Good morning! Recently, I spent some time researching the life and actions of Pavle Djurisic and realized that this man was officially the commander of a de facto SS formation called the Montenegrin Volunteer Corps. So, it’s not just about him being a Chetnik, but literally an SS officer. Here is a brief overview of Djurisic’s wartime path, at the end of which even Draza Mihailovic disowned him.
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Pavle Djurisic was an SS member
Pavle Djurisic was born in 1909 (some sources say 1907) and was educated in the military institutions of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During the April War of 1941, he was an officer in the Royal Yugoslav Army. After the collapse of the Yugoslav defence and the Kingdom’s capitulation, the underage King Peter II and the government went into exile, while the officers of the royal army began to gather at Ravna Gora in central Serbia, where a decision was made to continue the fight against the German occupiers.
In the first phase of the war, the Chetnik movement, which traces its roots to the 19th-century guerrilla anti-Ottoman Serbian nationalist formations, fought alongside the communists in an armed uprising against the occupiers in Yugoslavia. In Montenegro, the Chetniks and Partisans jointly participated in the nationwide 13 July uprising in 1941. Djurisic actively took part in battles against the Italians and initially achieved military successes.
However, after early victories and liberated territories in Montenegro and Serbia (the so-called Uzice Republic), conflicts arose between the communist and royalist parts of the movement. The communist Partisans chose an open and continuous war against the occupiers, while the Chetniks, led by Draza Mihailovic, adopted a strategy of counter-revolutionary struggle against the communists, being ready to cooperate with Italian and later German occupation forces.
Djurisic became a key ally of the Italians in Montenegro in the fight against the Partisans. His units protected Italian garrisons from communist attacks and were very effective at it. In return, Italian authorities turned a blind eye to his crimes against the non-Orthodox population of northern Montenegro. There are numerous documents, photos, and articles in occupation newspapers confirming his membership in the Italian anti-communist militia, from which he received a salary.
When Italy capitulated in 1943, German forces took control of Montenegro. Although Djurisic offered to cooperate with the Germans and even fight against Russia, they initially did not trust him. He was arrested and interned in a camp in present-day Ukraine. After escaping and returning to Serbia, he was arrested again, this time imprisoned by the Gestapo, but released thanks to guarantees from Milan Nedic, the collaborationist head of the Serbian government, and returned to service as a legalised Chetnik. He was given an officer rank in Nedic’s militia, with Mihailovic’s tacit consent.
Djurisic was then involved in Nazi Germany’s plans to create a satellite federation of Serbia and Montenegro, but the project never received approval from Berlin. Under German patronage, he formed the Montenegrin Volunteer Corps, formally part of the Serbian Volunteer Corps under the command of Dimitrije Ljotic, a known collaborator and ideologue of Serbian national fascism. Both formations were under SS control and officially became part of the Waffen SS in 1944.
Djurisic formed the unit in late spring 1944 to participate in the Andrijevica operation during which the massacre in Velika occurred. Pavle operated in Andrijevica, while his comrades from Albania and Germany operated further south in the Plav municipality.
At the end of the war, in an attempt to save himself and his men, Djurisic tried to join Montenegrin nationalists gathered around Sekula Drljevic. However, a misunderstanding with the Ustashas led to a conflict at Lijevce field, after which Djurisic was captured and executed.
Thus, Djurisic’s wartime path involved open collaboration with occupiers, fighting against Montenegrin independence, and numerous crimes against civilians. His actions caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths. By war’s end, even Draza Mihailovic disowned him, not because of his collaboration with occupiers or crimes, which he often ordered, but because of his approach toward the Montenegrin “separatist” collaborationist movement of Sekula Drljevic.
You can read all about this and much more from Pajovic (1977), and if you don’t trust “communist” historiography, you can check out Jozo Tomasevic’s excellent book on the Chetniks.
Pavle Djurisic was a criminal, an SS member, and those who rehabilitate him today, including Metodije, undeniably make themselves neo-Nazis. That’s how it is.
That’s all for today. Have a pleasant rest of the day.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist
(Columnists’ opinions and views do not necessarily reflect those of the CdM editorial team)
