The Battle of Lijevče Field () was fought between 30 March and 8 April 1945 between the Croatian Armed Forces (HOS, the amalgamated Ustashe Militia and Croatian Home Guard forces) and Chetnik forces on the Lijevče field near Banja Luka in what was then the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).
History In December 1944, the Montenegrin Chetniks of Lieutenant Colonel Pavle Đurišić began withdrawing from German occupied Montenegro towards Northeastern Bosnia, where a meeting was convened with Draža Mihailović and other Chetnik leaders. Đurišić was critical of Mihailović's leadership, and decided to move west to Slovenia and seek Allied protection, contrary to Mihailović's conception of returning to Serbia. Chetnik commanders Zaharije Ostojić and Petar Baćović, and ideologue Dragiša Vasić joined him. Đurišić made a deal with the NDH authorities and Montenegrin separatist and NDH ally Sekula Drljević for safe passage through the territory of the NDH, for which Mihailović denounced him as a traitor. Under the agreement, Đurišić's troops were supposed to join Drljević's Montenegrin National Army and recognize Drljević as the Montenegrin leader.
The HOS and Drljević apparently intended to use the agreement as a trap for Đurišić, who also did not plan to stick to the agreement and kept moving on his own. This led to open conflict with the HOS. The first clashes occurred on 30 March around the town of Bosanska Gradiška. The entire Chetnik 8th Montenegrin Army, strengthened with several other Chetnik Corps, crossed the Vrbas River by 1 April. The HOS assembled a large force that was better organized and had a significant advantage in heavy weapons, under the command of General Vladimir Metikoš. They attacked the Chetnik forward units and forced them to withdraw towards the Lijevče field, north of Banja Luka. The HOS then attacked Đurišić's forces on the Lijevče field and blocked their path to the west. The Chetnik attempts of a breakthrough were unsuccessful, and most of the army surrendered during a large HOS attack on 7 and 8 April. A smaller detachment led by Đurišić tried to break through the HOS lines by moving south. Due to the desertion of his troops and the Partisan forces on his way, Đurišić agreed to another deal with the HOS. He was subsequently executed, along with other Chetnik officers.
The bulk of the Montenegrin Chetniks were recruited into Drljević's army and placed under the command of the HOS.
Background
Following the Italian surrender in September 1943, German forces occupied the area of the Italian governorate of Montenegro. The Germans cooperated with local Montenegrin separatists, local Chetniks, and the Sandžak Muslim militia in controlling Montenegro. As these forces did not prove to be sufficient, the Germans released the imprisoned Chetnik Commander Pavle Đurišić and organized the Montenegrin Volunteer Corps, with the assistance of Nedić's government, to fight against the Yugoslav Partisans.
In late 1944, with the German withdrawal from the Balkans and the advance of the Red Army and the Partisans, the situation for the Chetniks in Serbia and Montenegro became increasingly difficult. Mihailović, who favoured continued cooperation with the Germans to obtain weapons and ammunition, ordered all Chetnik forces, including those under Đurišić's command in Montenegro, to head towards Bosnia. While the Chetniks assisted the Germans in keeping control of the communication lines, Mihailović at the same time tried to win back the support of the Western Allies. The Germans withdrew from Montenegro in early December 1944, together with Đurišić's troops. The Montenegrin Chetniks were at this point reorganized into three divisions, and included the Sandžak Chetniks of Vuk Kalaitović. They numbered 8,700 men and were accompanied by around 3,000 civilians, mostly family members. After a 35-day march, suffering from cold, hunger and diseases, Đurišić's army reached the Trebava mountain in northeast Bosnia in mid-February 1945. Upon joining the rest of the Chetniks, Đurišić criticized Mihailović's leadership and advocated a retreat to Slovenia, where they would join other Chetnik units and await the arrival of Western Allies, as opposed to Mihailović's insistence on returning to Serbia. He decided to split from Mihailović and move toward the Slovene Littoral. Đurišić was joined by Dragiša Vasić, one of the chief Chetnik ideologues and Mihailović's political adviser, the detachments of Petar Baćović, leader of the Herzegovina Chetniks, and of Zaharije Ostojić, leader of the Eastern Bosnian Chetniks. Just before his departure, on 18 March, Đurišić was joined by a part of the Chetniks from Serbia.
Đurišić made contact with Milan Nedić, head of the puppet government in German-occupied Serbia, and Dimitrije Ljotić, who agreed with his idea of gathering the Chetniks in Slovenia. With the help of the German Special Envoy in Belgrade, Hermann Neubacher, Nedić and Ljotić secured accommodation for Đurišić's troops and refugees in Slovenia. Đurišić had to reach Bihać in western Bosnia on his own, where Ljotić's forces would meet him and assist his further movement.
The area from Northeastern Bosnia to Slovenia was within the borders of the Independent State of Croatia (, NDH), an Axis puppet state. This territory was partially under the control of German and NDH forces, and partially under the Partisans. The Germans favoured increased collaboration with the Chetniks after the capitulation of Italy, despite protests from the NDH government which saw in it a danger to the existence of the state. The NDH government proposed restricting the collaboration to those Chetniks that recognize the NDH and are its citizens, and the limiting of their activities to Serb-majority areas, but the Germans did not accept such complaints. The military forces of the NDH, the Ustashe Militia and the Croatian Home Guard, were in November 1944 reorganized into the Croatian Armed Forces (, HOS).
Đurišić-Drljević agreement In late December 1944, Đurišić sent his aide Dušan Arsović to Sarajevo to explore the possibility of a joint withdrawal with the Germans. Arsović tried to make contact with Ljubomir Vuksanović, a Montenegrin that collaborated with the Germans, but Vuksanović opposed Đurišić and refused to talk to him. Arsović then made contact with representatives of Montenegrin separatist Sekula Drljević, who spent most of the war in the NDH and wanted to create an independent Montenegrin state with German and Ustashe assistance. The Ustashe held close contacts with Montenegrin nationalists since the proclamation of the NDH in 1941, when the Montenegrin National Committee, headed by Montenegrin writer Savić Marković Štedimlija, was opened in Zagreb, the capital of the NDH. In the spring of 1944, Drljević relocated from Zemun to Zagreb, where he created an interim government called the Montenegrin State Council. The NDH supported the creation of a Montenegrin state rather than it joining Nedić's Serbia in the planned New Order of Europe, which was proposed by Neubacher in October 1943.
Talks intensified between Drljević's and Đurišić's representatives, after the split with Mihailović. Đurišić saw this as an opportunity to secure safe passage for his army to Slovenia. At a meeting in Doboj, Drljević's negotiators demanded the recognition of Drljević as the political leader of Montenegrins, the recognition of the Montenegrin State Council, and the joining of the Montenegrin Chetniks into the Montenegrin National Army. Đurišić decided to accept all of Drljević's demands, on the condition that the wounded would be accommodated. He also retained operational command of the new army. The agreement was signed on 22 March in Zagreb by representatives of both sides.
Neither party was sincere in their commitments. Drljević's motive was breaking up the Chetnik organization and creating an illusion of strength to the Germans, thus giving legitimacy to his idea of Montenegrin independence. He also had a motive to use the agreement as a trap for Đurišić, who supported the unification of Serbia and Montenegro. The Ustashe motive to capture Đurišić was revenge for massacres against Muslims of Southeastern Bosnia and Sandžak, that were committed by Đurišić's Lim–Sandžak Chetnik detachment. On the other hand, Đurišić did not want Drljević to have any real control over his army. On 22 March, Drljević sent him a leaflet for distribution among his soldiers. In it were details of the agreement, and Drljević referred to himself as the "supreme commander of the Montenegrin National Army", but Đurišić refused to spread the leaflet to his troops.
Drljević arranged the accommodation of wounded and sick with the NDH authorities. Đurišić handed them over in Bosanski Brod, and the wounded were from there transferred to Stara Gradiška. Estimates of their number range from 800 to 2,700. The rest of the army was resting outside Bosanski Brod. On 23 March, Mihailović found out about the deal and immediately informed other Chetnik commanders that Đurišić committed treason and ordered them not to help him in the retreat. He deprived Đurišić of his rank, announced a court trial for treason, and said that he would inform the Western Allies of Đurišić's siding with the Ustashe and Montenegrin separatists. Having heard of Mihailović's reaction, without consulting with Drljević, Đurišić ordered the movement of the army to the west.
Under the agreement, Đurišić's army was obliged to cross the Sava River into Slavonia, and from Slavonski Brod continue the march in the direction of Zagreb as the Montenegrin National Army. Instead, Đurišić kept moving on a route south of the river, towards the Motajica mountain and the Lijevče field, a large plain between the Bosna, Vrbas and Sava Rivers. Drljević qualified this action as a violation of the agreement and informed the HOS leadership of it. The HOS issued an order to secure the Bosanska Gradiška-Banja Luka road, where Đurišić's army was heading. The NDH leadership considered that Mihailović was behind Đurišić's action, and that his ultimate goal was to unite with Ljotić's Serbian Volunteer Corps and the Serbian State Guard in Slovenia and then attack Zagreb. This move would have allegedly bring them back the support of the Western Allies.
Opposing forces Croatian Armed Forces Northeast Bosnia was within the area of responsibility of the 4th Ustashe Corps under the command of Josip Metzger. The Corps included the 4th Croatian Division of the HOS, stationed in Dvor, that numbered 7,000 troops and was commanded by Colonel Zdenko Begić, and the 6th Croatian Division in Banja Luka under General Vladimir Metikoš, with 4,000 troops. These forces were assisted by local militias and the Ustasha Defence. It is estimated that a total of around 10-12,000 troops, under the overall command of Vladimir Metikoš, were involved in military operations at the Lijevče field. Colonel Marko Pavlović, commander of the Ustasha Defence units, also participated in the battle.
Chetniks