The siege of Kraljevo was the most important battle during the uprising in Serbia in 1941. The siege lasted from 9 to 31 October 1941. The battle was waged between besieging forces of the Chetniks and Yugoslav Partisans against German forces garrisoned in Kraljevo in the German-occupied territory of Serbia (modern-day Serbia).
The rebel forces had between 3,000 and 4,000 soldiers. The battle started on 9 October 1941 when Chetniks attacked German forces near Monastery of à ½iÃÂa. Several days after the battle began in reprisal for the attack on a German garrison, the German forces committed a massacre of approximately 2,000 civilians in the period between 15 and 20 October, in an event known as the Kraljevo massacre.
On 23 October most of the Partisan forces left the siege of Kraljevo and regrouped their forces to attack Chetniks in ÃÂaÃÂak, Uà ¾ice and Poà ¾ega. The rebels organized their last larger attack on Kraljevo on 31 October, using two tanks previously captured from German forces, but failed after suffering heavy casualties.
In early November most of the Chetnik forces besieging Kraljevo retreated to reinforce their positions in other towns in Western Serbia attacked by communist forces. On 20 November 1941 both rebel formations signed truce only to be soon again defeated by German offensive in December 1941 that forced Partisans to leave Serbia and MihailoviÃÂ and his Chetniks to flee constant German chases.
Eventually, Soviet Red Army and Partisan forces captured Kraljevo in autumn 1944, killed at least 240 people in communist purges and established communist regime which lasted for about fifty years. The propaganda created by the winning Partisans was almost completely opposed to real events. The official Partisan historiography considered Chetniks as most responsible for the failed siege, presenting them as deceitful and untrustworthy with minimal combat value. On the other hand, the Partisans were depicted as heroically brave despite all odds at retaking the city.
The attack on Kraljevo was one of the battles waged during the anti-Axis uprising in German-occupied Western Serbia, then part of the Axis occupied Yugoslavia. At the beginning of October 1941 military units of Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland and groups of communist rebels established Operational Headquarters () after they first captured German-occupied ÃÂaÃÂak. The representatives of the Yugoslav Army in this HQ were Major Radoslav ÃÂuriÃÂ and Captain Jovan Deroko, while communist representatives were Ratko MitroviÃÂ and MomÃÂilo Mole RadosavljeviÃÂ. This Operational Headquarters decided to move their troops toward Kraljevo and prepare to capture it.
The Axis forces included:
The Yugoslav Army forces had between 3,000 and 4,000 soldiers. They were organized in following detachments:
The forces of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia were organized in three units:DragaÃÂevo Battalion, LjubiÃÂ Battalion and Jovan Kursula Detachment.
On the meeting in the village Slatina, the Yugoslav Army reached agreement with communists to act together. The rebel headquarters was Ruà ¾iàHill which is about 7 km South-West of Kraljevo. The commander of the rebel forces was Major Radoslav ÃÂuriÃÂ, while the chief of the staff was Jovan Deroko. Deroko was commander of all rebel forces at the left bank of Western Morava and right bank of Ibar, while Jovan Bojoviàwas commander of all rebel forces on the right bank of Morava and left bank of Ibar.
On 3 October 1941 German military commander of occupied Serbia Franz Böhme ordered to unconditionally defend Kraljevo. On 7 October Draà ¾a Mihailoviàordered full battle readiness in villages surrounding Kraljevo.
The first skirmishes within the battle for Kraljevo began in the early afternoon on 9 October near Monastery of à ½iÃÂa when the Chetnik unit commanded by Milutin Jankoviàattacked German unit which retreated to Kraljevo after a whole day battle in which Germans used canons to shell the monastery. On 10 October German air forces bombarded the Monastery of à ½iÃÂa using five airplanes and significantly damaged its church. The battle near monastery lasted until the early morning of 11 October when Germans broke the rebel lines and put the monastery to fire.
On 10 October the rebel forces completely surrounded Kraljevo and began its siege. On 12 October the 717th Jäger Division left Kragujevac to help besieged garrison in Kraljevo and reached Trstenik on the same day. On 13 October they reached VrnjaÃÂka Banja and villages near Kraljevo. On 15 October they clashed with Chetnik forces on the outskirts of Kraljevo. After 45 minutes of artillery barrage, the Jelica Chetnik Detachment commanded by Jovan Bojoviàon the right wing and LjubiàPartisan Battalion on the left wing attacked North-West German positions in the first hours of 15 October and captured Agriculture School. One platoon of DragaÃÂevo Partisans attacked Kraljevo from the direction of the road toward Raà ¡ka. After one hour of fighting, rebels reached the court and church buildings in the city center. The German right wing attacked rebels forcing them to retreat and encircling Jelica Chetnik Detachment which was almost completely annihilated. In this battle Jovan Bojoviàwas killed. Miloje Mojsiloviàsucceeded him on the position of commander of Jelica Chetnik Detachment.
Between 15 and 20 October 1941 German forces killed approximately 2,000 civilians in reprisal for a joint PartisanâÂÂChetnik attack on a German garrison in an event known as the Kraljevo massacre. On 19 October 1941 Chetnik officer Predrag Rakoviàreported his commander in ÃÂaÃÂak, Captain Bogdan Marjanoviàthat his men are disturbed by the news about communist violence in Ljubiàcounty and that they threatened with desertion if this violence continues. The rebel artillery shelled western and central part of the town on 19 and 20 October from Partisan held positions on Ruà ¾iàhill.
On 28 October 1941 the commander of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland Draà ¾a Mihailoviàreceived an order from Prime Minister of the Yugoslav Government in exile Duà ¡an Simoviàwho adjured Mihailoviàto eschew premature actions and avoid reprisals. Two German battalions reinforced with two tanks attacked Partisan positions on Ruà ¾iàhill in early morning of 21 October. The Partisans flee their positions leaving their two cannons on the hill. The German forces continue with their advances through positions deserted by Partisans and attack Chetnik positions killing many Chetnik soldiers before they retreated back to Kraljevo in early afternoon on the same day.
The last larger attack on Kraljevo happened on 31 October 1941 when attacking Partisan and Chetnik forces tried to penetrate German positions and enter into city using two tanks. For some time the historiography attributed this action solely to Partisans, but later this was corrected and participation of Chetniks was recognized. About 130 people died on the rebels' side, both Chetnik and Partisan. Most of rebel casualties were on the Chetnik side. During the attack on German positions in the Farming School Chetnik Lieutenant BojoviÃÂ was killed. Chetnik Lieutenant Sima Uzelac and about a dozen of his soldiers were killed by machine gun while trying to cross barbed wires during their charge on an Axis bunker.
The Partisans cancelled their attacks on Kraljevo based on the order of the communist supreme command and their headquarters in Serbia. The first units retreating from the siege were communist units, the DragaÃÂevo Battalion which retreated on 23 October and three out of five companies of the LjubiÃÂ Battalion retreated before the end of October and sent to ÃÂaÃÂak to fight against the Chetnik forces.
In the night between 2 and 3 November 1941 the communist commanders forged a plan to attack Poà ¾ega, after they managed to resist Chetnik attack on their positions in Uà ¾ice. The information that about 200 Partisans attacked Chetnik security forces of the Preljina airport was quickly reported to Major ÃÂuriàwho held positions at the Kraljevo siege on the same night.
Draà ¾a Mihailoviàordered on 5 November to Captain Bogdan Marjanoviàto intensify his actions and quickly capture ÃÂaÃÂak, while Deroko was ordered to contact Marjanoviàand to take 2/3 his troops, artillery and vehicles to capture ÃÂaÃÂak, while rest of his troops were ordered to secure area toward Raà ¡ka and road between Kraljevo and ÃÂaÃÂak.
Not all Chetnik forces left the siege of Kraljevo, but most of Chetniks did leave the siege. Deroko and Chetnik detachment under his command headed toward ÃÂaÃÂak through the village of MrÃÂajevci and easily took over Preljina from Partisans, crossed river ÃÂemernica and positioned his forces that also included artillery on LjubiÃÂ hill, near the monument to Tanasko RajiÃÂ. The Chetnik Captain Jovan Deroko was commander of the Chetnik artillery on LjubiÃÂ. The communist forces forced Chetniks out of LjubiÃÂ, captured their artillery and killed Deroko on 6 November 1941.
On 20 November 1941, the communist forces and the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland signed a truce while the German offensive in December 1941 defeated both parties. The Communists retreated to Montenegro and Bosnia while MihailoviÃÂ and a small number of his soldiers was forced to flee constant German chases. The Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland and Partisans held each other as morally responsible for Kragujevac and Kraljevo massacres while MihailoviÃÂ decided to resolve the communist question once for all.
At the beginning of 1942 some Chetniks legalized by the NediÃÂ government buried Deroko besides the grave of Tanasko RajiÃÂ in LjubiÃÂ, but communists dug out his body in 1945 and disposed of it in an unknown location. Eventually, the Soviet Red Army and the Yugoslav communist forces captured Kraljevo in Autumn 1944 and established a communist regime which lasted for about fifty years. After the communist regime ended the Government of Serbia and its Ministry of Justice established the commission to research atrocities that were committed by members of the Yugoslav Partisan Movement after they gained control over Serbia in Autumn 1944. According to the report of this commission, out of 55,554 registered victims of communist purges in Serbia the new communist regime in Kraljevo killed 240 people while 28 people are missing.
Two different parties that participated in the siege of Kraljevo have opposing and conflicting views on the events. Although both communists and Chetniks bravely fought in this battle, the post-war historiography published by Communist party denied Chetnik contribution labeling them with different defamatory expressions.
The propaganda of local historiography created by the winning partisans was service of their communist ideology and presented selected parts of the Siege of Kraljevo to create historical consciousness almost completely opposed to real events. For the half of the century the official historiography considered Chetniks as most responsible for failure and lifting the siege of Kraljevo. The Chetniks were presented as deceitful and untrustworthy whose combat value was minimal, while notable examples of brave individuals which were impossible to ignore were neutralized by exerting the Chetniks' betrayal as their persistent behaviour. The Partisans were depicted as heroically brave with almost perfect characteristics who had a role of Promethean heroes whose enemies, before all Chetniks, were forces whose role was menace. The communist interpretation of the conflict with Yugoslav royalists was symbol of defeat of "counter-revolution", "reaction" and "traitors", particularly because this conflict reached its maximum on 7 November 1941 when communists in ÃÂaÃÂak organized celebration of the anniversary of the October Revolution.
In Chetnik interpretation of conflict with Partisans, Deroko received the fame of new Tanasko RajiÃÂ. It is important to consider that communists detachment from ÃÂaÃÂak left the siege of Poà ¾ega in period 22âÂÂ24 October to reinforce communist forces in Uà ¾ice. Taking in consideration the contemporary situation and conflicts between two rebel groups in ÃÂaÃÂak, Poà ¾ega and Uà ¾ice, it can be concluded that this broader conflict between two rebel groups caused lifting the siege of Kraljevo.