Battle of Pljevlja

The Battle of Pljevlja (Пљеваљска битка) was fought on 1 December 1941 between attacking Partisan forces and Italians garrisoned in Pljevlja (Italian governorate of Montenegro, Axis-occupied Yugoslavia) during the World War II. This battle was the last major conflict of the Uprising in Montenegro.

Background
On 1 November 1941 the Supreme Command of insurgent forces decided to attack Pljevlja. On 15 November the Regional Committee of Yugoslav Communist Party for Montenegro, Boka and Sandžak ordered all insurgents forces in the region to begin with activities to support planned attack on Pljevlja. The town was defended by 2,000 Italian soldiers who belonged to Division Pusteria. The headquarter of Division Pusteria was also in Pljevlja. According to Arso Jovanović, the Italians were preparing for this battle for an entire month. He explained that, in order to better prepare for this battle, the Italian forces from Brodarevo and Bijelo Polje were brought to Pljevlja to sleep in the tents although it was very cold.

Involved forces
Kom, Zeta, Lovćen and Bijeli Pavle detachments attacked Pljevlja on the side of insurgents. Arso Jovanović was commander of Partisan forces. Italian garrison in Pljevlja belonged to Division Pusteria. Piva battalion and Prijepolje company attacked Bučje to cut the communication between Priboj and Pljevlja.

Battle
The Partisan forces attacked Pljevlja on 1 December 1941. In coordinated attack Piva battalion and Prijepolje company attacked Italian garrison in Bučje. This attack was aimed to cut the communication between Priboj and Pljevlja. The Italians who defended Bučje had six dead soldiers until the dawn of 2 December when they surrendered.

Partisans failed to capture Pljevlja and retreated after suffering heavy casualties. Partisan forces counted 203 killed and 269 wounded soldiers. Many partisans deserted their units and joined the Chetniks. Following this defeat partisans plundered villages and executed captured Italians, party "sectarians" and "perverts".

Aftermath
A major defeat of the Partisan forces in Pljevlja and terror conducted by the communists, the so called "Left Deviations", were two main reasons for the expansion of the conflict between the two groups of insurgents. "A land without Chetniks was suddenly overwhelmed by Chetniks" largerly due to the policy of Left Deviations which resulted in a temporary defeat of the Partisan movement in Montenegro in 1942. The general uprising of the people of Montenegro became a civil war.

Tito disproved this battle. When he received information about the plans for this battle, Tito issued two orders not to attack Pljevlja. On 7 December 1941 Moša Pijade wrote a letter to Tito and requested investigation of the defeat in Pljevlja.

The Battle of Pljevlja was the last major conflict of the Uprising in Montenegro. Following this battle the communists were expelled from Montenegro. The Partisans from Montenegro (Kom, Lovćen, Bijeli Pavle and Zeta detachments) were among the units that were incorporated in the First Proleterian Brigade established in Rudo, on 21 December 1941. After the battle of Pljevlja the command of Montenegrin Partisans called for women's recruitment issuing an announcement inviting the sisters of killed insurgents to take arms of their fallen brothers and to join communist forces.

Legacy
Mihailo Lalić wrote about this battle in one of his works in which he emphasized that local Muslims committed war crimes during this battle.