunteer.
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