Chetnik war crimes in World War II

rdf:langString Chetnik war crimes in World War II

rdf:langString Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina: 50,000–68,000

rdf:langString Sandžak: over 5,000

rdf:langString the World War II in Yugoslavia

rdf:langString Fascist Italy

rdf:langString Persistent disruptive editing; requested at WP:RfPP Please discuss content and sourcing on article talk page and achieve consensus for any changes Please make WP:EDITREQUESTs on the article's talk page. Please seek dispute resolution as needed.

rdf:langString yes

rdf:langString Mihailović's telegram to the commanders of Seged, Kiš , Ras-Ras , Dog-Dog and Romel)

rdf:langString Muslims, Croats and Yugoslav Partisan POWs and sympathisers

rdf:langString I have ordered the destruction of entire families, the burning of homes and entire villages where the Partisans find their strongholds because some Serbian degenerates help the proletariat scum in some villages. This is what I ordered because we lose our best nationalists due to our own degenerates.

rdf:langString According to the captive testimonies, Second Proletarian Division from Peko Dapčević's corps, which has three divisions, was here. This division consisted of the Second Dalmatian and Second Proletarian Divisions with around 800 people each, and the Forest Brigade with 400 . They had a lot of launchers and automatic weaponry, but little ammo. Eight of Keserović's Englishmen with Col. Seitz and a radio station joined them in Negbina. Their last portion is in Negbina and the majority in Klek. Many of their wounded died on the way. We captured 16 and slaughtered them without a court-martial.

rdf:langString Chetnik war crimes in World War II

rdf:langString Genocide, ethnic cleansing, massacres

rdf:langString The Chetniks, a Yugoslav Royalist and Serbian nationalist movement and guerrilla force, committed numerous war crimes during the Second World War, primarily directed against the non-Serb population of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, mainly Muslims and Croats, and against Communist-led Yugoslav Partisans and their supporters. Most historians who have considered the question regard the Chetnik crimes against Muslims and Croats during this period as constituting genocide. The Chetnik movement drew its members from the interwar Chetnik Association and various Serb nationalist groups. Some Chetnik ideologues were inspired by the Stevan Moljević's Homogeneous Serbia memorandum in July 1941, that defined the borders of an ethnically pure Greater Serbia. A similar document was put forward to the Yugoslav government-in-exile in September 1941. The Yugoslav government embraced the Chetniks and their basic ideas, which were already a part of the political framework of pre-war Yugoslavia. A December 1941 directive, attributed to Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović, explicitly ordered the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Croats from Sandžak and Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of the chief Chetnik ideologues, Dragiša Vasić, argued in May 1942 that population transfers and deportations should be carried out in the postwar period. From the start of the war, the Chetniks expelled Muslims and Croats from areas they controlled, and engaged in mass killings. In late 1941, they connected with various independent pro-Chetnik groups that participated in revolts against the Ustaše-led Independent State of Croatia (NDH). With fascist Italy's help, the Chetniks established a form of civil and military government in large parts of eastern Bosnia, which was followed by discriminatory measures and systematic massacres of non-Serbs in the region. The Chetnik genocidal campaign reached a peak between October 1942 and February 1943. Military defeats and the loss of Allied support compelled the Chetniks to moderate their policy towards Croats and Muslims. Despite these efforts, massacres of civilians continued until the end of the war. The terror tactics against the Croats were, to at least an extent, a reaction to the terror carried out by the Ustaše; however, the largest Chetnik massacres took place in eastern Bosnia where they preceded any significant Ustaše operations. Croats and Bosniaks living in areas intended to be part of Greater Serbia were to be cleansed of non-Serbs regardless, in accordance with Mihailović's directive of 20 December 1941. Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the Chetniks in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina range from 50,000 to 68,000 Muslims and Croats. For the region of Sandžak, more than 5,000 victims are registered. About 300 villages and small towns were destroyed, along with a large number of mosques and Catholic churches. In 1946, Dragoljub Mihailović was convicted of crimes against humanity and high treason, and was executed with nine other Chetnik commanders.