Battle of Pljevlja

Battle of Pljevlja Part of the Uprising in Montenegro, World War II in Yugoslavia Date 1 December 1941 Location Pljevlja, Italian governorate of Montenegro, Axis-occupied Yugoslavia Result Italian victory Defeat of Partisan forces Territorial changes Pljevlja, Italian governorate of Montenegro, Axis-occupied Yugoslavia Belligerents KPJ (Montenegrin Partisans)  Italy Commanders and leaders Arso Jovanović Giovanni Esposito Units involved Kom detachment Zeta detachment Lovćen detachment Bijeli Pavle detachment Piva battalion Prijepolje company 5th Alpine Division Pusteria Strength 4,000 2,000 Casualties and losses 203 killed 269 wounded 74 killed 170 wounded 88 imprisoned more than 23 citizens of Pljevlja[1]

The Battle of Pljevlja (1 December 1941), was a World War II attack in the state of Montenegro by partisans on Italian military forces occupying the city of Pljevlja under the command of General Arso Jovanović and Colonel Bajo Sekulić, who led 4,000 Montenegrin Partisans.^[2]

Background

In 1941 the area had been occupied by Italian forces trying to attack Greece. On 1 November 1941, the Supreme Command of insurgent forces began planning to attack Pljevla.^[3] On 15 November, the Regional Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party for Montenegro, Boka and Sandžak ordered all insurgent forces in the region to begin preparing for the assault. According to Arso Jovanović, the Italians had prepared for an entire month before the battle, with forces from Brodarevo and Bijelo Polje being redeployed to Pljevlja. ^[4]

Involved forces

General Arso Jovanović^[4] commanded the 4,000 partisan troops which were split into several groups: the Kom, Zeta, Lovćen and Bijeli Pavle detachments, the Piva battalion and the Prijepolje company.^[5]

The Italian garrison in Pljevlja belonged to the 5th Alpine Division Pusteria; it was led by Giovanni Esposito and had a strength of 2,000 men.^[6]

Battle

The Partisan forces attacked Pljevlja on 1 December 1941.

Simultaneously, the Piva battalion and the Prijepolje Company attacked the village of Bučje, with the aim of cutting off communications between Priboj and Pljevlja. The Italians defending Bučje lost six men and surrendered on 2 December.^[7]

Some partisans managed to penetrate into Pljevlja but, Italian forces began shelling the town and killing the native Serbian population to prevent them from providing support to the partisans. This action hampered the partisan attack, ^[8] as they failed to capture Pljevlja and retreated with heavy casualties, some 203 were killed and 269 were wounded.^[9]

Aftermath

Following the battle, many partisans deserted their units and joined the pro-axis Chetniks.^[10][11]

Partisan forces began plundering nearby villages and executing captured Italians, party "sectarians" and "perverts".^[12] As a reprisal for the attack, Italian forces, along with Muslim militia in the area, burned and plundered the houses of insurgents.^[13]

The defeat of the partisans at Pljevlja and the terror campaign conducted by left-wing elements of the partisan movement, led to further conflict between the two groups.^[10] The various ideologies of the partisan factions in Montenegro eventually led to civil war.^[14] The leader of the resistance movement in occupied Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, disapproved of the attack.^[15] When he received word of the planned assault, Tito issued two orders not to attack Pljevlja.^[16] On 7 December 1941, Moša Pijade wrote a letter to Tito and requested an investigation into the defeat at Pljevlja.^[17]

The Battle of Pljevlja was the last major action of the Uprising in Montenegro and resulted in the expulsion of partisan forces from the region.^[18] On 21 December 1941, the Kom, Lovćen, Bijeli Pavle and Zeta detachments were incorporated into the 1st Proletarian Brigade.^[19][20]

After the battle, the command of Montenegrin Partisans called for the recruitment of women, issuing an announcement which invited the sisters of deceased insurgents to join partisan forces.^[21]

Legacy

The Serbian novelist, Mihailo Lalić, wrote about the battle in one of his works, in which he emphasized that local Muslims committed war crimes during this action.^[22] On 1 December 2011, the 70th anniversary of the battle, a ceremony was held at the monument to the fallen Partisans on Stražica Hill overlooking Pljevlja, which was attended by Montenegrin President Filip Vujanović. He stated that 236 Montenegrin Partisans were killed during the battle, along with another 159 people from Pljevlja and the surrounding area. The monument commemorates the deaths of 412 Partisans and other victims of World War II.^[23]

References

1. Živković 2011, p. 264.
2. Rellie 2008, p. 218.
3. U Vatri Revolucije. NIGP "Rilindja". 1973. p. 112.
4. Dedijer 1990, p. 61.
5. Stojanović, Mladen (1970). Socialist Republic of Serbia. Secretariat of information of the Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Serbia; Export-Press. p. 24. ...Lovćen, Kom, Zeta, and Bijeli Pavle who had taken part in the Battle of Pljevlja
6. Đuričković, Boško (1952). Vojni istoriski glasnik. Vojno-istoriski institut. p. 10.
7. Đuričković, Boško (1952). Vojni istoriski glasnik. Vojno-istoriski institute. p. 19.
8. Živković 2011, p. 263.
9. Pajović 1987, p. 32.
10. Tomašević 1979, p. 192.
11. Tomasevich 2001, p. 143.
12. Pavlowitch, Stevan K. (March 2008). Hitler's new disorder: the Second World War in Yugoslavia. Columbia University Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-231-70050-4. The partisans' disastrous attempt to capture Plevlja from its Italian garrison on 1 December 1941 was followed by widespread desertion, terror, plunder of villages, the execution of captured Italian officers and party 'fractionalists' and even of "perverts".
13. Lakić 2009, p. 371
14. Burgwyn, H. James (2005). Empire on the Adriatic: Mussolini's Conquest Of Yugoslavia 1941–1943. Enigma Books. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-929631-35-3. The people's uprising was degenerating into civil war.
15. Trgo, Fabijan (1980). Tito's historical decisions 1941–1945. Narodna armija. p. 43. Tito's disapproval of the attack by Montenegrin partisans on Pljevlja in December 1941, when they suffered heavy losses, is also well known.
16. Lagator & Batrićević 1990, p. 27.
17. Djilas, Milovan (1977). Wartime. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-15-194609-9. The letter referred to Mosa Pijade's letter to Tito of December 7, 1941, which called for an investigation into the defeat at Plevlja.
18. Fleming, Thomas (2002). Montenegro: the divided land. Rockford Institute. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-9619364-9-5. Following the failed communist attempt to revive operations by attacking Pljevlja (December 1941), which was the last major engagement of the uprising, they were expelled from Montenegro, and relative peace reigned in most parts until the spring of 1943.
19. Stojanović, Mladen (1970). Socialist Republic of Serbia. Secretariat of information of the Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Serbia; Export-Press. p. 24. Lovden, Kom, Zeta, and Bijeli Pavle who had taken part in the Battle of Pljevlja also were incorporated in the 1st Proletarian Brigade.
20. Yugoslav Information Bulletin of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia & the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia. Komunist, Socialist Thought and Practice. 1975. p. 71. ... two Montenegrin Battalions which had been ordered to join us after their unsuccessful attack on Pljevlja...
21. Batinić, Jelena; History, Stanford University. Dept. of (2009). Gender, revolution, and war: the mobilization of women in the Yugoslav Partisan resistance during world war II. Stanford University.
22. The South Slav Journal. Dositey Obradovich Circle. 1983. p. 93. Mihailo Lallc's recent book on the battle of Pljevlje fought between Italians and Partisans is commented upon, with ...
23. "Sedam decenija Pljevaljske bitke" [Seven decades since the Battle of Pljevlja]. Novosti online (in Serbian). Belgrade: Novosti a.d. 1 December 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2014.

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External links

• Collection of official documents in SFR Yugoslavia about Montenegro in 1941