Green cadres

The Green cadres was the name given to Croatian deserters from the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I. After leaving the army, due to the harsh conditions of warfare and poor motivation, they hid in the woods, as outlaws. They numbered several tens-of-thousands and were operative in areas of Croatian territory and Syrmia. The groups subsisted in part on food and clothing supplied by sympathetic rural people, but also lived on income generated by robbing traders and rich farmers. General Stjepan Sarkotić got in February 1918 the order to get involved with the "Green cadres". The term Green cadres was previously unknown in the Austro-Hungarian army ! (As Green cadres was known the bodyguards of the Emperor of Russia. ) The Croatian Committee was formed opposed to the Yugoslav Committee. Toward the end of the war was their number over 50,000 armed deserters in the woods.

Afterwards, some of them claimed that they had only followed the orders of General Boroević and would therefore not have been outlaws.

As Green cadres was known a paramilitary organization of Bosniaks during World War II.