Operation Mihailovic

Uprisings 1942 1943 1944 1945 Operation Mihailovic was the final World War II German anti-guerrilla offensive to suppress the Serbian Chetnik detachments of the Yugoslav Army, headed by Colonel Dragoljub Mihailović.[1][page needed] In late September and early October, the uprising spread to most of Šumadija and the river valley of Western Morava (including the cities of Čačak, Kraljevo, Kruševac).He requested that his collaboration remain a secret, so as to avoid fate of Kosta Pećanac, who openly sided with the Axis, and for that reason had lost all respect and influence he had among the Serbian people and was widely considered a traitor.[5][page needed] For the same reason Colonel Mihailović's plan did not involve a frontal clash with the German forces, hoping they would pass through the area of the offensive without making contact with the Chetniks.[5][page needed] The Chetniks successfully launched a disinformation campaign on the eve of the German offensive, led by Major Ljuba Jovanović, the commander of the gendarme station in Valjevo.[citation needed] Following the order of Paul Bader, the German Military Commander in Serbia, the 342nd Infantry Division began advancing in four columns from opposite directions toward Ravna Gora on 4 December 1941.Early on the morning of 6 December, the first German combat columns went over Razboj Hill, under the protection of tanks and proceeded by civilian human shields, and suddenly penetrated the village of Struganik.[11][page needed] The Germans were surprised, not suspecting a ruse, and temporarily suspended their attack, allowing Colonel Mihailović, Major Ostojić and the rest of the Chetniks to safely retreat from the besieged forest.All four German combat columns met on 7 December at Ravna Gora, then an empty field, thoroughly searched the grounds, and after a few hours went into nearby villages and burned them as a retaliatory measure.The Cer brigade crossed the Drina River in eastern Bosnia on 12 December, where it joined Serbian rebels under the command of Major Jezdimir Dangić, who from this part of the Independent State of Croatia had created a territory liberated from the Ustasha and Germans in the preceding months.The media stated that Mihailović was the leader of a gang of outlaws and accused him of starting the uprising against the German occupation forces and being responsible for spilling the blood of thousands of Serbs.[12] The daily bulletin of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht, located in Berlin, noted the following about operation Mihailović on 10 December 1941: Finished the cleaning action of the western part of the Morava valley of the Mihailovich's group.The first was that, after a proposal by Prime Minister Dušan Simović in the Yugoslav government-in-exile (located in London), by decree of King Peter II of Yugoslavia on 19 December he had been promoted to the rank of brigadier general.The new president of the Yugoslavian government (a member of the anti-Hitler coalition in London), academician Slobodan Jovanović, appointed General Mihailović as Minister of the Army, Air Force and Navy in his cabinet on 11 January 1942 because of the merit he achieved, from May to December 1941 in the guerrilla resistance and leading the first mass uprising against the Germans in occupied Europe.By this act the Chetniks had become the legitimate and internationally recognized armed forces of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Allies, because all members of the anti-Hitler coalition (Great Britain, the Soviet Union, Poland, France, Greece, Czechoslovakia and the United States) had established diplomatic relations with and accredited ambassadors to the Yugoslavian government, whose military minister was Dragoljub Mihailović.At the suggestion of Brigadier General Mihailović, the Yugoslavian government in London posthumously awarded Major Mišić with the Order of the Karađorđe's Star with Swords, III class.As a reference, in 1941 a pair of good oxen cost about 1000 dinars; the Germans offered the Serbian peasant a sum of money for which he would be able to acquire 400 steers for revealing Colonel Mihailović.At this location General Mihailović was informed through BBC radio news, enabled by liaison officer Captain Josip Grbec, that he had been appointed Minister of the Army, Navy and Air Force.