Montenegrin leader

On 6 April 1941, Axis forces invaded Yugoslavia. Montenegro was invaded by the forces of Germany and Italy, with the Germans attacking from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Italians from Albania. The Germans later withdrew, leaving the Italians to occupy the area.^[11] In the western portion of Yugoslavia, Pavelić, who had been in exile in Benito Mussolini's Italy, was appointed Poglavnik (leader) of an Ustaše-led Croatian state – the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH). The NDH combined almost all of modern-day Croatia, all of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and parts of modern-day Serbia into an "Italian-German quasi-protectorate".^[12] NDH authorities, led by the Ustaše Militia,^[13] subsequently implemented genocidal policies against the Serb, Jewish and Romani population living within the borders of the new state.^[14]

The creation of an Axis puppet-state known as the Kingdom of Montenegro was proclaimed on 12 July 1941. The state was to be headed by an Italian regent and led by Drljević and his supporters. By 13 July, this proclamation prompted the outbreak of an anti-Italian uprising in Montenegro led by local communists (Partisans) and Serb nationalists (Chetniks).^[15][16] Having assumed power the previous day, Drljević established the Provisional Administrative Committee of Montenegro, a collaborationist entity which was a territorial component of the Italian Empire.^[7] He also organized his followers to fight against Montenegrin Chetniks and the Yugoslav Partisans.^[17] In September, he was dismissed from office by the Italians.^[1]

Believing his life was endangered by the revolt, they sent him to an internment camp in Italy. The idea of an independent Montenegro was abandoned, and the Italians opted for a military governorate. Several months later, Drljević escaped and smuggled himself into the German-controlled area of the NDH.^[16] With the surrender of Italy in September 1943, he moved back to Zemun. In the summer of 1944 Drljević relocated to Zagreb, where he created a Montenegrin State Council in the NDH^[2] with the assistance of the Germans and Croats.^[16] He also published a pamphlet in Zagreb titled Who are the Serbs? (Croatian: Tko su Srbi?). In it, he blamed supposedly "aggressive" Serb policies for all past and modern problems in the Balkans, presented ethnic Serbs as a "degenerate race" and pointed out their similarities with Jews.^[7]

Following the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, Drljević had become a proponent of the theory that Montenegrins were an ethnic group distinct from Serbs.^[18] As early as 1921, he had stated that Serbian and Montenegrin "mentalities" were diametrically opposed. He stated: "The mentalities of Serbians and Montenegrins are irreconcilable. The visage of the former was speckled with [Ottoman] slavery; liberty gave the latter a new visage." It was not until 1941 that Drljević advanced the notion that Montenegrins were not Slavs at all, but Dinaric people descended from the ancient Illyrians.^[5] He wrote:

Races are communities of blood, whereas people are creatures of history. With their language, the Montenegrin people belong to the Slavic linguistic community. By their blood, however, they belong [to the Dinaric peoples]. According to the contemporary science of European races, [Dinaric] peoples are descended from the Illyrians. Hence, not just the kinship, but the identity of certain cultural forms among the Dinaric peoples, all the way from Albanians to South Tyroleans, who are Germanized Illyrians.^[5]

Retreat and death

In the spring of 1945, Drljević visited parts of Montenegro held by the Chetniks of Pavle Đurišić.^[2] It was here that Đurišić made a safe-conduct agreement with Drljević and with elements of the Armed Forces of the NDH. Although the details of the agreement are unknown, it appears to have been agreed that Đurišić and his men were to move into the NDH and cross the Sava River into Slavonia where they would be aligned with Drljević as the Montenegrin National Army, with Đurišić retaining operational command. Suspicious of Drljević's intentions, Đurišić tried to outwit him and his forces by sending only his sick and wounded across the Sava, keeping his fit troops south of the river. Following his defeat at the Battle of Lijevče Field, north of Banja Luka, and the defection of one of his sub-units to Drljević, Đurišić was forced to negotiate directly with the leaders of the NDH forces about the further movement of his units towards Slovenia. This appears to have been a trap, as he was attacked and captured by them on his way to the meeting.^[19] On 17 April 1945, after he returned to Zagreb, Drljević issued a proclamation with his political program and invited his "army" to fight both new Yugoslavia and Chetniks of Draža Mihailović.^[20] On 20 April, Đurišić, Petar Baćović, Dragiša Vasić and Zaharije Ostojić were taken to the Stara Gradiška prison, near Jasenovac.

The Ustaše gathered them in a field alongside 5,000 other Chetnik prisoners and arranged for Drljević and his followers to select 150 Chetnik officers and non-combatant intellectuals for execution.^[21] Đurišić, Baćović, Vasić and Ostojić were amongst those selected.^[22] They and the others were loaded onto boats by the Ustaše and taken across the Sava River, where they were killed either in the Jasenovac concentration camp itself or in a nearby marsh.^[21] Both the NDH forces and Drljević had reasons for ensnaring Đurišić. The NDH forces were motivated by the mass terror committed by Đurišić on the Muslim population in Sandžak and southeastern Bosnia while Drljević was opposed to Đurišić's support of a union of Serbia and Montenegro which ran counter to Drljević's separatism.^[23] Left without a leader, the majority of Đurišić's men were integrated into Drljević's Montenegrin National Army and withdrew with him towards the Austrian border.^[24]

In the second half of May, the troops of the Montenegrin National Army surrendered to the British and were quickly turned back into Yugoslavia and into the hands of the communists.^[25] Drljević managed to evade capture, and he and his wife sought refuge at a camp for displaced persons in the Austrian town of Judenburg.^[26] On 10 November 1945, three of Đurišić's followers discovered them there and murdered them by slitting their throats.^{[23][lower-alpha 2]}

Footnotes