Jezdimir Dangic
Encyclopedia
Jezdimir "Jezda" Dangić was a Bosnian Serb lawyer and gendarmerie
officer. During World War II
he was a member of the Chetnik movement.
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
, Austria-Hungary
in the family of an Orthodox priest, Dangic attended gymnasium in Tuzla
. Early on, he developed pan-slavist views as well as strong feelings against the Austro-Hungarian occupational regime in Bosnia. As a member of youth organization Mlada Bosna, Dangić was sentenced to three and a half years in jail on a charge of "treason against the empire". He served the sentence in Tuzla and Zenica
over the course of the First World War.
from Belgrade
to Nikšić
. Dangić escaped capture by German
forces and with the help of the Todorović brothers - active majors in the Yugoslavian Royal Army - entered into contact with Chetnik leader colonel Draža Mihailović
in Ravna Gora
, Serbia
. Mihailović sent him to Bosnia
with the intent of forming and spreading the Chetnik organization in that area.
After the recognition of the Chetnik army, the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, by the Allies, Mihailović declared Dangić the commander of all Chetnik units in eastern Bosnia. Dangić had a thousand troops, positioned in the area between Višegrad
and Bijeljina
. He began mobilizing Serbian villagers. In October 1941 Dangić signed an agreement with the Yugoslav Partisans relating to collaboration against attacks of the local Serb population from the Ustasha government of the then Independent State of Croatia
(NDH).
The Chetniks did not intend to uphold this agreement for very long, but they did not want to fight a three way war against both Partisan and NDH forces.
In August 1941, Dangić had also entered into discussion with German forces. At the start of February, 1942 he had talks with Erich Kewisch, head of the operational department of the commission of the German command for Serbia, about a ceasefire between his Chetnik troops and the Germans. Dangić was ready to recognize German military administration in eastern Bosnia with the intent of destroying the Partisans. In return, he sought that Ustasha and Home Guard
troops leave the area. German general Bader, commissioned commander of Serbia was ready to allow Dangić to assume defence of the NDH in the region between the rivers Sava, Drina
and Bosna. On February 2, 1942 Bader invited a member of the NDH government, minister Vjekoslav Vrančić
, and Home Guard colonel Fedor Dragojlov
to Belgrade for a meeting with Dangić's representatives. Vrančić and Dragojlov refused any possible transfer of authority to the Chetniks in eastern Bosnia and the talks ended without result.
In April 1942, Dangić himself travelled to Belgrade to meet with Serbian leader Milan Nedić
. He sought material aid for his troops and in return offered the 17 kotars which were under the control of his troops to be annexed by Serbia. Upon his return to Bosnia he stopped at Valjevo
where he called for a wide-ranging uprising of the Serbs within the territory of the NDH against the Ustasha government. When he returned to his own troops, a large Ustasha-German operation (Operation Trio
) was being carried out in which his forces suffered heavy losses from the elite Crna Legija
(Black Legion).
Ustasha formations brust through to the Drina and reclaimed the NDH border with Serbia. As the Germans found pacifying the NDH internally of great importance, they saw Dangić as a great nuisance. Because of this he was captured on the night of April 10/11 1942 in Rogatica near Bajina Bašta by men from the German 714th Infantry Division.
He was sent to a prison camp in Poland
. He remained here until the Warsaw Uprising
of 1944. He joined the uprising under Polish general Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski
until it was set down. He was captured by the Red Army
and ended up in a prison camp in Moscow
. He was tried in February of that year in Sarajevo
for war crimes by a military court of the Third Yugoslavian Army located in what is today Skenderija
sports and business centre. He was accused of collaboration with the Germans, Italians, the quisling Serbian regime, carrying out massive crimes and treason
. He was found guilty and in that same month he was hanged.
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
officer. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was a member of the Chetnik movement.
Early life
Born in SrebrenicaSrebrenica
Srebrenica is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre,...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
in the family of an Orthodox priest, Dangic attended gymnasium in Tuzla
Tuzla
Tuzla is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time of the 1991 census, it had 83,770 inhabitants, while the municipality 131,318. Taking the influx of refugees into account, the city is currently estimated to have 174,558 inhabitants...
. Early on, he developed pan-slavist views as well as strong feelings against the Austro-Hungarian occupational regime in Bosnia. As a member of youth organization Mlada Bosna, Dangić was sentenced to three and a half years in jail on a charge of "treason against the empire". He served the sentence in Tuzla and Zenica
Zenica prison
Zenica prison is a closed-type prison located in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was opened in 1886...
over the course of the First World War.
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/Kingdom of Yugoslavia
After the war, he studied law in Tuzla and worked as an officer and a reserve mounted vicelieutenant. On January 3, 1928 he entered the Žandarmerija with the rank of vicelieutenant.Second World War
Dangić began the Second World War as a major. During the April War of 1941, Dangić led a Žandarmerija unit which followed king Petar II KarađorđevićPeter II of Yugoslavia
Peter II, also known as Peter II Karađorđević , was the third and last King of Yugoslavia...
from Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
to Nikšić
Nikšić
Nikšić is a city in Montenegro . In 2003 the city had a total population about 75,000.Nikšić is located in Nikšić plain, at the foot of Mount Trebjesa. It is the center of the municipality , which is the largest in Montenegro by area...
. Dangić escaped capture by German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
forces and with the help of the Todorović brothers - active majors in the Yugoslavian Royal Army - entered into contact with Chetnik leader colonel Draža Mihailović
Draža Mihailovic
Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović was a Yugoslav Serbian general during World War II...
in Ravna Gora
Ravna Gora
Ravna Gora is a Slavic toponym meaning flat hill. The name may refer to:-Serbia:* Ravna Gora , a highland in Serbia* Ravna Gora , a village near Ivanjica* Ravna Gora , a village near Vlasotince-Serbia and Montenegro:...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. Mihailović sent him to Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
with the intent of forming and spreading the Chetnik organization in that area.
After the recognition of the Chetnik army, the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, by the Allies, Mihailović declared Dangić the commander of all Chetnik units in eastern Bosnia. Dangić had a thousand troops, positioned in the area between Višegrad
Višegrad
Višegrad is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is part of the Republika Srpska entity. It is on the river Drina, located on the road from Goražde and Ustiprača towards Užice, Serbia.-History:...
and Bijeljina
Bijeljina
Bijeljina is a city and municipality in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city is the second largest in the Republika Srpska entity after Banja Luka and fifth largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is situated on the flat rich plains of Semberija...
. He began mobilizing Serbian villagers. In October 1941 Dangić signed an agreement with the Yugoslav Partisans relating to collaboration against attacks of the local Serb population from the Ustasha government of the then Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
(NDH).
The Chetniks did not intend to uphold this agreement for very long, but they did not want to fight a three way war against both Partisan and NDH forces.
In August 1941, Dangić had also entered into discussion with German forces. At the start of February, 1942 he had talks with Erich Kewisch, head of the operational department of the commission of the German command for Serbia, about a ceasefire between his Chetnik troops and the Germans. Dangić was ready to recognize German military administration in eastern Bosnia with the intent of destroying the Partisans. In return, he sought that Ustasha and Home Guard
Croatian Home Guard
Croatian Home Guard or also, known as the "Homeland Defenders," was the name used for the armed forces of the Independent State of Croatia which existed during World War II.- Formation :...
troops leave the area. German general Bader, commissioned commander of Serbia was ready to allow Dangić to assume defence of the NDH in the region between the rivers Sava, Drina
Drina
The Drina is a 346 kilometer long river, which forms most of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps which belongs to the Danube river watershed...
and Bosna. On February 2, 1942 Bader invited a member of the NDH government, minister Vjekoslav Vrančić
Vjekoslav Vrancic
Vjekoslav Vrančić was a member of the Croatian World War II Ustaše regime. As the undersecretary for the interior, he was responsible for the concentration camps set up in Croatia and the repressive acts of the police....
, and Home Guard colonel Fedor Dragojlov
Fedor Dragojlov
Fedor Dragojlov was a colonel-general in the Croatian Home Guard, as well as its chief-of-staff from 1943 to 1944. He was allegedly of Eastern Orthodox faith....
to Belgrade for a meeting with Dangić's representatives. Vrančić and Dragojlov refused any possible transfer of authority to the Chetniks in eastern Bosnia and the talks ended without result.
In April 1942, Dangić himself travelled to Belgrade to meet with Serbian leader Milan Nedić
Milan Nedic
Milan Nedić was a Serbian general and politician, he was the chief of the general staff of the Yugoslav Army, minister of war in the Royal Yugoslav Government and the prime minister of a Nazi-backed Serbian puppet government during World War II.After the war, Yugoslav communist authorities...
. He sought material aid for his troops and in return offered the 17 kotars which were under the control of his troops to be annexed by Serbia. Upon his return to Bosnia he stopped at Valjevo
Valjevo
Valjevo is a city and municipality located in western Serbia. It is the center of the Kolubara District, which includes five other smaller municipalities with a total population of almost 180,000 people...
where he called for a wide-ranging uprising of the Serbs within the territory of the NDH against the Ustasha government. When he returned to his own troops, a large Ustasha-German operation (Operation Trio
Third anti-partisan offensive
The Third anti-Partisan Offensive or Third Enemy Offensive was a battle during World War II between the Yugoslav Partisans on one side, German, Italian, and Independent State of Croatia forces on the second and Chetnik forces on the third side...
) was being carried out in which his forces suffered heavy losses from the elite Crna Legija
Crna Legija
The Black Legion was a militia unit active during World War II in Yugoslavia and later incorporated into the 5th division of the Croatian Armed Forces in December 1944...
(Black Legion).
Ustasha formations brust through to the Drina and reclaimed the NDH border with Serbia. As the Germans found pacifying the NDH internally of great importance, they saw Dangić as a great nuisance. Because of this he was captured on the night of April 10/11 1942 in Rogatica near Bajina Bašta by men from the German 714th Infantry Division.
He was sent to a prison camp in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. He remained here until the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
of 1944. He joined the uprising under Polish general Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski
Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski
General Count Tadeusz Komorowski , better known by the name Bór-Komorowski was a Polish military leader....
until it was set down. He was captured by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
and ended up in a prison camp in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
Post-war
In 1947 the Soviets turned Dangić over to communist YugoslaviaYugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. He was tried in February of that year in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
for war crimes by a military court of the Third Yugoslavian Army located in what is today Skenderija
Skenderija
Skenderija is a city center in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was constructed in 1969 as a cultural and sport center, but was later revitalized and expanded for the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. Below the structure is a shopping mall...
sports and business centre. He was accused of collaboration with the Germans, Italians, the quisling Serbian regime, carrying out massive crimes and treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
. He was found guilty and in that same month he was hanged.