Operation Mihailovic

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. The offensive took place from 4 to 9 December 1941 near Šumadija, in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia.

On 31 August 1941, the Jadar Chetnik detachment freed Loznica from German occupation in the Battle of Loznica, which was the starting point of the Serbian uprising against German occupation. Earlier, in September, the uprising had taken on large proportions, with the Chetniks freeing the Podrinje and Mačva regions (with the exception of the city of Šabac).^{[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). Slightly later in October, however, the Germans began an offensive against the Chetniks (Operation Drina), when the 342nd Infantry Division attacked from the north and the Croatian forces from Srem attacked from the south. By the end of October, the whole region of Mačva and the central portion of the Podrinje region were taken from the Chetniks, breaking the siege of Valjevo. A westward thrust from the 342nd Infantry Division permitted the Germans to reach Ravna Gora, the main headquarters of the rebels. During October 1941, German forces carried out several mass executions of Serbian civilians in retaliation for their dead and wounded soldiers and to intimidate and pacify the rebellion. About 10,000 Serbian civilians were killed during the mass executions.^{[page needed]}

A fratricidal war began between the Yugoslav Partisans and the Chetniks in late October 1941. In order to quell the uprising, the Germans brought additional troops and engaged in a campaign of terror against the civilian population. Mihailović, believing that continuing to resist the Germans so openly would only cause further massacres against civilians, eventually resolved to withdraw his troops from the battlefield, turn on the Partisans and seek contact with the German administration in order to find a modus vivendi. The Germans temporarily suspended their pending offensive, waiting for the rebel forces to destroy each other. Mihailović met with representatives of Wehrmacht in the village of Divci. Despite Mihailović's offer of cooperation, the Germans replied that they would soon bring armored units to quickly end the uprising and that the German Wehrmacht would not to burden itself with allies who join them for opportunistic reasons. Mihailović justified his actions by saying that he had to take some towns from the Germans in order to prevent communists from taking them over for themselves, and that he did not want to fight the Germans. He tried to persuade the Germans of his loyalty and requested supplies for combat against the Partisans. 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.

Despite all of Mihailović's offers, the Germans did not leave him any other option but unconditional surrender. However, the Chetniks and Partisans signed a truce on 20 November of the same year in Čačak, suspending hostilities. The Germans subsequently launched a new offensive, codenamed "Operation Western Morava", lasting from 25 to 30 November, against both the Chetniks and Partisans.^{[page needed]} Having successfully conducted two offensives in the direction of the Drina River and Western Morava, the German forces closed their ring around Šumadija. The German forces decided to focus their attacks on Ravna Gora, the location of the headquarters of Chetnik Colonel Dragoljub Mihailović.

Paul Bader, the newly named German military commander in Serbia, drafted a battle plan on 3 December 1941. He issued orders, stating that the German goals were to destroy Mihailović's detachment and his headquarters south of Valjevo, achieving a total siege of the Ravna Gora headquarters and cleansing an area of 120 square kilometers.^{[page needed]} The Germans planned to attack Ravna Gora from four directions. Bader chose the 342nd Infantry Division for the operation; it had made the greatest contribution in crushing the Chetnik uprising during the two preceding months. The code name for this final offensive to break the Serbian uprising, Operation Mihailovic, was named for the leader of the Chetnik rebels.^{[page needed]}

In addition to the planned offensive, the German forces had a psychological advantage of a campaign of terror that was inflicted on the civilian population. The German command had issued an order two months earlier, when the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia was under Franz Böhme, that for every German military fatality, 100 Serbian civilians would be shot. This caused some panic among the Serbian population.

The commanding staff of the Chetnik detachments knew about the concentration of German forces ready to attack Ravna Gora and made a plan to reduce most of the Chetnik military units to groups of dozens, fives and threes for ease of maneuvering and penetration.^{[page needed]} Colonel Mihailović thought that the German units would not stay long in inaccessible areas and, after the German forces passed, the Chetnik units could regroup in the same area.^{[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.^{[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. The disinformation campaign sent messages to the German forces that the Chetniks would confront them head on.^{[page needed]} With this effort the Chetniks wanted to increase the German forces' caution and slow their progress towards Ravna Gora. In addition Colonel Mihailović envisaged a special mission for Captain Dragoslav Račić and his forces also to divert the German forces' attention from Ravna Gora.