Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Joanikije Mićović, during a liturgy in Lijevče Polje in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of Republika Srpska, called Chetnik commander Pavle Đurišić "a great hero of invincible character."
In the first part of our story about the true meaning of this statement by the Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church, we tried to present to the readers of Raskrinkavanje the activities of this Chetnik commander that speak of his "character" activities. So, we dealt with Pavle Đurišić's cooperation with all sides in the war: with the insurgents, Italian fascists, German Nazis and all their helpers. We wanted to, based on credible historical sources, bring closer the figure and work of the Chetnik commander and to point out the revision of historical facts as a modern form of disinformation. We emphasized that the person who presented himself as the protector of the Serbian people made a pact with the Ustashas who brutally killed hundreds of thousands of all those they did not like, of whom by far the most were those same Serbs.
In the second part of our story, we want to present historical facts that will bring his heroism and invincibility closer.
One of Pavle Đurišić's heroic actions took place in the vicinity of Bijelo Polje on January 10, 1943, and was described in a report submitted to Draža Mihailović, the most important highlights of which we are quoting verbatim:
"The action on the right bank of the Lim River in the Bijelo Polje district has been completed. It was carried out exactly according to the established plan. The result of this battle is:
1) The following Muslim villages were completely destroyed (Sections: Plevlje, Sjenica, Peć and Kolašin): Voljevac, Gubovača, Radijelja, Ušanovići, Presečenik, Batuiiće, Donji Vlah (Section Plevlje), Mirovići, Solja, Radojeva Glava, Mediše, Pobretiće, Donja Kostenica, Stablo, Vrh, Zminjac, Sipovice, Negobratina, Osmanbegovo selo, Dupljaci, Jasen, Koštice, Kaševar, Ivanje, Godijevo, Žilići, Gornja Crnca, Gornji Radulići, Vrba, Crhalja, Kradenik, Sipanje, Ličine (Section Sjenica-Peć). A total of 33 villages.
2) Victims: Muslim fighters about 400 (hundreds) Women and children about 1000.
Our casualties: 14 dead and 26 wounded, 3 of whom were women."
This hero, as the Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church sees him, shortly afterwards, in the midst of the Battle of the Neretva, embarks on another glorious operation.
During this activity, several thousand residents of the municipalities of Pljevlja, Priboj, Foča and Čajniče were killed. According to another report by Đurišić, 1.200 armed men and up to 8.000 women, elderly people and children were killed at that time. For a better understanding of this event, we provide an excerpt from this historical document:
"The action in the Pljevlja, Čajnička and Foča districts against Muslims has been carried out.
The operations were carried out exactly as ordered and the command issued. The attack began at the appointed time. All commanders and units carried out the assigned tasks to general satisfaction.
All Muslim villages in the three aforementioned districts were completely burned down, with not a single home left intact. All property was destroyed except for livestock, grain and hay.
During the operations, the complete destruction of the Muslim population, regardless of gender and age, was undertaken.
Casualties. — Our total casualties were 22 dead, 2 of whom were in an accident, and 32 wounded. On the Muslims, about 1.200 fighters and up to 8.000 other casualties: women, old people, and children."
Here we would like to remind those who defend such "heroes" with arguments that such documents are forgeries and fabrications, that the existence of these actions by Pavle Đurišić was confirmed by his supreme commander, Draža Mihailović. Namely, during his trial in 1946, he confirmed that, in the then districts of Pljevlja, Čajnik and Foča, these heinous crimes had indeed taken place. We are quoting this part of his statement verbatim:
"In the fourth offensive, there was great disobedience because Pavle Đurišić, who was called as a reserve to go to the Kalinovik area, instead said that along the way, moving through Sandžak, he would clear Sandžak of the Italian militia and Muslims. However, he returned (to the Kalinovik area) with looting and disbanded the units he had."
There are also different opinions that determine the number of victims based on the post-war population census. According to them, over 4.000 civilian victims died in this heroic activity, among whom a very high percentage were children of the youngest age. Around 26 percent of those killed were children under the age of four, and over half of the killed children were girls.
However, it is not clear to us how anyone, especially a metropolitan, can see the act of a hero in these activities. There are more such heroic deeds by Pavle Đurišić and his raids, but we will leave their elaboration for another occasion.
For the sake of better understanding for those who spend less time reading historical analyses and discussions, it is important to note that this is not the first time that parts of the Serbian Orthodox Church have had similar statements, opinions, and have also recognized similar heroes.
Namely, since 2000, a process of "political canonizations" has been initiated, i.e., the proclamation of saints of priests who, during World War II, through their participation in the Chetnik movement, propagated and achieved open cooperation with the Italian and later German fascists. Not a single priest who supported the NOB was part of this process.
In 2005, the Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church declared Milorad Vukojičić, known as Pop Maca or Pop Koljač, a member of the infamous "black three", and Slobodan Šiljak, an associate of the occupiers and the instigator of many crimes against supporters of the National Liberation Movement, saints. The Synod's reasoning was that "those newly arrived martyrs suffered for the living faith at the hands of godless communists". Pop Maca was prosecuted and convicted of 57 counts of direct participation in murders and massacres or aiding and abetting these heinous acts.
This is the first generation of war criminals that parts of the Serbian Orthodox Church wanted to present as saints and invincible heroes. The second generation is those war criminals who committed their brave deeds in the wars of the 1990s, but they are not the subject of this text.
We also owe a few words about Pavle Đurišić's invincibility. Anyone with even the most basic logical functions knows that a man whose army lost a war cannot, even in theory, be invincible. Additionally, there are a large number of historical sources that show that Đurišić's units lost a large number of battles, including the last one at Lijevče Polje.
In the end, with or without this mini-serial of ours, it is clear to most people that Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church Joanikije Mićović called Pavle Đurišić a "hero of invincible character" because of the need to impose his ideological matrix and create unrest among citizens through negative historical revisionism. And it is also clear to anyone who has read these texts of ours that Pavle Đurišić was neither invincible nor of strong character. He may have been a determined soldier, but heroism requires much more.
This text is written based on several historical sources, namely documents published in books:
Nikola Milovanović, “The Counter-Revolutionary Movement of Draža Mihailović, Part One”, Belgrade 1984.
Nikola Milovanović, “The Counter-Revolutionary Movement of Draža Mihailović, Part Two”, Belgrade 1984.
Radoje Pajović, “Pavle Đurišić”, Podgorica 2005.
Vlado Marković, Radoje Pajović, “Cooperation of Chetniks with the occupier in Montenegro”, Cetinje 1996.
Branislav Kovačević, “The Suffering of the Montenegrin Chetniks”, Podgorica 2005.
Documents on the Treason of Draža Mihailović, Book I, Belgrade 1945.
Dragan Koprivica, Milena Gvozdenović, Milica Kovačević, Counterevolution in 9 Images, Podgorica 2021.
And other relevant sources
Dragan Koprivica, executive director of CDT
Darvin Murić, editor-in-chief of the Raskrinkavanje.me portal
The text was produced with the support of the regional project SMART Balkans - Civil Society for a Connected Western Balkans, implemented by the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society (CPCD), the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) and the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), and financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.
The content of the text is the sole responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society, Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), Institute for Democracy and Mediation, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.
Bonus video:
