Draža Mihailović - Misplaced Pages

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Draža Mihailović
Nickname(s)	"Čiča Draža" ("Чича Дража") Serbian for "uncle"
Allegiance	1941-1943 - Kingdom of Yugoslavia (nominally throughout the war) 1943-1945, Axis powers (de facto)
Service / branch	Army
Years of service	1910-1946
Rank	General
Commands	Chetnik movement
Battles / wars	Yugoslav People's Liberation War
Awards	Legion of Merit Croix de Guerre

Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović (Cyrillic script: Драгољуб "Дража" Михаиловић; also known as "Чича Дража" or "Čiča Draža", meaning "uncle Draža") (April 27, 1893 - July 17, 1946) was a Serbian general now primarily remembered as the World War II leader of the Chetnik movement. The organization, officially named the "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland" (JVUO, ЈВУО), was founded as a royalist/nationalist Serbian resistance movement, but eventually transformed into a collaborationist Axis militia fighting against the Communist Partisans in Yugoslavia.. After the war, he was tried and convicted of high treason and war crimes by the Communist Yugoslav authorities, and was consequently executed by firing squad.

Early life

Born in Ivanjica, Kingdom of Serbia, Mihailović went to the Serbian military academy in October 1910 and as a cadet fought in the Balkan Wars 1912–1913. In July 1913 he was given rank of Second Lieutenant as the top soldier in his class. He served in World War I and together with the Serbian army marched through Albania in 1915 during the long retreat of the Serbian army. He later received several decorations for his achievements on the Salonica front.

Between the wars he became an elite staff officer and achieved the rank of colonel. He also served as military attaché in Sofia and Prague.

His military career almost came to an abrupt end after several incidents, the most important one being the idea of dividing the Yugoslav army along national lines into (Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes), for which he was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment. World War II found Mihailović occupying a minor position of assistant to chief of staff of the Second Army.

In the last years before World War II, he was stationed in Celje, Slovenia (then Drava Banovina), where he was involved in several incidents of violent confrontation with the local ethnic Germans.

World War II

Following the Yugoslav defeat by Germany in April 1941, a small group of officers and soldiers led by Mihailović escaped in hope of finding Yugoslav army units still fighting in the mountains. After arriving at Ravna Gora, Serbia on May 8, he realized that his group of seven officers and twenty four non-commissioned officers and soldiers was the only one. At Ravna Gora, Mihailović organized the Chetnik detachment of the Yugoslav Army, which became the Military-Chetnik Detachments and finally the Yugoslav Army of the Homeland (Југословенска војска у отаџбини or Jugoslovenska vojska u otadžbini).

The first Chetnik formations led by Mihailović were formed around Ravna Gora on June 14. Most of 1941 was spent consolidating the scattered army remnants elsewhere and raising new forces. The stated goal of the Chetniks was the liberation of the country from the occupying armies including the forces of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Ustaše (the fascist regime of the Independent State of Croatia).

However, Mihailović decided against active resistance, allegedly because of Serb losses in World War I, in which the Kingdom of Serbia lost a quarter of its male population to the war. Instead, Mihailović gathered men and weapons in the easily defensible Serbian mountains, waiting for an Allied landing in the Balkans, upon which he could attack any Germans or Italians from behind. Mihailović discouraged sabotage due to German reprisals (such as more than 3,000 killed in Kraljevo and Kragujevac) unless some great gain could be accomplished; instead, he favored delayed sabotage that could not easily be traced.

"General Dragoljub Mihailovich distinguished himself in an outstanding manner as Commander-in-Chief of the Yugoslavian Army Forces and later as Minister of War by organizing and leading important resistance forces against the enemy which occupied Yugoslavia, from December 1941 to December 1944. Through the undaunted efforts of his troops, many United States airmen were rescued and returned safely to friendly control. General Mihailovich and his forces, although lacking adequate supplies, and fighting under extreme hardships, contributed materially to the Allied cause, and were instrumental in obtaining a final Allied victory." March 29, 1948, Harry S. Truman.

Almost sixty years later, on May 9 2005, Draža Mihailović's daughter Gordana was presented with a decoration bestowed posthumously on Draža Mihailović by U.S. President Truman in 1948.

File:LegionMeritDraza.gif

Legion of Merit, posthumous award by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, 1948

Due to the efforts of Major Richard L. Felman and his friends, President Harry S. Truman, on the recommendation of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, posthumously awarded Mihailović the "Legion of Merit", for the rescue of American Airmen by Chetniks. For the first time in history, this high award and the story of the rescue was classified secret by the State Department so as not to offend the communist government of Yugoslavia.

Almost sixty years later, on May 9 2005, Draža Mihailović's daughter Gordana was presented with a decoration bestowed posthumously on Draža Mihailović by President Truman in 1948, for the assistance provided to the crews of US bombers that were gunned down on the territory under Chetnik control in World War II.

References

7David Martin, Ally Betrayed: The Uncensored Story of Tito and Mihailovich, (New York: Prentice Hall, 1946), 34..
Chetnik - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Freeman, p. 123
Freeman, p. 124

Bibliography

Hrvat and Muslim sources

Freeman, Gregory A. (2007). The Forgotten 500. 80 Strand, London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-451-22212-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
Juce, Sinoc Pjetlovi nad Tigrovima Sanski Most, BiH: Begovic-Bosanska Krajina Press 2007
Martin, David. Ally Betrayed: The Uncensored Story of Tito and Mihailović. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1946.
Martin, David. Patriot or Traitor: The Case of General Mihailović: Proceedings and Report of the Commission of Inquiry of the Committee for a Fair Trial for Draja Mihailović. Hoover Archival Documentaries. Hoover Institution Publication, volume 191. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1978.
Roberts, Walter R. Tito, Mihailović, and the Allies, 1941–1945. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1973.
Trew, Simon. Britain, Mihailović, and the Chetniks, 1941–42. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin’s Press in association with King’s College, London, 1998.
Muslim Tucakovic, Semso. ""Srpski zlocini nad Bosnjacima Muslimanima 1941. - 1945." Sarajevo: El Kalem, 1995.

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