Battle of Grčarice

The Battle of Grčarice was a batle fought in early September 1943 between Slovenian detachment of Yugoslav Communist forces and Slovenian detachment of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland (Blue Guard). The battle was waged in Grčarice in German-occupied Yugoslavia, modern-day Slovenia.

Background
The capitulation of Italy was a important turning point in the World War II in Slovenian part of Axis occupied Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In Slovenia, communist forces had a British mission inside their headquarter. Based on the instructions received from the Allies, the Italian troops were ordered to surrender their arms to communist forces in Yugoslavia, which allowed communists to significantly strenghten their forces. The communist forces in Slovenia immediatelly used this arms to eliminate their main political opponents, Slovenian detachment of the Yugoslav Army in Homeland.

Slovenian Communists
The communist forces which attacked Yugoslav Army in Grčarice belonged to three shock brigades (Tomšić, Šercer and Gradnik) of the 14th Slovenian Division. After the capitulation of Italy in 1943 the Communist forces captured 2 heavy guns together with its crew that they brought to Grčarice. According to an interview of former Chetnik officer Uroš Šušterić, the Italian soldiers operated artillery weapons used against Chetniks.

Slovenian Chetniks
The commander of all Chetniks in Slovenia was Karl Novak. Most of Slovene Chetniks in Grčarice were members of the Sokol movement. Chetnik detachment in Grčarice was the main Slovene Chetnik group. Their number grew from 50 initially to 350. Their official name was Dolenjska Chetnik Detachment while they were also known as the Central Chetnik Detachment (Centralni Četniški Odred) About 60 of them were officers or non-commisioned officers. Dolenjska Chetnik Detachment was commanded by the Major Danilo Borut Koprivica. It had four battallions, the first commanded by Captain Pavle Vošmar Vidmar, the second by Milan Kranjc, third by Marjan Strniša and fourth by Stanko Abram.

Chetniks in Grčarice expected reinforcements consisting of Chetniks from Ljubljana and around 300 Chetniks from Lika region. Only small detachment of 20 Chetniks from Ljubljana managed to reach Grčarice and reinforce defenders. One detachment of 270 Chetniks from Lika commanded by Vasilije Marović was sent by Major Bjelajac to join Chetniks in Slovenia. tried to reach Grčarice, but returned after reaching Srbske Moravice where they learned about the Italian capitulation and decided to return.

Battle
The prelude of the Battle of Grčarice were the clashes between the communist and Yugoslav forces in Sveti Gregor on 3 September. After being attacked by the Partisan brigade Tone Tomšić, the Yugoslav Chetnik forces retreated to Grčarice where they had their center and headquarters. The Chetniks immediatelly fortified their positions connecting two buildings and the church. On 5 September Chetniks received two trucks of arms and ammunition, because Itallian General Gambara wanted to establish connection with the Allies. On 6 September the Chetniks in Grčarice celebrated the birthday of Peter II of Yugoslavia.

On 7 September communists encircled Grčarice and on 8 September they began the attack on Grčarice. On the first day of attack the communist forces did not have any heavy weapons, so Chetniks sucessfully repelled all their attacks.

Major Novak was in Ljubljana during this battle and commanded his units trough radio connection. Expecting the reinforcement from Chetniks from Lika, he continually sent instructions to Dolenjska Chetniks Detachment to keep their positions. When Koprivica was wounded he appointed Captain Milan Kranjc to take over the command over the detachment. On 9 September 20 Chetniks of the Ljubljana detachment joined surrounded Chetniks.

When Kranjc realised that the Chetnik units can not witheld communist attacks he planned to break trough their lines during the night. In midnight Kranjc shouted to Partisans explaining them that their political commessairs are guilty for crimes against Slovenian people and accusing them for attacking regular Yugoslav army units instead against Nazi troops that occupied their country. Kranjc invited Partisan soldiers to kill their political commessairs and join Chetniks in ther struggle against occupation. When Kranjc was wounded by communist artillery fire, Marijan Strniša – Pribina took command over the surrounded Chetnik forces.

According to post-war Yugoslav sources both Koprivica and Kranjc committed suicide to avoid capture by the communists.

Forces of Yugoslav Army suffered defeat and had 11 killed soldiers and 171 captured.

According to Vladimir Dedijer, communists occupied Grčarice on 9 September 1943. Among the Yugoslav soldiers captured by the communists was Vladimir Kalan, who worked for Allied inteligence and released after he claimed British citizenship.

Kočevje trials
The communists organized trials for captured Yugoslav soldiers between 9 and 11 October 1943. The communists organized a trial to 21 captured Yugoslav officers, condemning to death 16 of them while 5 were sentenced to forced labor.

Besides nine prisoners who escaped and those who were put on trial and sentenced to death, all other prisoners were secretly executed in November and December 1943 on many different places in Kočevje althouth they surrendered after Partisans guaranteed their lives which was a their condition for surrender.

Aftermath
On 19 September 1943 around 700 members of Slovenian detachments of Yugoslav Army surrendered to communists in Turjak Castle after the Siege of Turjak.

Slovenian historian Janez Grum emphasized that the defeat of Chetniks in three day battle of Grčarice was serious blow for democratic and anti-communist Slovenians and their resistance to communist terror.

After the defeat in Grčarice only small scattered groups of Chetniks in Slovenia continued to exist, while Major Novak resigned as their commander. Dragoslav Mihailović appointed Ivan Prezelj as new commander of the Slovenian units of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland. Prezelj commanded over small number of Chetnik detachments until the end of the World War II.

The Slovene Home Guard was established as a reaction to massacres and inadmissible actions of Partisans connected with battles of Turjak and Grčarice.

Legacy
In his post-war work Edvard Kardelj recounted that until capitulation of Italy and destruction of the Slovenian detachment of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland in Grčarice, Stallin had insisted that Chetniks and Partisans should "reach an agreement at any price [...] in order to create an army under the command of Draža Mihailović.". After the fall of the communst rule over Yugoslavia at the end of 20th century a commemorative plaque was placed on the wall of the building where Chetniks had their headquarter.