Draza
Mihailovic was
born in 1893. He entered the
Belgrade Military Academy at the age of 15 and in 1912 took part in
the war with Turkey.
By the end of the First World War he had reached
the rank of captain.
In
the 1930s the
Yugoslavian government headed by Prince-Regent Paul allied itself
with the fascist dictatorships of Germany
and Italy. However, on 27th March 1941,
a military coup established a government more sympathetic to the Allies.
Ten days later the Luftwaffe
bombed
Yugoslavia and virtually destroyed
Belgrade. The German Army now
invaded and the government was forced into exile.
After the invasion Mihailovic
became head of the Chetniks, a mountain guerrilla movement. The Allies
provided military aid to Mihailovic and for a while was willing to
work with Josip Tito and his partisans.
However, Mihailovic was a traditional monarchist whereas Tito was
a communist and it was not long before the two armies were fighting
each other.
Information
reached Winston Churchill that the
Chetniks had began to collaborate with the Germans and Italians and
at Teheran (28th November to 1st December,
1943) the decision was taken to switch this aid to Tito and the partisans.
Mihailovic
was captured by partisans on 13th March 1946. Convicted of collaborating
with the enemy, Mihailovic was executed on 17th July 1946.
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