The Chetniks of Yugoslavia

In the January 22, 1943 issue of the illustrated British weekly The War Illustrated, war correspondent and newspaper editor Hamilton Fyfe (1869-1951) reviewed The Chetniks by George Sava, a fictionalized account of the guerrilla resistance movement led by Draza Mihailovich in German-occupied Yugoslavia. The review was entitled “The Chetniks of Yugoslavia”, based on the alternate title of the book, and appeared in the Views and Reviews section, Volume 6, No. 146, page 499. Fyfe had been the editor of The Morning Advertiser, The Daily Mirror, and The Daily Herald. During World War I, he had been a war correspondent for The Daily Mail. A playwright and a novelist, he contributed to The War Illustrated during World War I and World War II. In the March 2, 1918 issue of The War Illustrated, he contributed the arrticle “A Serbian Supper-Party” in which he described Serbian ‘komitadji” or guerrillas.

The cover of the January 22, 1943 issue of The War Illustrated, Volume 6, No. 146.

The War Illustrated was a British pictorial magazine founded by William Berry and first published on August 22, 1914 to cover World War I. Discontinued on February 8, 1919, it was revived on September 16, 1939 to provide coverage of World War II and continued for 255 issues until April 11, 1947.

The Chetniks was stamped with the logo noting that it was published in conformity with the Book Production War Economy Standard which sought to conserve paper and print by mandating smaller type and lower grade paper.

The Chetniks by George Sava was published in November, 1942 by Faber and Faber in London. Sava had been born in Russia in 1903 but had settled in Great Britain after World Wa I. He had been a lieutenant in the Russian Navy when he was seventeen as part of the White faction during the civil war between the White and the Bolshevik Red factions. He was forced to perform emergency surgery without any medical training which saved the life of an injured sailor which persuaded him to pursue a career in medicine and to become a surgeon.

The Chetniks was based on his three-month travels to Yugoslavia in 1939 and the letters and reports he received from his acquaintance Kristo who he had met there. From these he wrote a reminiscence of his travels and a fictionalized account of the guerrilla conflict in Yugoslavia centered on Draza Mihailovich and the Chetnik guerrillas which he commanded.

Fyfe opened his review of the book by acknowledging that the book gave him a greater understanding of who Draza Mihailovich was and the nature of his resistance movement:

“When you read now and then about the guerrilla war that is being carried on against the Nazis in the mountains of Serbia, and about the leader of the brave men who are fighting for their country’s independence and freedom, how do you picture this General Mihailovich to yourself?

“With some knowledge of Balkan comitadjis, as the bands of turbulent mountaineers who have disturbed the region called Macedonia for so many years are called, I supposed him to be a man of tough, even ruffianly appearance – not young by any means, full of courage, but not very brainy. I was surprised to discover from the photograph of him in George Sava’s new book, The Chetniks of Yugoslavia (Faber, 10s.), that he as a face in which intellect as well as character are plainly discernible.”

On left, a photograph of “Our Chetniks”, “Nashi Chetnici”, from the Belgrade magazine The Balkan War in Pictures and Words, Balkanski Rat u Slici i Rechi, No. 6, February, 1913.

He referred to the guerrillas as “komitadji”, a generic term for Balkan “guerrillas” which had its origins in the Bulgarian and Macedonian komitadji guerrillas who fought against Muslim Turkish Ottoman forces in the 1890s. They were rebels or guerrillas who were members of the “committees” which were set up to gain autonomy and independence from Ottoman Turkey. The term Chetniks gained prominence in the decades prior to the Balkan Wars of 1912-1912 as a term for Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonia, Greek, and Albanian irregulars and guerrillas. The term is derived from the Serbian word “ceta”, a “military company”, from the Turkish “cete”, a band or group of brigands. The term has a longer history in Serbian history to describe Serbian guerrillas or irregulars. In his 1877-78 accounts of the Bosnian Serb uprising in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot During the Insurrection, August and September 1875 With an Historical Review of Bosnia (1877) and Illyrian Letters (1878), for example, British archeologist Sir Arthur Evans used the term Cheta, “insurgent Cheta”, “insurgent camp”, and Chetas, “Chotas”, to describe Serbian guerrilla bands consisting of 20-30 members. The term Chetnik was adopted by Serbian organizations after World War I. The term was generic and was applied to a wide spectrum of groups, organizations, and formations, with differing and varying  policies, ideologies, and tenets. During World War II, there were various factions who used the term “Chetnik” or who were labelled by that term, many of which were hostile to each other and separate and distinct entities. Draza Mihailovich’s guerrilla or irregular forces were officially known as “the Army of the Homeland” and included various ethnic and national groups. Nevertheless, Mihailovich’s forces were labelled or dubbed “Chetniks”, a loose and broad designation that meant that they were irregulars and guerrillas.

Fyfe notes this ambiguity of the term in his review:

“Now, who are the Chetniks? They do not seem to be a race or a tribe. The term is used apparently to describe people who live in a certain part of the wild country on the Yugoslav border. Anyway, they are showing the Germans what the spirit of Yugoslavia is.”

German wanted poster for Draza Mihailovich: “Reward of 100,000 Reichmarks in gold! Whoever brings in dead or alive the bandit leader Draza Mihailovich will receive 100,000 Reichsmarks in gold.” Signed, the commander-in-chief of German troops in Serbia.

Fyfe noted the “Balkanization” and mutual ethnic strife that was endemic in the region: “After the War some federation of the Balkans must be formed for mutual protection. So far the system there has been ‘all against all’.”

He recalled his experiences in the Balkans during World War and concluded that if Draza Mihailovich could succeed in the guerrilla war, he would be able to establish a stable Yugoslavia: “Perhaps if Gen. Draza Mihailovich comes through and leads his countrymen in peace as boldly and cleverly as he is leading them in war, we may see such society.”