| German-occupied territory of Montenegro | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region of Yugoslaviaoccupied byGermany | |||||||||
| 1943–1944 | |||||||||
 Occupation and partition of Yugoslavia after the Italian surrender in September 1943. The German occupation of the former Italian governorate of Montenegro is shown in grey in the southern coastal region. | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 12 September 1943 | |||||||||
• German withdrawal | 15 December 1944 | ||||||||
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DuringWorld War II, an area of theKingdom of Yugoslavia previously occupied as theItalian governorate of Montenegro was occupied byGerman forces after the September 1943Armistice of Cassibile, in which theKingdom of Italy capitulated and joined theAllies. Italian forces retreated from the governorate, and from neighbouringAlbania. German forces occupied Montenegro immediately, along withAlbania, and the territory remained under German occupation until they and many of theirlocal collaborators withdrew in December 1944.[1]
Immediately after the Italian surrender, German forces occupied most of the former governorate, excepting some areas controlled by theYugoslav Partisans. The territory was administered as an occupied territory under GermanFeldkommandtur (area command) No. 1040, commanded byGeneralmajorWilhelm Keiper. Until the spring of 1944, Keiper's area command was subordinated to a succession of higher headquarters; first the German General in Albania, then theV SS Mountain Corps, and then2nd Panzer Army. Thereafter it was raised to an independent command and Keiper reported directly to the Commander-in-Chief in Southeast EuropeAlexander Löhr.[2] Keiper followed a similar practice to his Italian predecessor, and attempted to secure the assistance of the Montenegrin separatists known as theGreens,Chetniks who were aligned with the leader of thepuppet government in theTerritory of the Military Commander in Serbia,Milan Nedić, but not with the supreme Chetnik leaderDraža Mihailović, and evenSandžak Muslims. From a group of representatives of these groups, in October he formed a National Administrative Council to help him administer the territory, chaired byLjubomir Vuksanović. The council quickly overreached in attempting to bargain with Keiper regarding their powers, and were sharply reprimanded and advised that they were only an instrument of his occupation regime. The council's major concern was to secure food imports with German assistance. Nedić was willing to provide 900 t (890 long tons; 990 short tons) of food on a monthly basis, but the council needed German assistance with transportation. Ultimately, only 250–300 t (250–300 long tons; 280–330 short tons) was imported per month, a mere twenty percent of the amount the Italians had imported during their occupation. The result was that the population in large areas of the occupied territory were close to starvation for the duration of the German administration.[2]
The Germans enlisted the assistance of the localgendarmerie, militia and some Chetniks attempt to control the occupied territory, but they proved inadequate to the challenge posed by the Partisans. Keiper then reluctantly co-opted the Montenegrin Chetnik leaderPavle Đurišić, who had been captured by the Germans in May 1943 and interned, but then escaped toBelgrade and was accepted as an ally by the Germans and Nedić. With German approval, Nedić appointed Đurišić to command theMontenegrin Volunteer Corps and sent him and the corps to assist Keiper. The German reticence was due to Đurišić's split allegiances; he relied on the Germans for logistical support but also owed allegiance to Nedić and Mihailović.[3]
The Germans evacuated their troops from the occupied territory as part of their general withdrawal from theBalkans and towards the borders of theThird Reich. Đurišić accompanied the Germans as far as northeastBosnia before leaving them to join Mihailović. After realising that Mihailović had no plan to save the remaining Chetnik forces, he left him and attempted to reach some other collaborationist forces gathering in western Yugoslavia. He and his corps were intercepted by superior forces of thefascistIndependent State of Croatia in northwest Bosnia, and Đurišić was captured and executed. Many of his troops were also killed by NDH or Partisan forces.[4]
After the Germans withdrew from the occupied territory and evacuated towards Austria, the fascist leaderSekula Drljević attempted to create a government-in-exile in the neighbouringIndependent State of Croatia (NDH), which was a German quasi-protectorate. Drljević also created theMontenegrin National Army, a military force set up by him and the Croatian fascist leaderAnte Pavelić. However, his government-in-exile, known as the "Montenegrin State Council", was dissolved after the fall of the NDH government.
The territory was taken over by theYugoslav Partisans ofJosip Broz Tito, and became part ofDemocratic Federal Yugoslavia.
