| Battle of Zelengora | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofWorld War II in Yugoslavia | |||||||
.png) Movement of Chetniks in 1945 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Yugoslav Partisans |  Chetniks | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Dragoljub MihailovićMiroslav Trifunović † | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 3,000–4,000 | |||||||
TheBattle of Zelengora was the final battle between thePartisans and theChetniks that was fought between 12 and 13 May 1945. At the time of the battle,World War II in Europe had already officially ended and Partisan units had reorganized into theYugoslav Army. Chetnik forces attempted to reachSerbia fromBosnia, throughZelengora,Drina andSandžak. The Partisans prevented their attempt by creating a "buffer zone" in the area aroundRiver Bosna-Kalinovik-Motajica-Travnik. The Partisans were ultimately victorious, inflicting heavy losses to the Chetniks, who werede facto destroyed as a movement.
After his split with forces loyal toPavle Đurišić,Dragoljub Mihailović's remainingChetniks fromSerbia andBosnia relocated to the vicinity ofModriča in late March 1945. Đurišić took his forces towardSlovenia, believing thatDimitrije Ljotić could save them from destruction and unite them with the forces ofMomčilo Đujić andDobroslav Jevđević. Ljotić was certain that an armed conflict between theSoviet Union and theWestern Allies (who would accept a defeatedNazi Germany as an ally) was inevitable. Mihailović himself was in correspondence with Ljotić via radio, and also met a delegation sent by Ljotić andHermann Neubacher, led by Ljotić's personal secretary Boško Kostić andMilan Aćimović, the former head of theCommissioner Government and Minister of Interior inMilan Nedić'sGovernment of National Salvation. Kostić tried to persuade Mihailović to join them, too, but Mihailović refused. He agreed to send GeneralMiodrag Damjanović toSlovenia to take command ofSerbian quisling forces who were already there. Kostić returned with Damjanović, while Aćimović decided to stay with Mihailović.[1]
Mihailović did not want to go to Slovenia due to false information given to him thatpurported Serbians were dissatisfied withcommunist rule. Mihailović was fed this false information byOZNA, the security agency ofTito's partisans, which wanted to prevent Mihailović from escapingYugoslavia. OZNA had earlier obtainedciphers andcall signs from killed Chetnik commanderPredrag Raković, and, by January 1945, with the help of a former Chetnik radio-telegraphist, was able to establish contact with and convince Mihailović to believe that he was keeping correspondence with the genuine Chetnik mayor Trivun Ćosić, who supposedly led skirmishes against Tito's partisans.[1] Mihailović was so taken by this facade that he unwillingly revealed to OZNA his plans to send groups ofsaboteurs andcommandos over theDrina River. OZNA andKNOJ were subsequently able to capture or kill all the members of these groups.[2]
On 13 April, Mihailović's Chetniks began their march, but, instead of going towards the lower course of the Drina River, where it was impossible to cross the river without boats at this part of year, they went westward along the eastern bank of theSava River, until they approached the mouth of theVrbas River. This course was supposed to mislead units of theYugoslav Army into thinking that the Chetniks were heading towards Slovenia.[3] Mihailović's plan didn't work, as his forces' movements were monitored meticulously by units of the Yugoslav Army. On 15 April, Mihailović's forces arrived in the area aroundBosanski Brod andDerventa. The group suddenly turned south and southeast through the mountains, all the way to a point east ofKonjic on theNeretva, then to the southeast in the direction ofKalinovik andZelengora and to the east, again towardsDrina, to the point nearvillage Brod, where it was possible to cross the river without difficulty. Along the way, Chetniks had skirmishes withHOS, and arrived in theFojnica region on 19 April.
On 7 May, Mihailović's forces numbered some 5,000 to 6,000, among them a few hundred BosnianChetniks.[4] However, atZelengora only 3,000 to 4,000 men arrived, as a column led byDragoslav Račić separated and went towardsJahorina andRogatica.[5] In contrast to the Chetniks, theYugoslav Army was militarily superior, with artillery and an air force.
The final battle between the Chetniks and the Yugoslav Army was waged from 10 to 13 May. The Yugoslav Army pushed the Chetniks into a high and steep gorge of the Jezerica River. The Chetniks were consequently exposed to land, artillery and air attacks. During the descent and crossing of the river, the Chetniks were inflicted with heavy losses—a large number of men, all their horses, heavy equipment, archives and radio stations were destroyed, the latter interrupting the radio link between Mihailović and "Mayor Ćosić".[1] Only a few hundred Chetniks managed to survive; among them were Mihailović andNikola Kalabić. General Miroslav Trifunović, Milan Aćimović, Miodrag Palošević, and Neško Nedić, were a notable few among the dead.
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The battle was a decisive defeat for theChetniks, after which they became groups of scattered men, chased by theYugoslav Army,KNOJ andOZNA.Mihailović was able to evade capture and traps set up byYugoslav security forces, until he was caught ten months later by agents of OZNA, who disguised themselves as Chetniks and were led by his once most trusted ally,Nikola Kalabić.