Sulejman Pačariz

At the beginning of the Yugoslav theatre of World War II, the Ustaše occupied the region of Sandžak and appointed Pačariz, together with some other prominent Muslims from Sandžak, as military officers of the Sandžak Muslim militia.

They were initially given the ranks of Major and primarily engaged the royalist Chetniks within the region and outside of Sandžak.[6]

By September of 1941, the Ustaše handed control over Sandžak to the Italians.

At the end of the autumn season, Montenegrin communists attempted to negotiate with Pačariz but failed to convince him and his subordinates to join the Yugoslav Partisans. Afterwards, Pačariz mobilized Muslims who lived in Prijepolje on the right bank of the Lim river, and in the former municipalities of Velika Župa and Seljašnica to be armed in case of any offensives made by the Chetniks or the Partisans.

He received arms and military equipment from the Ustaše and later from the Italians.[7] Pačariz would often report larger numbers of militiamen under his command and kept their monthly salaries received from Italians for himself.[8]

In mid-November of 1941, a Chetnik unit of 40 men went to Kosatica, attempting to disarm the local Muslim militia commanded by Pačariz. The militiamen refused to surrender their arms, and a skirmish ensued, in which two of them were killed while one Chetnik was wounded. Motivated to avenge the death of his two men, the militia attacked the part of Kosatica that was populated by Serbs, then capture, brutally torture and kill seven Serbs from Kosatica after the battle.[9]

On the 22nd of December 1941, forces of the Muslim militia from Hisardžik and Sjenica, commanded by Pačariz, were successful in repelling the attack from the Partisans who attempted to capture Sjenica. In this battle, 18 Partisans were captured. Pačariz occasionally visited them in Sjenica's prison.[10]

In February 1942, Pačariz engaged the Italian forces in Prijepolje that attempted to carve a path to Sjenica and escort 18 Partisans who were captured the following battle. The Italians intended to exchange captured Partisans for captured Italians. He escorted 13 Partisans to Prijepolje, leaving 5 wounded Partisans in Sjenica.[11][12] All the Partisans that Pačariz brought to the Italians were killed in the Purića stream, below Srijetež.[13]

Pačariz later established the so called flying platoon of his most loyal men. He used it to forcefully mobilize people and to force wealthier Muslims to buy arms from him. Those who opposed to him were brutally beaten and terrorized, and sometimes killed.[14] Together with other commanders of Muslim militia (including Husein Rovčanin), he participated in a conference in village of Godijeva,[15] and agreed to attack Serb villages near Sjenica and other parts of Sandžak.[16]

Following his appointment to the post of Höhere SS-und Polizeiführer Sandschak (Higher SS and Police Leader Sanjak) in September 1943, Karl von Krempler came to be known as the "Prince of Sandžak" after his relatively successful formation of the SS Polizei-Selbstschutz-Regiment Sandschak. He went to the Sandžak region in October and then took over command of around 5,000 militiamen of the Sandžak Muslim militia, headquartered in Sjenica. This formation was sometimes thereafter called the Kampfgruppe Krempler (Krempler's guerrillas) or more derisively the "Muselmanengruppe von Krempler (Krempler's muslim guerrillas)".

As the senior Waffen SS officer, Karl von Krempler appointed Pačariz as the formal commander of the unit, but as the key military trainer and contact person with German arms and munitions, remained effectively in control.[17] Pačariz participated in the Axis organized Operation Kugelblitz that started on 4 December 1943.[18]

In November 1944 Pačariz together with his units retreated to Sarajevo where there SS Polizei-Selbstschutz-Regiment Sandschak was put under command of Ustaše General Maks Luburić. Pačariz was promoted to the rank of Colonel in the NDH.