Bosnia in World War II

By Yahalom Kashny

25 November 2010.

On March 25, 1941 in Vienna, Serbian Prince Paul (Pavle), Regent of the Kingdom of
Yugoslavia, signed the Tripartite Pact to join Nazis. Two days later, the regime was overthrown
by a military coup d’état with British support, and the 17 year old King Peter II of Yugoslavia
seized power. However, General Dusan Simovic became Peter’s Prime Minister and the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia initially tried to dissolve the Pact, but later declared adherence and
loyalty to Hitler (Führer). Bosnia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Widespread protests
in Sarajevo against Nazi plans to bring Yugoslavia into war were met with Hitler’s fury.

Starting on April 6, the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) bombed Sarajevo and Belgrade for four
days and three nights. According to German reports, Sarajevo was bombed to ruins, while
Belgrade sustained heavy damage. German ground troops (Wehrmacht Heer) moved in, and
Yugoslavia capitulated on April 17. Once the kingdom of Yugoslavia was conquered by Nazi
forces, Serbia became a Nazi puppet state led by the régime of General Milan Nedić, while
Bosnia became annexed by Ustasha controlled Nazi puppet state of Croatia.

Soon thereafter, the Croatian anti-fascist leader Josip Broz Tito organized the first multi-ethnic
resistance group in Europe, the Partisans, who fought against the Nazis and their collaborators
– Chetniks and Ustashas. According to Tito, “Jews played a leading role in the founding of his
resistance movement.” The leading figure among them was Moshe Pijade (Moša Pijade).

Majority of Serbs in the area took up arms and joined the Nazi-collaborationist Chetnik forces
led by General Draza Mihailovich. Though initially fighting against the Nazis, the Chetniks
signed numerous documents of collaboratioin with the Nazis. Assisted by Germans and Nedić’s
regime, Mihailovich’s Chetniks embarked on a campaign to exterminate Bosnian Muslims,
Jews, and anti-fascist communists (Partisans). The intelligence reports obtained by the Soviet
government in WWII shows that Milan Nedic “agreed to supply $200,00 a month plus 3,000
rifles, 3,000,000 rounds of ammunition and 500 machine-guns” to Mihailovich… all obtained
from the Germans.”

As part of his genocidal policies, General Mihailovic issued the so called “Instructions”
(“Instrukcije”) to his commanders on December 20, 1941 to fight for “the creation of Greater
Yugoslavia, and within it Greater Serbia, ethnically clean within the borders of Serbia,
Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Srem, Banat, and Backa” and to ‘cleanse’ (destroy) “all
national minorities [including Jews] and anti-state elements from state territory“.

Further, Mihailovic asked his commanders create “direct common borders between Serbia and
Montenegro, as well as Serbia and Slovenia by cleansing the Muslim population from Sandzak,
and Muslim and Croat populations from Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Mihailovic planned to settle
“areas cleansed of national minorities and anti-state elements by Montenegrins” whom he
considered to be ‘nationally patriotic’ and ‘honest.’

In a report dated 3 February 1943, Draza Mihailovich’s Nazi collaborators boasted about their
war trophies:

“All Moslem villages in three mentioned locations [municipalities of Pljevlje, Cajnice, and
Foca] were burned down, and not even one home remained intact…. During military
operations, we engaged in total destruction of Moslem population without regard to their sex or
age. Our victims include 22 dead, of which 2 by accident, and 32 wounded. We killed about
1,200 Muslim soldiers and about 8,000 of their women, elderly and children.”

The Chetniks financed their operations, particularly ethnic cleansing and genocide over the
Bosnian Muslim population, through rescue efforts of Allied and Nazi pilots downed over
Yugoslavia. Allies paid Chetniks in gold for each successful rescue (Operation Halyard), while
Nazis paid them in arms and ammunition.

The Yugoslav Partisans in Bosnia also rescued Allied pilots and were paid in gold for each
rescue, just like Chetniks. Maj. Linn M. Farish parachuted into the wild Bosnian hinterland
Sept. 19, 1943, to join the British-American mission to Marshal Tito’s partisan headquarters.
He went to Josip Broz Tito for assistance in rescuing fliers bailing out of crippled planes over
Yugoslavia. The partisan leaders responded by sending this order to every brigade
headquarters: “American fliers must be rescued from enemy elements by force of arms if
necessary.”

All the major military offensives by the antifascist movement of Yugoslavia against Nazis and
their local supporters were conducted in Bosnia-Herzegovina and its peoples, particularly
Bosnian Muslims, bore the brunt of fighting. Majority of Bosnian Muslims joined anti-fascist
forces in World War II, and a small number joined short-lived SS Handzar (Handschar)
division. As Džemaludin Ibrahimovic, a Muslim priest in the Handzar division, explained:

“When we heard that we can voluntarily register in a German unit, many took advantage of that
opportunity. In Bosnia, at that time, we had a positive memory of the Austro-Hungarian
monarchy. So we felt inclined to serve in the German unit. We perceived Germany as a symbol
of purity, order and discipline. At that time, we knew nothing about the concentration camps
and the persecution of Jews, because majority of Handzar’s volunteers came from the poorest
areas of Bosnia, mostly from the countryside. It should be taken into account that the Nazi
collaborating Chetniks in eastern Bosnia massacred thousands of Muslims, so we wanted to
take the opportunity to defend ourselves.”

The most notable Bosnian Muslim anti-fascist brigade in World War II was the “16th Moslem
Partisan Brigade” that inflicted heavy casualties on the German and Italian forces, particularly
in battles for Drvar, Livno, port of Zara (Dalmatian coast), Bihac, Tuzla, Sarajevo, and eastern
Bosnian front. This was the strongest anti-fascist Bosnian Muslim brigade with 15,000 well-
armed guerrillas under the command of Josip Broz Tito.
The 16th Moslem Partisan Brigade is credited with a partial destruction of collaborationist
Muslim Handzar division. Bosnian Muslims led by Tito inflicted heavy casualties on Handzar
in battles around Tuzla in February 1944.

Throughout the war, the Chetnik movement remained almost completely inactive against the
occupation forces, and increasingly collaborated with the Axis, losing its international
recognition as the Yugoslav resistance force.

Major William Jones, who spent twelve months with Tito’s Partisans in Bosnia, wrote in his
book that he witnessed captured Ustasha and Chetniks members admit collaborating with Nazis
against the anti-fascist Partisans:

“We were allowed to see and question them, which we did with the aid of our own interpreter.
There were sixteen prisoners in all: seven Italians, three Ustashi, four Chetniks and two
Domobranci. They told us that they had all been fighting together under Italian officers in
defence of a section of railway which the Partisans had recently attacked. The Italians were in
full uniform, the Ustashi, Chetniks and Domobranci in part uniform, some with tunic, others
only puttees or a pair of Italian pants; their old civilian clothes completed their attire. All were
without headdress when we saw them. The Ustashi and Domobranci claimed Pavelic as their
leader, and the Chetniks declared themselves to be followers of Draza Mihailovic…”

It was only after the withdrawal of the Germans and the overthrow of Milan Nedic (October
1944) and Ante Pavelic (May 1945) that the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina began to join the
anti-fascist Partisans in large numbers. These new Partisans included tens of thousands of
former Serbian Nazi collaborators responding to Tito’s promises of amnesty.

After World War II, General Draza Mihailovich was arrested and put on trial before a Yugoslav
military court on charges of both collaboration and treason. Mihailovich admitted he
collaborated with the Nazis.

The military tribunal acknowledged Mihailovich participated in rescue efforts of downed Allied
and Nazi pilots, but concluded his guilt was established on the overwhelming evidence against
him, documents he and his subordinates signed while collaborating with Nazis.

After the prosecutor confronted him with a series of documents attesting to his collaboration
with Nazis, Draza Mihailovich confessed he was a Nazi collaborator:

“What do you call this?” demanded the prosecutor after reading the letter.

“Intrigue,” replied Mihailovich. [*definition of 'intrigue' = A secret or underhand scheme; a

plot.]

Q: “Is that collaboration?” [the prosecutor asked]

A: “Yes” [was the reply from Mihailovich]

Q: “Is that your collaboration?”

A: “Yes,” Mihailovic answered.

Acording to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel,

“The first Chetnik units came into being shortly after the Yugoslav army’s surrender to the
Germans in April 1941, on the initiative of Col. Draza Mihajlovic, an officer of the Yugoslav
general staff… The Chetniks’ struggle with the invaders came to a complete stop at the end of
1941, and gradually evolved into cooperation with the Italians and the Germans against Tito…
The Chetniks became [Nazi] collaborators and joined the forces fighting the partisans. After the
occupation of Serbia by the partisans and the Red Army, the Chetniks were hunted down.
Shortly after the end of the war, Mihajlovic and his men were captured and brought before a
Yugoslav national tribunal. Most of them were hanged. At the initial stage, there were some
Jews among the Chetniks, but when it turned out that the Chetniks were not fighting the
invaders and their collaborators, and in fact were inclined to cooperate with them, the Jews
switched to the ranks of the partisans. As the Chetniks increased their cooperation with the
Germans, their attitude toward the Jews in the areas under their control deteriorated, and they
identified the Jews with the hated Communists. There were many instances of Chetniks
murdering Jews or handing them over to the Germans.”