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Draža Mihailović

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Dragoljub "Drazha" Mihailovich (also Draža Mihajlović or Mihailović, Serbian Драгољуб Дража Михаиловић), (1893-1946) was a Serbian general who became a war hero in World War I and who later led the Chetniks during World War II.

File:Dragoljub Michajlovic.jpg
Gen. Dragoljub Mihailovic

Before the World War II Michajlovich was a Yugoslavian diplomat. After the Yugoslavian defeat in April 1941 he joined the government in exile in London as a minister of war. Soon afterwards he was sent back to the occupied country in order to organize anti-nazi partisan army.

Although his main goal was the liberation of the country, he was frequently accused of colaboration with the Germans against the communist partisans of Josip Broz Tito and their supporters. In 1943 he lost support of the United Kingdom and USA.

After the war in 1946 he was sentenced for high treason, shot to death and buried in an unmarked grave near Belgrade. His main prosecutor was Milos Minic, later minister of foreign affairs for the Communist government of Yugoslavia and ethnic Serb. His execution was a sticking point in Franco-Yugoslav relations and Charles de Gaulle refused to visit Yugoslavia on account of refusing to meet Mihailovich's murderer, Tito.

Although there are rumours that he was also the Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1942, actually it was Joseph Stalin. Time did feature an article which boasted of Mihailovich's Chetniks' success at one point.