The Chetnik attack on Užice in November 1941 was an attack by Chetniks under the command of Colonel Draža Mihailović against the Partisan-controlled free territory in Šumadija and Western Serbia, known as the Užice Republic.
The general Chetnik offensive against the Partisan territory centered in Užice followed Mihailović's agreement with General Nedić in early September and his offer of cooperation to the Germans at the end of October. Just prior to the attack, on 26 October 1941, Mihailović had signed the Brajići agreement with Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito, pledging non-aggression and joint struggle against the occupiers.
On the night of 1/2 November, the Chetniks attacked Užice but were repelled by the Partisans. They retreated to Požega, pursued by Partisan forces. While fighting raged around Požega, Mihailović ordered attacks on Partisans in Čačak and other towns. On 7–8 November, the Chetniks launched a second assault on Užice, which also failed. The battles around Čačak ended on 8 November with Chetnik defeat. At the same time, the Chetniks managed to seize control of Gornji Milanovac. These events were marked by the first recorded mass atrocities by Chetniks against captured Partisans and sympathizers of the resistance movement.
After the defeat of the main Chetnik columns, the Partisans pursued them toward the Ravna Gora plateau, where Mihailović’s headquarters was located. On 11 November 1941, Mihailović met with Wehrmacht representatives, offering collaboration in "restoring order" and handing over large numbers of captured Partisans, but was rejected due to the participation of his forces in the uprising. Following the major German offensive, the Partisan Supreme Command suspended operations against the Chetniks, and on 20 November in Čačak a truce was signed and a joint stand against the Wehrmacht was agreed.
However, joint resistance to the occupiers never materialized. The most important consequence of the Chetnik–Partisan conflict was the accelerated collapse of the uprising. The Germans easily crushed the divided insurgent forces, which until then had achieved significant successes. After the defeat of the Partisan uprising in Serbia in late November, German forces launched Operation Mihailović against Mihailović's headquarters in early December 1941.
The Partisan–Chetnik war, which began in Serbia, soon spread across occupied Yugoslavia and lasted until the end of World War II in Yugoslavia, culminating in the Chetnik defeat at Zelengora. Historian Branko Petranović assessed that the Chetnik attacks on Užice, Ivanjica, Čačak, Gornji Milanovac, and other towns of the free territory in early November 1941 marked the beginning of a "civil war in the shadow of the German offensive".Branko Petranović, Serbia in the Second World War, 1939–1945, Belgrade, 1992, p. 265.
Background Uprising in Serbia 1941
The Communist Party of Yugoslavia initiated the uprising in occupied Yugoslavia in July 1941. Within a few months, a large part of occupied Yugoslavia was under the control of the insurgents.
When the partisan uprising gained momentum, Colonel Dragoljub Mihailović, who was hiding with his staff on Ravna Gora, began forming Chetnik detachments. Mihailović proclaimed himself commander of the remnants of the Yugoslav Army. He believed that he had the exclusive right to forcibly mobilize men into his units, while the partisans advocated voluntary mobilization. His detachments did not conduct any battles, but instead established contacts with organs of the collaborationist administration. Colonel Mihailović assessed that the occupier was stronger in every respect, and that fighting against him would be counterproductive.
After the formation of the first Partisan detachments in Serbia, more and more people joined the partisans. Some peasants refused to support officers who were "idling" on Ravna Gora. Through Neško Nedić, Colonel Mihailović made it clear to the communists that no one had the right to organize any kind of army except his officers, who were the only ones authorized to do so. He forbade attacks on gendarmes and Germans, or carrying out acts of sabotage. At the end of June or the beginning of July, Draža Mihailović entered into negotiations with collaborators Dimitrije Ljotić and Milan Aćimović on suppressing the uprising.
In August 1941, Colonel Mihailović ordered the "formation of companies of military conscripts" between the ages of 20–30. The task of these companies was to "patrol the surroundings or the fields of villages in order to prevent looting and violence" and by stronger organization to prevent the "destructive elements from gaining ground," i.e., to prevent the CPY from organizing the struggle against the occupier. In the case of a general uprising, the task of these companies was to take power into their own hands.
On 9 September 1941, Mihailović issued an instruction on the formation of Chetnik detachments. These units were tasked to "patrol the surroundings in order to prevent looting and violence." It was ordered that "conflicts with the Germans and Italians should be avoided as long as possible," and likewise with the "communists". Mihailović proclaimed himself the legitimate representative of the Yugoslav Army and, on the basis of war laws, demanded the response of military conscripts.
Mihailović's offer to Nedić With the development of the partisan uprising, several Chetnik commanders independently joined the struggle against the occupiers. At the same time, as some of his officers were joining the uprising, Colonel Mihailović, in early September 1941, sent a delegation to meet with General Nedić in Belgrade to arrange joint action against the partisans. The delegation consisted of Lieutenant Colonel Dragoslav Pavlović, Lieutenant Colonel Živojin Đurić, and Major Aleksandar Mišić. With the approval of German General Harald Turner, General Milan Nedić agreed to cooperate with Colonel Mihailović:
After the agreement with Nedić, Mihailović’s delegation returned to Ravna Gora on 6 September 1941. In the meantime, Major Marko Olujević, deputy commander of Nedić’s gendarmerie, also set out for Ravna Gora. On his way there, on 8 September 1941, he was captured by partisans, who found on him the gendarmerie command’s plan for a joint Chetnik–gendarmerie attack on the partisans along the Zvornik–Krupanj–Valjevo–Mionica line. After interrogation, Major Olujević was executed on 10 September.
Agreement between Mihailović and the partisans
During the uprising of 1941, despite cooperation in the regions of western Serbia and Šumadija, disagreements, disputes, and even clashes occurred between partisan and Chetnik detachments. In October 1941, several meetings were held in the field between representatives of the two movements, which achieved partial success. In the meantime, the German occupier strengthened its forces directed towards western Serbia (Užice Republic) and launched heavy attacks on the liberated territory. The Supreme Headquarters of NOPOJ sought to unite all anti-occupation forces in Serbia in the fight against the occupiers, which is why it worked to resolve misunderstandings and prevent clashes with Colonel Mihailović’s movement, in order to reach a firmer agreement on future cooperation between the two movements.
After twenty days of attempts to arrange a meeting with the top Chetnik leadership, representatives of the Partisan Supreme Headquarters managed to secure a meeting attended by Josip Broz Tito and Draža Mihailović. The meeting was held in Brajići, near Ravna Gora, on 26 October 1941. The basis for negotiations was a letter with 12 points that Tito sent to Mihailović on 20 October 1941, proposing the conclusion of an agreement and joint cooperation. The meeting resulted in a partial agreement that in principle guaranteed the maintenance of the status quo in mutual relations and suggested avoiding conflicts, while the Partisan side committed itself to making certain deliveries to the Chetnik side (1,200 rifles, ammunition, and some financial resources).
The Partisan side adhered to the provisions of the agreement and, in the last days of October, delivered 500 rifles and 24,000 rounds of ammunition to the Chetnik staff at Ravna Gora, as well as about 5 tons of grain to the Požega Chetniks.Venceslav Glišić, Užička republika, Belgrade, 1986., p. 204. The commander of the siege of Kraljevo, Major Radoslav Đurić, testified at Draža Mihailović’s 1946 trial that the Chetniks of Vučko Ignjatović in Požega, during the final days of the siege of Kraljevo in late October 1941, were seizing weapons and ammunition that were being transported from Užice to the front near Kraljevo.Miodrag Zečević, Documents from the trial of the Ravna Gora movement, Belgrade, 2001, vol. II, p. 1407.
Mihailović's offer to the Germans At the end of October 1941, Mihailović was informed that the Germans would launch a major offensive and that this was the best way for his "communist rival to be crushed."Branko Petranović, Serbia in the Second World War, 1939–1945, Belgrade, 1992., p. 263.
According to the testimony of Branislav Pantić, Draža Mihailović held a meeting on 27 October 1941, one day after the conference with Partisan representatives in Brajići, with his closest associates at the house of Major Aleksandar Mišić in Struganik. Besides Mihailović and Mišić, the meeting was attended by Dragiša Vasić, Lieutenant Colonel Dragoslav Pavlović, Colonel Branislav Pantić, and Captain Nenad Mitrović. Speaking about the internal situation and the state of the Chetnik movement, Mihailović emphasized that the Chetnik units lacked sufficient weapons and ammunition, unlike the Partisans, who were becoming stronger every day. Therefore, Mihailović announced that he had decided to turn to the Germans for help and offer them his detachments for use in the fight against the Partisans, provided that the Germans arm and supply them with ammunition. He concluded by stressing that this was the only way to suppress the growth and mass expansion of the Partisan forces, or even to destroy them. Some participants of the meeting believed that, at least for a time, one should not turn to the Germans but instead seek weapons and ammunition from Milan Nedić. Mihailović and Mišić opposed this. Branislav Pantić remembered the following words of Mihailović:
The technical arrangements of Draža Mihailović’s negotiations with the Germans were entrusted to Colonel Pantić and Captain Mitrović. The next day, 28 October 1941, they went to Belgrade, where they met with German Captain Josef Matl. At the meeting with Matl, Mihailović’s offer for cooperation with the German occupiers in order to suppress the Partisan movement was presented. “The general aim is to establish a state of peace and order as they were in occupied Serbia before 28 June 1941.”Collection of Documents of the National Liberation War, XIV/1, Belgrade, 1981., pp. 857–859. On 30 October 1941, representatives of the German occupation forces invited Mihailović to a meeting in Belgrade for negotiations, with guarantees of his personal safety.Collection of Documents of the National Liberation War, XIV/1, Belgrade, 1981., p. 860.