KOSTA PEĆANAC’S CHETNIKS IN OCCUPIED SERBIA 1941–1942

Abstract

The Chetniks of Kosta Pećanac are a military formation that experienced the greatest turning point during the occupation. In the tradition of the Serbian wars of liberation, they played a positive role in the defense of the Serbian people in the territory of southeastern Serbia against the incursions of Albanian and Bulgarian gangs during the first days of the occupation. Towards the German occupation forces they behaved in a hostile but passive manner. However, the emergence of other resistance movements led to an agreement with the Germans at the end of August 1941 and the establishment of open collaboration. This decision led to the separation of some commanders who did not support this agreement, such as General Novaković, Lieutenant Colonel Radojević and Major Keserović. With the suppression of the uprising in western Serbia at the end of 1941, the Pećanac’s Chetniks experienced their apparent peak and became the most numerous military formation after the occupation units. This increase in numbers was illusory, however, as many of the newly arrived Chetniks were in fact still members of General Mihailović’s organization, seeking temporary refuge from German repression. With the creation of the Serbian State Guard, which was to become General Nedić’s main military formation for the pacification of Serbia, Kosta Pećanac’s Chetniks lost their importance. Their unreliability, arbitrariness, indiscipline, disregard for hierarchy, and also open robbery of the population made them an element of disorder rather than order. For these reasons, General Nedić, but much more so the Germans, made attempts to disarm and disband this military formation since the spring of 1942. This process ended in December 1942, when General Nedić announced in the press that they had been disbanded and thanked them for their past service. Kosta Pećanac himself settled in Sokobanja with personal protection. In May 1944, he was liquidated by members of the Ravna Gora organization on the orders of General Mihailović himself.

Keywords

• chetniks
• collaboration
• milan nedić
• kosta milovanović pećanac
• occupation
• serbia
• world war two
• third reich