Blue Guard (Slovene)

The Blue Guard (Plava garda), also known as the Slovene Chetniks (Slovenski četniki, Slovenački četnici), was a Slovenian anti-communist militia under the leadership of major Karl Novak. The detachments under Novak's command were part of the wider "Yugoslav Army in the Homeland" (JVuO) that included units from all over Yugoslavia that swore allegiance to Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović. The ranks were drawn from Slovene officers in the pre-war Royal Yugoslav Army (JV). At first, the JV units in Slovenia that offered resistance were under the command of Jaka Avšič until his mid-1941 transfer to the Yugoslav Partisans. In 1944, the bulk of members joined the Legion of Death.