Rade Korda

At the beginning of World War II in Yugoslavia, Korda organized and led a detachment of Serbs in Bare (near Sjenica) to protect their villages from newly-established pro-Croat and pro-Albanian authorities in Sjenica[7] under the command of Major Miloš Glišić. His authority was recognized by the Government of National Salvation in Serbia,[8] to whom he reported on 26 April that his attempts to establish good relations with Muslims failed; they had killed one of his men the day before.[9]

During the 1941 uprising in Montenegro, Korda was a commander of the rebel forces.[10] At the beginning of September 1941 Korda killed Šukra Pilica, commander of Muslim militia in the hamlet of Zaklopača in Bare, Sjenica.[11]

In November 1941, after the rebellion was suppressed, Korda was elected regional commander and later established and commanded the Giljevo Chetnik Detachment.[12][13] According to some sources, Korda received the rank of Chetnik voivode.[14] In April 1942, the Muslim militia from Bijelo Polje repeatedly attacked forces under Korda; he did not respond to the attacks, in accordance with an order from Major Glišić in Raška (under whose command he was at the time).[15]

According to some Yugoslav postwar sources, Korda was not fully under Chetnik control because he fought against Balli Kombetar, Sandžak Muslim militia, partisans and the Chetniks.[16] He controlled several small villages from a headquarters in a cave near a hilltop.[17] Some sources say that Korda opposed to Chetniks' anticommunist policy,[18] and Axis occupation forces in Montenegro blamed him for protecting communists in his region.[19][20] His conflicts with Pavle Đurišić and other Chetnik commanders in the region made central control of Chetnik units in Montenegro impossible.[21] Korda reported on 3 June 1942 that a delegation from Chetnik headquarters in Bijelo Polje asked him to come under the command of Pavle Đurišić, which he refused to do for the next several months.[22]

The behavior or many independent Chetnik leaders in the region (including Korda's abruptness) gave the region's population a negative impression of the movement.[23] According to some documents, Draža Mihailović ordered Korda's execution because of his refusal to subordinate himself to the Chetnik command; however, Korda avoided death by participating in the actions organized against the occupying Axis forces and Muslims.[24] Control of Bijelo Polje and Korda were factors in the conflict between Pavle Đurišić and Miloš Glišić.[25]

After Miloš Glišić and his Chetniks were expelled from Nova Varoš, Korda was under the command of Pavle Đurišić; however, he independently controlled Serb villages on the border between Bijelo Polje and Sjenica.[26] Đurišić appointed Korda commander of the 2nd Bijelo Polje brigade of the 150-man Lim-Sandžak Chetnik Detachment.[27] According to published Chetnik postwar sources, Đurišić appointed Radenko Tmušić as Korda's assistant after Korda asked him for a professional military officer.[28][29]

Korda was one of the Chetnik commanders who participated in Đurišić's reprisals against Sandžak Muslims (many of whom were innocent), originally intended as revenge against the Sandžak Muslim militia.[30][31][32] A group commanded by Vojislav Lukačević began with an attack on 5 January 1943.[33] When the Chetniks began the offensive, Italian forces tried to reach Korda with a plea to stop the attacks but were driven off.[34][35] A unit commanded by Korda burned 15 houses and killed 15 people that day,[36] and Miraš Savić's unit began its attack the following day.[37]

Italian forces attacked Korda's men in the village of Tocilovo (near Brodarevo), killing five Chetniks and capturing Korda's sister and niece on 12 June 1943.[38] The Italian 2nd Battalion of the 83rd Regiment from Bijelo Polje organized a mop-up operation of Korda's region, probably at the request of local Muslims, on 25 June.[39] The 60-man of Giljevo Chetnik Detachment ambushed the Italian soldiers (supported by the Sandžak Muslim Militia) near the village of Radijelje, but had to retreat after five Chetniks were killed and four captured by the Italians.[40] The Italians captured arms and ammunition, inflicting a heavy blow on Korda's group.[41]

In the Klisura region of, 25 km southeast of Sjenica, a joint force of the Sandžak Muslim militia and a bicycle unit of the 104th Jäger Division fought Korda's Chetniks.[42] As part of a wider action to destroy the Chetniks in Montenegro, German and Italian forces (supported by the Sandžak Muslim militia) captured the region controlled by Korda's Giljevo Chetnik Detachment at the end of June 1943; dozens of Chetniks and Serb civilians were killed. After initial resistance, Korda and the Chetniks retreated across the river Lim.[43]