National Army of Montenegro and Herzegovina

National Army of Montenegro and Herzegovina
Commanders
Commander	Bajo Stanišić

Last updated April 26, 2019

The National Army of Montenegro and Herzegovina (Serbian : Народна војска Црне Горе и Херцеговине) was a military unit established by Colonel Bajo Stanišić in February 1942. It was composed of six battalions, some of them being Chetniks, with Stanišić being its commander.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Serbian is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official language of Serbia, co-official in the territory of Kosovo, and one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, it is a recognized minority language in Montenegro where it is spoken by the relative majority of the population, as well as in Croatia, North Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

Bajo Stanišić was a Montenegrin Serb officer of the Royal Yugoslav Army, who was one of the participants of the Uprising in Montenegro against the Italian occupation forces in 1941. After the suppression of the uprising, he became one of the commanders of the Chetnik units in Montenegro and openly collaborated with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany until his death in 1943.

The Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, also known as the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland or The Ravna Gora Movement, commonly known as the Chetniks, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist movement in occupied Yugoslavia led by Draža Mihailović, which was anti-Axis in its long-term goals, and engaged in marginal resistance activities for limited periods. They also engaged in tactical or selective collaboration with the occupying forces for almost all of the war. The Mihailović Chetniks were not a homogeneous movement. The Chetnik movement adopted a policy of collaboration with regard to the Axis, and engaged in cooperation to one degree or another by establishing modus vivendi or operating as "legalised" auxiliary forces under Axis control. Over a period of time, and in different parts of the country, the Chetnik movement was progressively drawn into collaboration agreements: first with the Nedić forces in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia, then with the Italians in occupied Dalmatia and Montenegro, with some of the Ustaše forces in northern Bosnia, and after the Italian capitulation also with the Germans directly.

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The Italian governorate of Montenegro existed from October 1941 to September 1943 as an occupied territory under military government of Fascist Italy during World War II. Although the Italians had intended to establish a quasi-independent Montenegrin kingdom, these plans were permanently shelved after a popular uprising in July 1941. Following the Italian surrender in September 1943, the territory of Montenegro was occupied by German forces which withdrew in December 1944.

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Operation Alfa was an offensive carried out in early October 1942 by Italian, Croatian and Chetnik forces against the communist-led Partisans in the Prozor region, then a part of the Croatian puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). The operation was militarily inconclusive, and in the aftermath, Chetnik forces conducted mass killings of civilians in the area.

Pavle Đurišić Montenegrin Serb professional officer of the Royal Yugoslav Army

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Zaharije Ostojić Montenegrin Chetnik leader

Zaharije Ostojić was a Montenegrin Serb military officer who served as the chief of the operational, organisational and intelligence branches of the Chetnik Supreme Command led by Draža Mihailović in Yugoslavia during World War II. He was a major in the Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force prior to the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, and was involved in the coup that deposed Prince Paul of Yugoslavia on 27 March 1941. After the coup, he escorted Prince Paul to exile in Greece, and was in Cairo at the time of the invasion in April. In September 1941, he was landed on the Italian-occupied Montenegrin coast along with a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) liaison officer and two companions. He escorted the SOE officer to the German-occupied territory of Serbia and introduced him to the Yugoslav Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito then Mihailović. Ostojić soon became Mihailović's chief of staff, and after the German attempt to capture the Chetnik leader during Operation Mihailović in December 1941, brought the Chetnik Supreme staff to Montenegro where they were re-united with Mihailović in June 1942. During the remainder of 1942, Ostojić launched a counter-attack against Ustaše troops of the Independent State of Croatia returning to the eastern Bosnian town of Foča where they were expected to continue their genocidal anti-Serb policies. As many as 2,000 local Muslims were subsequently killed in the town by forces under Ostojić's command. Ostojić later oversaw large-scale massacres of civilians and burning of Muslim villages in the border region between Montenegro and the Sandžak.

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Rudolf Perhinek was Yugoslav military officer with the rank of Captain in the Royal Yugoslav Army who, soon after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, joined Chetniks of Dragoslav Mihailović. He was a member of the Supreme Command of Mihailović's Chetniks and received the rank of Major. Perhinek, also referred as Mihailović's right hand, organized Chetniks in Montenegro at the end of 1941. In period October 1941 — September 1943 he was a special envoy of Mihailovic's Chetnik staff for Montenegro who was also responsible for the intelligence service in Montenegro and Albania. Some sources describe him as an agent of Gestapo. For some time he was the Chief of Staff of Chetnik forces under command of Vojislav Lukačević. Perhinek was an ethnic Slovene. Yugoslav Government in Exile awarded him with Order of the Star of Karađorđe.

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Terence Atherton (1902–1942) was a British intelligence officer of Irish descent. As a member of the SOE he was a member of the Operation Hydra mission in the Axis occupied Yugoslavia. His task was to establish and maintain communication with the Chetnik headquarter. With other members of this mission he disembarked onto Montenegrin coast and begin his journey toward Chetnik headquarter in February 1942. He was soon noticed by Partisans who took him to their headquarter. The communists prevented Atherton to continue his trip to Chetniks and spent several weeks in futile attempts to persuade him to change his anti-communist and pro-Chetnik position. They even took him to Partisan headquarter in Foča to meet Josip Broz who was very suspicious about Atherton and warned Croatian communists about him.

References

↑ Pajović, Radoje; Željeznov, Dušan; Božović, Branislav (1987). Pavle Đurišić, Lovro Hacin, Juraj Špiler. Centar za informacije i publicitet. p. 110. ISBN 978-86-7125-006-1. U veljači 1942. izveo puč u Pavkovićkom partizanskom bataljonu, proglasio se za komandanta Narodne vojske Crne Gore i Hercegovine.
↑ Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941-45. Osprey Publishing. 1995. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-85532-473-2. In February 1942, Colonel Bajo Stanisic formed a Nationalist National Army of Montenegro and Herzegovina in six battalions with some Nationalist Chetnik battalions.
↑ Redžić, Vučeta (2002). Građanski rat u Crnoj Gori: Dešavanja od sredine 1942. godine do sredine 1945. godine. Stupovi. p. 206.

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[PajovićŽeljeznov1987-1] Pajović, Radoje; Željeznov, Dušan; Božović, Branislav (1987). Pavle Đurišić, Lovro Hacin, Juraj Špiler. Centar za informacije i publicitet. p. 110. ISBN 978-86-7125-006-1. U veljači 1942. izveo puč u Pavkovićkom partizanskom bataljonu, proglasio se za komandanta Narodne vojske Crne Gore i Hercegovine.

[2] Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941-45. Osprey Publishing. 1995. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-85532-473-2. In February 1942, Colonel Bajo Stanisic formed a Nationalist National Army of Montenegro and Herzegovina in six battalions with some Nationalist Chetnik battalions.

[Redžić2002-3] Redžić, Vučeta (2002). Građanski rat u Crnoj Gori: Dešavanja od sredine 1942. godine do sredine 1945. godine. Stupovi. p. 206.