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::::::::::::::::::::::Yes that is unrelated. On a related note - what do you think of the picture? It's got Mihailovic and Chetniky looking Chetniks and most importantly, they are not posing with either Nazi's or Americans and it therefore might last more than 5 minutes in the infobox.[[User:Fainites|Fainites]] <sup><small>[[User_talk:Fainites|barley]]</small></sup>[[Special:Contributions/Fainites|<small>scribs</small>]] 19:31, 1 February 2011 (UTC) |
::::::::::::::::::::::Yes that is unrelated. On a related note - what do you think of the picture? It's got Mihailovic and Chetniky looking Chetniks and most importantly, they are not posing with either Nazi's or Americans and it therefore might last more than 5 minutes in the infobox.[[User:Fainites|Fainites]] <sup><small>[[User_talk:Fainites|barley]]</small></sup>[[Special:Contributions/Fainites|<small>scribs</small>]] 19:31, 1 February 2011 (UTC) |
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:::::::::::::::::::::::http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Draza_confers_with_his_men.jpg --[[User:Слободни умјетник|Слободни умјетник]] ([[User talk:Слободни умјетник|talk]]) 17:37, 2 February 2011 (UTC) |
:::::::::::::::::::::::http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Draza_confers_with_his_men.jpg --[[User:Слободни умјетник|Слободни умјетник]] ([[User talk:Слободни умјетник|talk]]) 17:37, 2 February 2011 (UTC) |
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:::::::::::::::::::::::Looks good to me. How about you DIREKTOR et al ? I prefer the one of Chetniks marching through the mountains but I haven't heard back from OTRS yet. Also - it might come up a bit small. Still - if it gets approved by OTRS it might look good on the Chetniks page.[[User:Fainites|Fainites]] <sup><small>[[User_talk:Fainites|barley]]</small></sup>[[Special:Contributions/Fainites|<small>scribs</small>]] 19:34, 2 February 2011 (UTC) |
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== Casualties == |
== Casualties == |
Revision as of 19:38, 2 February 2011
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Chetniks - Allies?!
I don't see the logic here. Someone put Chetniks (at the same time) on the allied and axis side... Why is that? It's important to know that on Tehrena Conference allies stoped to help Chetniks becouse they were helping Axis. Besides, I don't remember any significant battle wher Chetniks fought Germans (except in Užice). All the time of war they fought partisans, and did rescue few American pilots (truth to tell, General Draža was also decorated with Legion of Merit Legionnarie class), but does this put them on the side of allies? Helping Germans and esp. Italians in Dalmatia doesn't sound like being allied). I also read that ther are two kinds of Chetniks, first kind were "bad" Chetniks who helped Gerries, and others were "good" Chetniks, and they helped Brits and Americans, but all of them were under command of General Dragoljub Mihailović, right? As I know, history remembered only one kind of Chetniks in WW2 Yugoslavia (forgive me if I'm wrong).--Wustefuchs (talk) 01:26, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
- No problem, no need to excuse yourself. The Chetniks and Gen. Draza Mihailovic are found on the "Allied" section because of several reasons:
- The first can be because they, the "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland", aka Chetniks, had Allied support troughout most of the time (until Teheran Conference).
- Second, because they were actually the official and recognised allied force in Yugoslavia during most of the war period, and even afterwords, when the support was switched to the Partisans, they were never considered an enemy by any of the Allied nations.
- The ones that you refer as "bad ones" and that actively collaborated, are the ones that were expelled by Mihailović, and they are called Chetniks of Kosta Pećanac. Many times, those are purpously "confused" with the real ones.
- Their fight may not have had much divulgation because of several reasons, but as your own words say, citing: "I don't remember any significant battle wher Chetniks fought Germans (except in Užice)." the "except" part is important here. This remembers me of one user that in the mediation has tryied to conclude that the "dimemberment and decapitation of German soldiers" was not an act of resistance...
- They fought the Partisans, trouth, but have in mind that the royalists were the officialy recognised allies until November 1943, and that fact doesn´t change their resistance nature. The war was actually a 3-side conflict. The periods of alledged passivity against Germans, also many times used as excuse, are also not reason enough to consider them collaborators, that was a surviving tactic, that ended up being wrong.
- Their leader, Gen. Draža Mihailović was highly condecorated for theZ resistance efforts by the most important western allied nations, some condecorations came after the war ended, thus making the condecoration more free of any possible manipulations. Mihailović even had a post-mortum trial organised by the USA Congress, where his resistance effords were confirmed and he was released of all the collaboration accusations that he was victim in his trial held in the communist Yugoslavia of Tito.
- Beside receving material support, their orders were coming directly from the King Peter II, based in London, and with full acknolledge and participation of the British.
- They were created as a resistance movement. Don´t forget that much of Mihailović´s men were actually WWI veterans, and they were seing this struggle just as fighting the Germans (again).
- Gen. Mihailović was hounted by the Germans troughout the war, remember the famous "offering award for him" panflets?
- Their goal was to liberate Yugoslavia, as seen in the "Instrukcije". "Liberate" clearly meant to expell Axis troops from the country.
- Regarding collaboration, it seems that some had existed, but:
- The collaboration was donne mostly with Italians, not Germans but, after carefull analisys of all sources used to confirm collaboration, has been conclusively described in Mihailović´s mediation, as "ocasional and opportunistic", thus, their inclusion in the "Axis" side is the one that is creating all this confusion.
- This collaboration has been much exagerated mostly because their major enemy, Tito and the Partisans, ruled the country for almost half a century latter. The new regime had donne their best to make the historians write all the worste about Mihailović and the movement. Unfortunatelly, in totalitarian regimes, the historians, we all know, necessarily have to write "the trouth".
- His trial occured in Yugoslavia with Tito strongly in power, and the appreciation of it varies between "disputed" and "a pharse". Having in mind that even his lowyer ended up death in prison... And it is important to acknolledge that this trial is the only official condemnation for collaboration.
- This entire nazyfication of Mihailovic and his movement is actually going troughout a mediation and the articles will surely need to go trough a revision soon, and the only disruption here is coming from the part of one user that is ignoring completely the conclusions coming from the mediation, and on his hand, and against all, edits all this articles in a manner that Yugoslav Partisans and Tito come out very favourably, discrediting and completely ignoring as recognised allies, the Chetniks. FkpCascais (talk) 03:23, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
Agreed for most of above, but still, what to do with the partisans, on who's side they were before Nov./Dec. 1943? This is why is so hard to understand the infobox for a regular reader.--Wustefuchs (talk) 07:04, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
- Well, they are listed in the Allied section because after all, Tito did came out from the war victorious, and with help of other allies, at the end, expelled the Axis forces... What is being confusing is that the main article of the Chetniks should be listed as "Allied" together with D.Mihailovic, and the "rebeld" Chetniks of Kosta Pećanac in the Axis section. That would simplify things, a little bit... One user, Direktor, is edit-warring regarding that issue, allways insistingly putting the Chetniks on the wrong side, however he could expose his reasons, and a "peacefull" decition should come out from here without making here another "Front"... FkpCascais (talk) 08:39, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
- But I understand your point. The Partisans were after all, a rebel moviment all the way until late 1943, and the fact that they fought the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland does make them actually an enemy of the Allies, at that period. FkpCascais (talk) 08:44, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
(outdent) Can I make a suggestion? Putting the Chetniks in just one side, or the other, or both, seems unsatisfactory to everyone. It strikes me that the Infobox system is simply 'not suitable for this situation. It became obvious from about 1943 or at least 1944 onwards that the Allies were going to win in the end so presumably to some part of the issue then was who was going to be in power afterwards. An infobox with just two simple sides can't cover three way punch ups. Can you make a separate section underneath the belligerents section for the Chetniks which briefly explains their status (for example resistance movement, Allies 194- to 4-, lost Allied support 194-, collaborated with Axis 194- or whatever is the most neutral way you can all agree on putting it).Fainites barleyscribs 14:17, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
- Sounds perfect. I will do that and expect that will satisfy everyone because it really is the best possible solution. FkpCascais (talk) 04:52, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- It was already done, though a better solution might be to simply split the combatants entry into two seperate columns, on two-sided, one three sided. In any case this is a whole diffrent discussion.
- User:FkpCascais, please refrain from making any further undiscussed edits to the article. Rest assured you will not be resposnible for anything more than temporary changes without a talkpage consensus.
- Fainites, since Fkp seems intent on editing the article (and regardless of his words here the edits will undoubtedly be disputed), I would like to repeat my request that the article be restored and protected for the time being. Would you consider this? The article is only stable at this time due to good will on my part. I admit I strognly feel that neither should good will be exploited, nor edit-warring be rewarded thusly as a means of pushing through changes in an article. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 11:33, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- First of all - my apologies - obviously I did not make myself clear. What I had in mind was a separate section in the infobox for the Chetniks rather than putting them in either or Axis/Allies or both. Not - as you have done, FkpCascais, simply adding them to the Allies. This is extremely unlikely to be agreed and really counts as a continuation of the edit war, even though you called them the RYA rather than Chetniks. I have therefore undone them pending resolution of the dispute. If this edit war resumes I will protect the page. I do not intend to be involved in content as such. I merely made a suggestion as to how to represent the complexity of the situation. I shall post an example of what I mean below for your consideration. Fainites barleyscribs 12:04, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- It seems that only the neutral resolution of the dispute is a separate section in the infobox for the Chetniks. If we can not agree to be so, then we are left with only the deletion of that part of the infobox.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 13:03, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
(outdent) This is an example of what I meant - though obviously the detail is for you people to resolve yourselves. Template:Fix bunching
Yugoslav Front | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of World War II | ||||||||
Partisan fighter Stjepan "Stevo" Filipović, shouts "Death to fascism, freedom to the people!" (the Partisan slogan) as he is hanged by the occupation forces | ||||||||
| ||||||||
Belligerents | ||||||||
Partisans Soviet Union (limited involvement, 1944-45) Bulgaria (limited involvement, 1944-45) |
Germany Italy (1941-43) Albania (1941-44) Hungary (1941-44) Bulgaria (1941-44) Independent State of Croatiaa Nedić regimea (1941-44) Kingdom of Montenegroa (1941-44) |
Chetniks or, briefly, | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
Josip Broz Tito Milovan Đilas Aleksandar Ranković Kosta Nađ Peko Dapčević Koča Popović Petar Drapšin Svetozar Vukmanović Tempo Arso Jovanović Sava Kovačević † Ivan Gošnjak |
Maximilian von Weichs Alexander Löhr Edmund Glaise von Horstenau Mario Roatta Ante Pavelić Dido Kvaternik Milan Nedić Kosta Pećanac Sekule Drljević Leon Rupnik |
Draža Mihailović Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin Dobroslav Jevđević | ||||||
Strength | ||||||||
800,000 (1945)[1] |
321,000[2] 262,000[3] | |||||||
Casualties and losses | ||||||||
350,000 killed; 400,000+ wounded[4] | 24,267 killed; 12,060 missing[5] | |||||||
a Axis puppet state established on occupied Yugoslav territory |
Fainites barleyscribs 13:13, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- OK, no problem. But please have in mind that direktors editing is all but "acceptable" and he is a user that has have pleanty of problems with this issue, but unfortunatelly his persistance (and only that) makes many other users simply give up. The "chetniks" is just a common name given to the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, something like if we use "Brits" for UK in WWII and yes, they were part of the Chetnik movement but we can be precise and use the official name, so that is why we should use that name, but OK, it´s acceptable the way is now. The flag should be changed to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia one (not the one from the battlefield) because they were the official army of the King. The use of the black flag and ignorance of the official naming of the Army were all very convenient to direktors way of editing this issues. FkpCascais (talk) 16:52, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- Regarding direktors words, what would really be the best is to return all these articles to the state before his own edits, that are pretty much all disputed and only one side favourable. All this articles, after intense direktors intervention came out very favourable to the Partisans, and exageratedly bad to the Chetniks, to the point that we found "Partisan glorification" in Chetniks articles, and enormous "nazyfication" of the entire monarchic movement. All this is so serios that will obviously affect in a very negative way any new intervenient on this issue that doesn´t have much knolledge on this issue. The sources are vbery much used selectively, and it´s real meaning greatly manipulated, having that be the reason for my insistance on opening a mediation on this in first place, request that the user direktor has donne all his best to avoid and delay for months. FkpCascais (talk) 17:04, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- Well maybe there is room for both flags - I don't know enough about it. Presumably the Chetniks stopped being the "official" army when the Allies (including King Peter) dumped them? I don't know. Hopefully all these details can be ironed out by discussion. (I think "Brits" is what the IRA etc called the british army. Don't think it's a WWII thing - unless the Yanks did it. The Germans used to say "das Englander". Anyway - I digress) Another point - if you look at your last post down in the section below you will see you said you were not going to express your opinion of Direktors "POV" until after the mediation. Fainites barleyscribs 17:03, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- The thing regarding the flag is that the Chetniks were actually the official army of the kingdom of Yugoslavia from the beggining until November 1943, and it is basically during last year that they were a bit "lost". If we directly assume that Partisans are Allies (I´m not disputing that) having in mind that they spent more time as "rebel" than "official" allies, we could also give some credit to the Chetniks, and acknolledge that they were the official allies and defenders of Kingdom of Yugoslavia for most time during the war, attributing them, at least, the flag of the country they officially defended and fought for.
- Anyway, I really want to thank you Fainites for spending time and patience in helping on this issue. FkpCascais (talk) 17:13, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- Fair enough. Regarding the flags, the way they are presented now in the belligerants section is OK (using both, Chetnik military, and K.of Yugoslavia ones linked correspondently) but, the commanders and leaders section, the Mihailovic and other Chetnik/Yugoslav Army oF officials should use the Kingdom flag because Mihailovic, for exemple, was the head of the already mentioned Yugoslav Army of Fatherland and Minister of Defence of the King´s governament, by itself enough reasons for it. I am officially proposing that change here. FkpCascais (talk) 20:35, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- Also, I beleave that the text under Chetniks should not add the "collaboration..." part because that part is disputed, still under mediation and a POV of one editor that edited all articles assuming that and using doubtfull sources in many cases, beside exagerating and missinterpreting others. Please, lets not include disputed parts in the infobox. FkpCascais (talk) 20:43, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- P.S.:Directed to all: please have in mind that I am not a Chetnik movement supporter, and in my family I had one half of the family supporting monarchy and the other were leftists (considered quite progressive back then). My grandfather was a active Partisan and a diplomat of SFR Yugoslavia, having even travelled with Tito in many of his world travels (I have no antipathies towads the Partisans, just in contrary, just as against nobody. All had their own arguments). My other side were a old Belgrade monarchic family. What I am doing here is being a monarchists lawyier, since I understand some of the arguments they had and since nobody here was doing that now that all related articles were edited with a very unfair tone against them. Please have in mind that real monarchic supporters could go much much further in requests wich they would probably find fair. I apologise for this personal comment but I understood it was necessary. FkpCascais (talk) 21:34, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
OK. Please realise I have not added things to the infobox as my suggestion of what it should precisely contain about the Chetniks as I have no basis for doing that other than all ideas from reading the talkpage and article. Rather it is an example of a working model. I am hoping that the editors here will be able to agree the contents to produce a somewhat longer-lasting version than the current one. However, it looks as if you are going to struggle to persuade other editors that the Chetniks did not collaborate with Italians, then Germans (Axis powers) against the Partisans. Is the mediation going to resolve this? Fainites barleyscribs 23:33, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- Of course (I meant, "of course" for the first part, regarding your casual inserting of elements in the infobox, and no, I am not going to pursuade nobody that Chetniks didn´t collaborated, they certainly did with the Italians, the ones that it is doubtfull is with Germans) and I beleave your help here is being more than crucial, so in my opinion, and speaking at least in my behalve, all participants here should be extremely gratefull for your assistance and given time to help us solving this issue.
- I just saw another possible way of improving the infobox. Perhaps having the Chetniks on the left side, behind Axis that are in centre is not so appropriate as having the Chetniks in middle, with Allies in left and Axis in right sides. Perhaps this is not very important (sorry for trying to be perfectionist) but anyway, it would be not be prejuditial in any way. So resumingly, I am proposing the following changes:
- The change of flags of Mihailovic, Trifunovic and Jevdjevic from the black war Chetnik flag to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia ones. Reason: They were the commanders of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, the official Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia until at least November 1943. Mihailovic was simultaneously the Minister of Defence of King´s Yugoslavia governament. The Chetnik flag (black flag with scull) was basically the war-flag used in the terrein, just as many others, only that this came out to be more remembered.
- Leaving under the YAitF aka Chetniks in minor text only the initial part of "1941-43 Allies , 1943 lost Allied support". That part is undisputable. The rest is currently under mediation, and althought nobody denies that some collaboration did existed, it´s ammount, importance and time duration is discutable. The initial part already says enough for infobox purpouses.
- The change in the order: In my view, and having in mind the relation between them, the ideal order would be: from left to right (Allies, Chetniks, Axis).
- Does anyone opose this simple changes, and can he/she explain its reasons? Please, thank you. FkpCascais (talk) 00:02, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- The proposed infobox, is unfortunately, exactly in accordance with Fkp's version of events (no wonder he's all "ok no problem, please thank you" about it :))). It is, however, unfortunately in contradiction with actual sources on several points. Firstly, the "Chetniks" = "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland" (its merely their full official name). Secondly, there is no question whatosever that the Chetniks served as de facto Axis auxilliary militia troops for the greater part of the war (note this is not me, its high-quality sources - and a lot of them at that). The previous infobox was only wrong in that it did not depict the original period (up until early 1942) in which they actually did engage in several small skirmishes with the Axis.
- Not to go too far into the details, listing the Chetniks as "Allies" after early 1942 is quite absurd. We have literally tens of thousands of Chetnik troops actively aiding Axis offensives, advancing alongside Axis formations, and holding territory for the Axis, while combating the Partisans, which were by 1944 official Yugoslav Allied troops.
- Fainites, I would reccomend you get a bit more aquainted with this quite obscure part of European history. I cannot emphasize enough the necessity of going out there and getting the information first. Note this (sourced) section in particular in order to get a more thorough view into the actual role of the Chetnik movement in this conflict. Please note also the sources listed in the infobox. Furthermore, you should note that the Chetniks are something along the lines of Serbian nationalist "folk-heroes", and are fiercely supported by nationalists in Serbia. There is a HUGE amount of pressure from Serbian users to ignore the actual, objective facts regarding their (I dare say) extremely extensive collaboration with Axis forces (in particular the Italians, which actually organized and armed them into auxiliary formations, see MVAC).
- The only realistic infobox would be one that separates the combatant entry into two horisontal rows: one three-sided - representing the situation up until early 1942, and one two-sided - representing the situation after the incorporation of the Chetniks into the Axis occupation in virtually every region of Yugoslavia.
- The ifobox is merely a side-issue, arising from the main dispute - Chetnik collaboration. I am currently unable to participate in this discussion in detail, and would like to request that consensus on all matters pertaining to this particular issue is postponed until such time as I am able to present what the sources say about the actual situation on the ground more clearly. I also intend to include into the article a full account of the (very numerous) Axis-Chetnik collaboration agreements and pro-Axis activities. User:FkpCascais has no doubt noticed I am not particularly active at the moment and is attemptiong to steamroller the discussion in his favor. I am not about to accept allow this attemot to circumvent the references. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 13:46, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- Please read my posts above where I said Please realise I have not added things to the infobox as my suggestion of what it should precisely contain about the Chetniks as I have no basis for doing that other than all ideas from reading the talkpage and article. Rather it is an example of a working model. I am hoping that the editors here will be able to agree the contents to produce a somewhat longer-lasting version than the current one. . I am not suggesting anything in particular by way of content as definitive. Simply proposing the idea of separate columns in the info box to deal with the complexity of the situation. For example - if it was the case that the Chetniks started of on the Allies "side" and then switched at a later date - or were only ever nominally allies - or were Axis from 1942 - or were never on anybody's "side" but their own and were purely opportunistic as the situation demanded, just 2 columns doesn't really work. That's all. The content is for you guys to try and agree. Your 5 columns in two horizontal rows might work. Fainites barleyscribs 17:32, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- "There is no question whatosever that the Chetniks served as de facto Axis auxilliary militia troops for the greater part of the war... The previous infobox was only wrong in that it did not depict the original period (up until early 1942) in which they actually did engage in several small skirmishes with the Axis." (user:DIREKTOR)
- It is not true. (eg. Operation Kopaonik, Operation Halyard, Battle on Lijevča field)
- After the establishment of the Ustasha death camps, German executions of civilians in Kragujevac and similar terror against the serbian population of the German and Croatian authorities, Chetniks were concerned about the fate of the Serbian people, women and children. (eg. Jasenovac concentration camp, Kragujevac massacre)
- Therefore it is their conflict with the Axis was less during 1942-1945. They were forced to negotiate with the Axis, in particular the Italians (only their authority did not kill Serbian civilians). That does not mean that the Chetniks were de facto Axis.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 18:08, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
Well, who ever added this infobox I must agree it is a very good way to sort problems out, and probably a very good categorization of Chetniks since they were nominaly allies, de facto axis, and if reader is interested why are chetniks in 3rd row, well, he can read all about it.--Wustefuchs (talk) 15:13, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
And I'll add my oppinion now, if I may... Chetniks were de facto Axis, no doubt about it, but what is the problem? Problem is that peace of paper wher it's stated that they are Allies. Now, what to do? This "de iure problem" if I may call it so, pushes them to the Allied side of the infobox, while their activity during the war pushes them to the Axis' side of the infobox... To add a third part or... what? I find this new infobox soulution very good (my personal oppinion) but it may conflict to the historical facts, since, Chetniks didn't have third position in war but they were part of one ore another coalition... I can say I'm confused becouse I don't know what to do with them.--Wustefuchs (talk) 15:18, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
I have this idea, we can add them to the Axis' side and add a note that they were formaly Allies from 1941-1943. But we all know about Chetniks' friendship with Italians, especially in Croatian littoral area wher Italians built good relationship with Chetniks thus "cleaned" Littoral Croatia from Croats (who were an opsticle to italianisation of the area) and setteling it with pro-Chetniks Sebrs who would easier accept Italian occupation, since they considered Italians as friends, like part of Croats felt for Germans (liberators, friends what ever).--Wustefuchs (talk) 15:25, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- Well, it looks that after a few talks with direktor on each other talk pages, Wustefuchs suddently forgot his former statements here on this talk page where he clealy stated "I agree with most above" (for the explanation about why Chetniks were Allies) and "I can´t remember many fighting of the Chetniks exept Užice..." and some others. Well, strange how people suddenly make alliences here...
- Regarding Chetniks, they were de facto Allies, but they were never de facto Axis. What they were is de facto Partisan enemies, and between this two interpretations is where the manipulation is being done. Wustefuchs, I apologies, but all you said is completely wrong. The chetniks were not fighting for ones or anothers, but for their own cause, the Chetniks were far from being only allies because of one "piece of papper" (Jesus, I never heard worste bias!), your last paragraph can just confirm that they were fighting NDH Croats (assumed Axis puppet state), and unfortunatelly I can only agree with you on one thing, from your own words, that you are really confused.
- By the way, the link to Chetnik article that direktor provided (possibly considered a masterpiece of sources selectivity and their real meaning manipulation, we´ll get there with time), beside all the texts that he added in a section earlier to the move request, are edited in a extreme POV manner (at least 90% are direktors edits) and beyond any doubt disputed. Those are exactly the same parts of text and sources that are being analised in the mediation. The sources are not as "highly quality" as presented: Cohen isn´t historian at all, and Jožo Tomašević is Croatian historian that wrote his major work regarding Chetniks inside Tito Yugoslavia (two factors by itself quite negative for any expectation of neutrality while analising a Serbian monarchic movement). Should I also add that both direktor and Wustefuchs are Croatian by nationality, and that, just as coincidence, Croatia is the only country with official policy of condemnation of the Chetnik movement, as assumed by current state official, and school manuals? (I´m just saying this because the Serbian part was already been acused of "nationalism" several times by one user here, without even once the reasons for it having been exposed).
- Should I also remind all, and this is what is really important, that in the mediation we have collected all the most acusational sources towards the Chetniks and the final conclusion was that direktors interpretation was far from fair (sometimes even completely contrary), having at the end, all of us, necessarilly agreed that, yes, there was some collaboration between the monarchists and Axis forces (only Italians confirmed), but the best adjectives to describe it were "ocasional and oportunistic". Should I say more?
- So again, all I see in the comments of this two editors is continuing pushing of the POV of their convenience, none appreciation for the actual good-will on "my" behalve, and a mixture of provocation and willingness to unfairly mixture nationalism into this. "Folk-heroes" direktor? The only ones I see are not in "my" side here. The infobox was my version of events? So why did Fainites reverted me then? And you are judging my words towards him? Please, judge your own behaviour. Let me just use another exemple of arrogance: citing direktor, "YAitF its merely their full official name". Merely official name? Thank you direktor for finally acknolleging that.
- Fainites, is it possible please to ask you to sanction any further nationalistically motivated provocation ("Serbian nationalism", "Serbian folk-heroes", "Balkanic mentality", etc.). Please, this is already a delicate issue, and I beleave many of us are doing our best to solve this, so those kind of attitudes are at least very offensive.
- Now please, gentlemen, can we focus first on my proposals, and can I aks you please to provide an concise "yes/no" answer for each and the reasons for the opositions (if). Thank you. FkpCascais (talk) 16:12, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- Well FkpCascais, I would just like to point out that ArbCom have just made the following finding in the WWII arbitration; The purpose of Wikipedia is to create a high-quality, free-content encyclopedia in an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual respect among contributors. Use of the site for other purposes, such as advocacy or propaganda, furtherance of outside conflicts, and political or ideological struggle, is prohibited..Fainites barleyscribs 18:29, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- I perfectly agree on that, and hopefully all intervenients will undertand it correctly. FkpCascais (talk) 18:47, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- Well FkpCascais, I would just like to point out that ArbCom have just made the following finding in the WWII arbitration; The purpose of Wikipedia is to create a high-quality, free-content encyclopedia in an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual respect among contributors. Use of the site for other purposes, such as advocacy or propaganda, furtherance of outside conflicts, and political or ideological struggle, is prohibited..Fainites barleyscribs 18:29, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- No, I didn't change my oppinion, and as I said I agree with most of you stated earlier becouse those wher some facts like they had support of Allies unitl Nov/Dec 1943. Well you see, ther are also other facts like Momčilo Đujić had support of Italians, why we don't talk about this? Another thing, like nagotiations of Chetniks with Siegfried Kasche about friendship with NDH and united fight against communists... or when Pavelić organized medical help for those Chetniks who were injured in combat against partisans... many things. You denie colaboration of Chetniks with Italians in Lika and Dalmatia before 1943?--Wustefuchs (talk) 17:21, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- Please, see this source: Ramet, Sabrina P.; The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918-2004 p 129; Indiana University Press, 2006 ISBN 0253346568, it talks about Đujić's friendhip with Ustaše and Italians. This is not a good source? Chetniks were only de iure Allies. And what you ment with this we are both Croats? You are Serb, aren't you? So what is your point?--Wustefuchs (talk) 17:25, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- Wustefuchs, we are talking about all of those things (and I am not denying collaboration, just we don´t agree on its degree, intensity, duration or level, among some other issues), but, I already asked once, can we please vote this matter without complicating things much. Simple yes or no, and why. Please. FkpCascais (talk) 18:16, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
- Please, see this source: Ramet, Sabrina P.; The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918-2004 p 129; Indiana University Press, 2006 ISBN 0253346568, it talks about Đujić's friendhip with Ustaše and Italians. This is not a good source? Chetniks were only de iure Allies. And what you ment with this we are both Croats? You are Serb, aren't you? So what is your point?--Wustefuchs (talk) 17:25, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
Vote for what, to add them as Allies - no, to add them as Axis - yes... or for the infobox? I'll remain silent on this one. Now comment, that is why, well why we wouldn't add them to Allies and why would we add them to Axis. First of all they were only de iure allies since 1941 until 1943, during that time, they activly colaborated with Axis powers, that is Third Reich, Italian Kingdom and Nedić's Serbia (Đujić about colaboration with Nedić's Serbia). After Nov/Dec 1943 they were baned from Allies, but they continued to support Axis - they are Axis. We can add a note they were de iure Allies. That's my final point. Voting about this is not good thing, Wikipedia is not democracy as stated, and we can't vote for historical facts, diferent thing would be if we would vote about adding some picture or something like that.--Wustenfuchs (talk) 13:14, 12 January 2011 (UTC)
And, stupid of me, but I forgot to mention a very important thing. On 1 November 1941 Chetniks attacked partisans in Užice, and on 13 November 1941 at meeting with Germans, Dragoljub Mihailović signed alliance with Germans in fight against partisans, also he de iure put Chetnisk under command of Milan Nedić and his Government so Germans wouldn't see Chetniks as their enemies, you, ofcourse know for this event.--Wustenfuchs (talk) 14:05, 12 January 2011 (UTC)
De iure Allies from 1941-1943 but at the same time they were allied with Axis also de iure, but they hide the fact from Allies, and after 1943 it was anounced to public that they are Axis, so they don't deserve to be listed as Allies.--Wustenfuchs (talk) 17:38, 12 January 2011 (UTC)
OK. So how would you express it in the info box? Something like nominally Allies but in practice collaborating opportunistically with Axis forces against the Partisans. Lost Allied support 1943. Thereafter openly collaborated, though involved in rescue of Allied airmen. Or does all this need to wait until the end of time the mediation? What about the flags point made by Fkp? Should it be the army flag, the black flag or both? I'm trying to see if there is a neutral form of words for the infobox on which there is consensus without having to wait for the mediation but I appreciate this may not be possible. Fainites barleyscribs 22:43, 12 January 2011 (UTC)
- I honestly beleave my preoposals are quite simple. I will sumarise them (again) since people seem to have been "lost in translation"...
- 1 - I propose a order change. Having the Chetniks "behind" Axis may be missinterpreted as if they are on the Axis side. The ideal order, from left to right, would be: Allies, Chetniks, Axis.
- 2 - I propose not using the war-flag to the Chetniks. All other intervenients use the flag of the country they fought, only Chetniks (conveniently for some) use a black war-flag. They were the official army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and Mihailovic was at same time the Minister of Derfense. The official name of the army, the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, is quite clear, and says it all.
- 3 - I propose the alteration of the minor text under the Chetniks. We should keep only "Allied 1941-1943, lost Allied support 1943-1945" quite enough, in my POV, for infobox use. All the rest is disputed.
- I am also avaliable to accept any further recomendations, obviously if neutral. FkpCascais (talk) 08:32, 13 January 2011 (UTC)
- Let me be rude, insufferable, blunt, and to the point: with all due respect, none of you have any idea what you are talking about. Period. Of all the participants on this talkpage, I am unfortunately the only one with any real and detailed understanding of the course of this War. Fkp is particularly uneducated with regard to this subject, but he's a "special case" because he does not really care about the facts (which cannot be said for the rest), due to his quite pronounced agenda. To put it in the simplest terms: the sources show the Chetniks as Axis auxilliaries. Chetniks = Axis. What happens if we do not list them as such? Wikipedia would (in principle) be shown as susceptible to popular influence, sources would give in to sheer weight of nationalist sentiment and inane rhetorical babble. I dare say that as a long-serving Wikipedian with tens of thousands of edits, I would in all honesty find that unacceptable.
- The actual complex situation in Yugoslavia was as presented on the right. Regarding the situation on the ground, it is not really debateable at all. I repeat once more that every aspect of the infobox, and in particular the Chetnik-Axis agreements, can be, and most importantly allready is fully sourced without any trouble at all. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 12:03, 13 January 2011 (UTC)
Yugoslav Front | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of World War II | ||||||||
Partisan fighter Stjepan "Stevo" Filipović, shouts "Death to fascism, freedom to the people!" (the Partisan slogan) as he is hanged by the occupation forces | ||||||||
| ||||||||
Belligerents | ||||||||
Axis 1941: Germany Italy Hungary Bulgaria Independent State of Croatiaa Nedić regimea Kingdom of Montenegroa |
Allies1941: Partisans Chetniks | |||||||
Axis 1941-42: Germany Italy Hungary Bulgaria Independent State of Croatiaa Nedić regimea Kingdom of Montenegroa |
1941-42: Chetniksb |
Allies 1941-42: Partisans | ||||||
Axis 1943-45: Germany Italy Chetniks Hungary Bulgaria Independent State of Croatiaa Nedić regimea Kingdom of Montenegroa |
Allies 1943-45: Partisans Soviet Union (1944-45) Bulgaria (1944-45) | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
Maximilian von Weichs Alexander Löhr Edmund Glaise von Horstenau Mario Roatta Ante Pavelić Dido Kvaternik Milan Nedić Kosta Pećanac Sekule Drljević Leon Rupnik |
Draža Mihailović Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin Dobroslav Jevđević |
Josip Broz Tito Milovan Đilas Aleksandar Ranković Kosta Nađ Peko Dapčević Koča Popović Petar Drapšin Svetozar Vukmanović Tempo Arso Jovanović Sava Kovačević † Ivan Gošnjak | ||||||
Strength | ||||||||
321,000[10] 262,000[11] | 800,000 (1945)[1] | |||||||
Casualties and losses | ||||||||
24,267 killed; 12,060 missing[12] | 350,000 killed; 400,000+ wounded[13] | |||||||
a Axis puppet state established on occupied Yugoslav territory |
- Chetniks fought against the Ustasha in 1945 (I've proved it in my previous comment). They were enemies, not friends. Therefore propose of user:Direktor is not true. I also think that the black flag is not appropriate for this template, especially for the Chetniks of Kosta Pecanac. He was loyal to the Nedic regime, not the Royal Government of Yugoslavia.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 12:52, 13 January 2011 (UTC)
You chaps blind or what? It is sourced that they had alliance with Germans, and Dragoljub Mihailović signed this Chetnik-German pact in Užice on 13 November 1941 against partisans. Слободни умјетник, please don't forget colaboration of Chetniks with Ustaše and Pavelić's medical aid to them and their train-transport organized by NDH Railways and Ustaše so they can escape from partisans and so on... Well, Ustaše and Domobrans did destroy all Chetnik forces at Battle of Lijevča Field in '45, but I thnik that this is Ustaše's problem since they were a bit disloyal to their so-called "allies". :)--Wustenfuchs (talk) 13:34, 13 January 2011 (UTC)
- Gentlemen please. Let's not be rude, insufferable and blunt. Or at least - not rude and insufferable. Regarding your Infobox Direktor, can you add in where you would put the headings "Allies" and "Axis" and some dates? Thanks. The three way split in both directions helps set out complexities quite nicely. Then we can see where we go from there.Fainites barleyscribs 15:08, 13 January 2011 (UTC)
- I still have people escaping to directly answer my questions. I really supose that happends because of lack of direct reasons for oposing. Resumingly, I still don´t see any fundamented oposition, I support Слободни умјетник proposal (Pecanac is definitelly wrongly added the Chetnik flag from where he was banned) and I will also propose that someone archives at least part of this talk page that is too heavy. FkpCascais (talk) 16:19, 13 January 2011 (UTC)
- Regarding the situation in 1945 and the Battle on Lijevča field - it was not fought by the Chetniks at all. It was fought by the ex-Chetnik splinter group known as the "Montenegrin People's Army". Please keep in mind that they were not affiliated with the disintegrating 1945 remnants of the Chetnik movement.
- Furthermore, we have the Battle of Poljana (the "last battle of World War II"), in which these remaining members of the "Montenegrin People's Army" joined with Ustaše and German remnants to attampt a breakthrough through Allied lines - namely Partisan lines (the Partisans were at the time the universally-recognized Allied military of Yugoslavia, numbering some 800,000 troops in four field armies and 22 divisions). (For the record, Faintes, the Ustaše were the (openly-declared) pro-Nazi fifth column in occupied Yugoslavia.)
- Aaaand furthemore, You've got actual Chetnik troops surrenderring alongside the Ustaše at Bleiburg (see sources in the article).
- And finally, Chetnik-Ustaše collaboration agreements of 1942:
"As long as there is danger from the Partisan armed bands, the Chetnik formations will cooperate voluntarily with the Croatian military in fighting and destroying the Partisans and in those operations they will be under the overall command of the Croatian armed forces. (...) Chetnik formations may engage in operations against the Partisans on their own, but this they will have to report, on time, to the Croatian military commanders."
Chetnik-Ustaše collaboration agreement, May 28, 1942 (direct quote from primary sources, quoted from Tomasevich, Jozo (1975) War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: The Chetniks. 1. Stanford University Press. p. 226.)
- Again: users interested in having a glance at what the actual sources say can find more information in the (conveniently titled) Collaboration with the NDH section of the Chetniks article (along with all the other dozens of collaboration agreements the Chetniks signed, and the the four Draža Mihailović personally approved through his representatives such as Major Boško Todorović). More free information is available on Google Books, I think.
- Kosta Pećanac used the identical Chetnik flag for his crazy little splinter group, because he claimed seniority in the leadership of the Chetniks. In other words: though seperate, the Draža Mihailović and Kosta Pećanac splinter groups both used the same insignia, since both claimed legitimate "Chetnik-hood". Not that Fkp might know that... or care. After all, the Chetnik flag is being "defiled" isn't it...
- I'll just say again: we can go with the "sourced infobox" (and lets please remember that the sources were listed in it from the start), OR we can go with the "DIREKTOR's-a-communist-and-I'm-really-polite-even-though-I've-been-proven-dead-wrong-dozens-upon-dozens-of-times Infobox".
Direktor, can I ask you please not to speak about what other participants do know or don´t. That is your POV and I know that you usually observe things that way, but expressing it is not favourable to you. I do know regarding Pecanac and his claims, the question is another one, do they deserve to be included in the infobox with it? What about the other points, why can´t you simply answer point by point? I already asked you all PLEASE several times, I mean, come on! Can´t we have some minimal respect and tolerance? FkpCascais (talk) 20:06, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
- Interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Montenegrin_People's_Army&diff=next&oldid=367093767
- I will only cite one example for each year. These are not the only evidence, but only examples that I first come to mind:
- 1942. Operation Kopaonik
- 1943. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DrazawantedbyNazis.jpg
- 1944. Operation Halyard
- 1945. Battle on Lijevča field
- Wikipedia should use a neutral reference, not those who are in the service of propaganda (Tomasevich, Jozo, 1975). I am not an expert on this subject, but what user:direktor claim is absurd and rude. This is a serious attempt to manipulate. Just look at this and you will know who are the victims of the war.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 20:29, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
Why we don't finish this? Can anyone say something about how Chetniks fought Italians or Germans? You can't, but, can you say how they fought allies? I can. So, it is very simple - Chetniks were Axis. Your talk how they were Allies, but still they helped Germans says only that Chetniks were scum, nothing more, just human scum. I say, at least Ustaše (how ever they regime was bad) remained loyal to Axis until end of war :D. Now, add them to Axis - end of story.--Wustenfuchs (talk) 21:06, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
- Take for example the Jasenovac concentration camp. Killed between 49,600 to 600,000 Serbs. Killers: Croats (Ustashi). You claim that the Serbs (Chetniks) were allied with the Ustasha. I do not think so.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 21:30, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
- I added Axis/Allies to the table where I understand it is agreed. Is everybody agreed that the Chetniks started as a resistance movement to the Axis invasion and therefore nominally Allies in 1941? That they started collaborating with Italians and others against the Partisans, certainly by 42? That from 43 they openly collaborated with the Axis? Fainites barleyscribs 21:31, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
- Fainites, regarding collaboration, is far simple as what you said. The collaboration with Italians was donne with the purpose of fighting the Croatian puppet state, that was German allied but in conflict with Italy because both had pretentions in Dalmatia. Thus, Chetniks collaborated with Axis forces against Axis. The only other Axis force that Chetniks allegedly collaborated was with Germans, but the sources direktor used for that were basically German military reports from negociations that existed where non agreement was archived and where you even have a German official saying that Mihailovic man were not to be trusted because they "decapitated and dimemebered German soldiers!" What certainly seems to have existed between them was some kind of cease-fire, in order to mutually tolerate themselfs while triying to eliminate the Partisans that in their eyes were more and more seen as an "annoying" growing danger. The Chetniks did however stayed enemies with Germans all the way and Mihailovic had his head for price all the time. We should also not forget that the Chetniks were also engaged in fighting the "Bosnian" 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian). The conclusion is that the Chetniks never "openly" collaborated because of several reasons, being the obvious one that they, even when lost British support, allways hoped to have a role after the more and more obvious "liberation", and the collaboration donne was very much well described as ocasional (many metings between several intervenients occured but a full scale collaboration never happend. It did, but it was with the expelled Pecenac Chetniks, not Mihailovic ones) and oportunistic (meaning, when an oportunity appeared to aliminate a mutual enemy, the Croatian Ustaše forces and the Partisans). Fainites, would you be willing to explore much further this and to open a new chapter where all sources would be analised and correctly interpreted, something as a support for the mediation process? FkpCascais (talk) 04:30, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
No, in Jasenovac died over 15 milion Serbs, that is the fact. Now, other thing Chetniks were also allies with NDH, you forgot it? They also colaborated with Germans since 1941, more corectly since 13 November 1941. Alliance was signed by most-prominent anti-fascist Dragoljub Mihailović. Also, his friend Momčilo Đujić helped Italians, but not to fight Ustaše, becouse not a single battle happend in Dalmatia and Lika between Ustaše and Chetniks, but they only killed inocent Croatian civilians and fought partisans (Allies). Now, Chetniks only didn't colaborated with Japan, Mihailović would probably send few chaps at Gudalcanal but they did't have any planes. Ok, truth to say, he saived five American pilots..., so did Oskar Schindler save over thosuend Jews--Wustenfuchs (talk) 09:22, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- Negotiations Chetniks in northern Bosnia with Croatian authorities (NDH) have existed. It is not disputed, but the Chetniks were never official allies with NDH and Nazi Germany. In Yugoslavia there was a complicated civil war. It is not possible to really show the template with only two columns from 1943. to 1945.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 10:23, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
Look we have to accept that the two "sides" here will never agree about the Chetniks. That is why we we need to a) rely on sources and b) fairly represent, from the sources, a brief synopsis in the info box which captures the complexities. The details can all be explained in the article. As I understand it you people are mediating about Mihailovich and the extent of collaboration. As I understand it, everybody here, except Слободни умјетник, accepts the Chetniks collaborated with the Axis, whether opportunistically or otherwise, for part of the period from 1941 to 1945. There are three columns available. In the first it shows them - on the Allies side. (They started before the Partisans right? And had just been invaded and dismembered by the Axis? As a resistance group?). In the third column it shows them with Axis from 1943 onwards, because , I understand everybody agrees, they collaborated with Axis against the Partisans? For whatever reason? Is that agreed? For the middle column, can we agree on a neutral, scholarly source? If you don't like Tomasovich, can we agree on Ramat? Fainites barley</sUup>scribs 12:13, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- I understand you idea, and your effort is much appreciated, but I beleave that putting Chetniks on the Axis side simply too simplicist and wrong (the most apropriate formula would be something like a third colums really). We could have some intermediate solution, but they were Allies until November 1943 wich includes ALL of 1943, so, how can they be on Axis side from 1942 or 1943? FkpCascais (talk) 12:28, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- Also, how can an Army that was considered an enemy all the way until the final of the war by Germany, who´s main goals, as seen in "Instrukcije" (The Chetnik Instructions) was to "liberate" the country from Axis troops, and who´s commander had his head for price from Germany be ever considered "Axis". You can´t be allied if you are not allied with the main Allie. See my point? FkpCascais (talk) 12:35, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- Tomasevich is the best source available on WWII Yugoslavia. Period. I find the very suggestion that he should be disregarded on the basis of some guy's personal "dislike" offensive to say the least. The last time fkp attempted to get rid of tomasevich (and generally all sources that contradict him) I copy-pasted a couple-dozen peer reviews on wiki. The praise was nothing short of universal. The day wikipedia disregards sources on the basis of user whim will be a sad day indeed. As things stand now, I do not think we will be disregarding Tomasevich - in fact I think we will disregard User:FkpCascais a lot sooner than a university publication (Cohen included) -DIREKTOR (TALK) 14:33, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
Faintes, I think that after a year of inane nonsense its high time someone finally explained to fkp that his own personal disagreement is not alone something that should influence discussions. This absurdity has to come to an end sometime. The way the ridiculous, year-long mediation has been (mis)handled is this: unless both sides agree, we can't move on. This unbelievable method has enabled Fkp to simply ignore any and all sources - by simply disagreeing :). The whole thing should have been over after a week. A metric TON of sources stands now listed in the mediation describing in full the MASSIVE extent of the Serbian Chetnik collaboration - yet a couple of Serbian users have been (amazingly) allowed to essentially make a mockery of WP:V and ignore sources at will. The stupidity behind this is staggering, and is the primary reason for my short fuse on this talkpage. Instead of determining the WP:NPOV on the basis of actual sources, the inane personal views of involved users were taken into account.
To put it simply: if the sources say the chetniks collaborated - the Chetniks collaborated. the fact that some guy may disagree with this fact, or it's implications, is so irrelevant it's amazing we're even talking about it. The Chetniks will be listed alongside their allies, with whom they signed their agreements, and with whom they cooperated in dozens of military operations. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 15:12, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- I'm afraid that completely unbiased book about this period of Yugoslav history not yet written. Tomasevic (which is not neutral) mentioned Chetniks fight against the Germans in October 1943. (Visegrad and Rogatica).--Слободни умјетник (talk) 15:38, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
Ok, ok, now, we all have sources, and I know, by sources ofcourse, that nominaly, Chetniks were Allies since April 1941 until 1 December 1943. After that, we all bealive to sources what say Chetniks colaborated with Axis during that time and continued to do that until the end of war in May 1945. So, if we ever collected votes for a third columne, then add one more, but whit a note they were colaborators.--Wustenfuchs (talk) 15:46, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- The point is that Thomashevich does not go so far as user:Direktor. I can agree to use the Thomashevich until we dispose of the appearance of better sources. At issue is something else. How do you explain fighting Chetniks against their "German Friends" in October 1943?--Слободни умјетник (talk) 16:03, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- The nominal allegiance of the Chetniks is UTTERLY irrelevant. The infobox displays the actual combatants. The fact that the Allies mistakenly thought the Chetniks were de facto on their side is not about to change historical facts, and anyway, Churchill quickly caught on:
"It was a lamentable fact that virtually no supplies had been conveyed by sea to the 222,000 followers of Tito. (...) These stalwarts were holding as many Germans in Yugoslavia as the combined Anglo-American forces were holding in Italy south of Rome. The germans had been thrown into some confusion after the collapse of Italy and the Patriots had gained control of large stretches of the coast. We had not, however, seized the opportunity. The Germans had recovered and were driving the Partisans out bit by bit. The main reason for this was the artificial line of responsibuility which ran through the Balkans. (...) Considering that the Partisans had given us such a generous measure of assistance at almost no cost to ourselves, it was of high importance to ensure that their resistance was maintained and not allowed to flag."
Winston Churchill, 24 November 1943[14]- Comment: What does this have to do with Mihailovic Chetniks? Yes, we all know the Partisans were more effective, but that fact by itself, which is told here, doesn´t say anything about Chetniks at all. FkpCascais (talk) 19:42, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- ...the Yugoslav King Peter II himself (the idol of the royalist Chetniks) caught on as well. Having issued a call for all Yugoslavs to join the Partisans he commented on the Chetniks and Draza Mihailovic, stating in his speech from London of September 1944 [1]:
"With this my address to you [Yugoslavs] I firmly condemn all wrongful use of the name of the King and the authority of the Crown, which was used tojustify collaboration with the enemy, and the creation of discord within a fighting people going through the gravest moments of it's history, being of use only to the enemy. (...) All those who rely on the enemy against the interests of their own people and it's future, and who do not heed this call [to join the Partisans], will not succeed to rid themselves of the mark of traitors, neither before their people nor before history itself."
- Comment: Yes, Mihailovic Chetniks refused this, we all know this, and that is why they lost support from the Allies, but the Kings words doesn´t say anything specific regarding the Mihailovic Chetniks, and the reference of "traitors using the name of King" can be adressed as well to Pecanac Chetniks. These words hardly proove what you want. Unfortunatelly for you direktor, Kings words do call all troops to join Partisans, and he does condemn the troops that use Kings name, but he does not specify, you are the one making assumptions from this. FkpCascais (talk) 19:42, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- --DIREKTOR (TALK) 16:53, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- The Chetniks were not "Allies on paper" and it is actually you who ignore what sources actually say beside purpously ignoring all effort done by Mihailovic man in fighting the Axis. For exemple, it is incredible how easily you source "massacres" against Croats and Bosniaks and all other things of that kind while completely ignoring that they were killing actually Axis allied armies. (you say they killed women and children, while others say thay actually fought strong pro-German armies... The trouth is probably in the middle, I admit. Many inocents obviously suffered, but beside they actually fought those armies that were Axis!). It is amasing how you simplify all efforts to show it as "they saved a couple of airman", so the post war condecorations were simply given because the Allied countries were stupid? How you use the "Instrukcije" to source all kind of negative aspects to them, but you completely ignore that the main purpose is clerly stated that is to "liberate" the country from Axis troops. You biblically use the Tito fantoche trial as 100% trouth, but the American Congress post-mortum trial and consequent condecoration isn´t troustfull? And even Mr. Tomašević (yes, we all know that is his real surname, and not Thomashevitch or anything else) doesn´t go as fare as you do, beside being obviously more disfavourable towards the monarchists. Should it be because he wrote the book "Chetniks" while living inside Yugoslavia of Tito? Is it maybe because he is a Croatian from Dalmatia (coincidentally just as you direktor, and coincidentally all editors here supporting the Chetnik nazyfication are from Croatia)? I don´t know the answer to this, but it makes me want further sources, just in case. Direktor, it is actually you and your followers that are actually deniying and ignoring all positive facts for them. You are the one being blind. I already asked once on my previous comment: should we make a deep analisys of all sources on this issue and use this as support for the mediation? Or is all this just way to solve the infobox? Any of the answers to this is positive for the process, it is just that they are a bit different one from another. If we are only trying to fix the infobox, I already proposed several ways to fix things, and I haven´t still had direct answers to them. FkpCascais (talk) 19:34, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- @Fainites, please see the exemple of the sources that direktor put in his last comment. See the real words of Churchil and King Peter II? The problem is that direktor assumes many things from them that are not said there. That is basic manipulation of the sources, and he has been massively doing that. All the articles that contain this massively edited sections by direktor are all donne in this way. Another user, User:Jean-Jacques George even found out that direktor used as sources for collaboration a book that basically glorifies Mihailovic. I found out that ALL sources were manipulated and exagerated when transponded to the article text. Fainites, in all this time, not even one reliable source has claimed that Chetniks were collaborators among all, I haven´t seen any reliable source that could be used to insert the Chetniks in the Axis side in any period at all. If I am wrong, please present those sources. FkpCascais (talk) 20:01, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- Ha lol, how interesting. Dearest Fkp, the ONLY faction in WWII Yugoslavia to claim legitimacy from the Yugoslav King and Crown were Draza Mihailovic's Chetniks. Pecanac's Chetniks were a ridiculous little bunch that noone even heard of who was spared of the "good Chetniks, bad Chetniks" nonsense.
- The Chetniks of Kosta Pecanac did NOT claim legitimacy from the king, being openly (rather than secretly) allied with the Germans. Ok?
- The Chetniks of Kosta Pecanac were DISBANDED in March 1943, and Pecanac himself was dead by the time the King gave the speach of September 1944.
- I challenge you to name or invent some faction, anyone in Yugoslavia, that called upon the legitimacy of the crown. I should like to hear who you think the king was refering to, i dare say such s feat is beyond even your imagination. This is the definition of an apologetic argument: even when being shown irrefutable obvious evidence of a fact, the stalwart apologetic simply carries on his nonsense argument regardless. But don't mind me, continue writing your massive nonsense posts, be sure to get back to us when you get published.
- I can only repeat: User:FkpCascais is completely uninformed as to this subject, and shows it continuously. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 20:48, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- I´m not that sure about Pecanac Chetniks. It is well known that they "imitated" the actual Chetniks in almost everything, and they even claimed legitimacy over the Chetnik movement itself, that by nature and tradition defended the Serbian Royal dinasty. They seemed to have used all the parafernalia of symbols, flags, traditions, just as the real ones. Anyway, I apologise, but your citations simply doesn´t say what you pretend to. Are those something like the "best sources" for your claims? P.S.: Isn´t really possible to you not to make personal attacks while discussing issues? FkpCascais (talk) 21:06, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- (I'm not sure. I'm told my "nature" is rather too "manipulative" for me to discuss without commenting on the personality of other users.)
- Regardless, the King did NOT refer to them - they were long gone. But I am fascinated: I would like to hear your theories. Who was he referring to in September 1944?
- I´m not that sure about Pecanac Chetniks. It is well known that they "imitated" the actual Chetniks in almost everything, and they even claimed legitimacy over the Chetnik movement itself, that by nature and tradition defended the Serbian Royal dinasty. They seemed to have used all the parafernalia of symbols, flags, traditions, just as the real ones. Anyway, I apologise, but your citations simply doesn´t say what you pretend to. Are those something like the "best sources" for your claims? P.S.: Isn´t really possible to you not to make personal attacks while discussing issues? FkpCascais (talk) 21:06, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- Ha lol, how interesting. Dearest Fkp, the ONLY faction in WWII Yugoslavia to claim legitimacy from the Yugoslav King and Crown were Draza Mihailovic's Chetniks. Pecanac's Chetniks were a ridiculous little bunch that noone even heard of who was spared of the "good Chetniks, bad Chetniks" nonsense.
- I'm also interested in your opinion on the part of the speech where the King himself quite unambiguously states that those factions that do not obey his word and join the partisans are traitors? Refresh my memory: did Mihailovic join with the partisans after his King had publicly commanded it?
- Lets cut the nonsense. That part of his speech refers to the Chetniks, the ONLY faction in existence claiming legitimacy from the Crown. The King condemns their activities as collaboration with the enemy, calls on all Yugoslavs to join Tito's Partisans (whom he refers to as "Our army"), and unambiguously states that those who do not do so will be considered "traitors". Even after this public command by the King, Mihailovic did NOT join the Allied Yugoslav forces, while tens of thousands of his men held territories in Bosnia and Dalmatia for the Germans.
- It goes without saying that this stuff quoted here on this talkpage is of course naught but a small sampling. There are books and pages of equally condemning documents, agreements with the enemy, with the Nedic regime, etc. part of which I have quoted elsewhere on Wiki, but I cannot be expected to copy down whole books here - instead I list them as sources. -DIREKTOR (TALK) 21:18, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
(outdent) I have protected the page for a week and blocked Слободни умјетник for a week for edit warring over the infobox (again).Fainites barleyscribs 22:51, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
On sources, I suggested Ramet because it was written long after the end of Tito's Yugoslavia, is scholarly and was well received. This was not intended to be a value judgment on Tomasevic. Fkp - whether germany wanted to dispose of the Chetniks is not decisive on whether they collaborated or not. The germans were quite happy to make use of people and then dispose of them to suit their own convenience. The other point is that motivations for collaboration are irrelevent for the infobox. If the Chetniks believed the Allies would ultimately win and therefore concentrated their efforts on destroying the Partisans, and collaborated to do so, it would still be collaboration. If the Chetniks believed the Axis would win and collaborated with them and fought the partisans to try and get the best end result, as they saw it, from the situation, it would still be collaboration.Fainites barleyscribs 22:51, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- My Tomasevich rant up there was not in response to your post, Fainities. Tomasevich's publications are the most thorough and discuss the obscure matter of the Chetniks in greatest detail - naturally Fkp had on several previous occasions attempted to post enough of his own opinions to make people disregard the Stanford-published expert (in spite of universally positive peer-reviews, of course :)). My post was in response to Fkp's renewed attempt. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 23:13, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- OK, but is that enough to list them in the Axis side? Because even when they lost support they also had pro-Allied actions. That is why I don´t deny collaboration, but I think that the way some users describe it and to list them as Axis is way too excessive and wrong. FkpCascais (talk) 23:04, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- A third column could say something like Originally formed as a resistance movement and nominally Allies from 1941 to 1943 but collaborated opportunistically with Axis from late 1941 onwards. Lost support of Allies and Yugoslav government-in-exile in 1943 and openly collaborated with Axis therafter.Fainites barleyscribs 23:23, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
Yugoslav Front | ||||||||
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Part of World War II | ||||||||
| ||||||||
Belligerents | ||||||||
Partisans Soviet Union (limited involvement, 1944-45) Bulgaria (limited involvement, 1944-45) |
Germany Italy (1941-43) Albania (1941-44) Hungary (1941-44) Bulgaria (1941-44) Independent State of Croatiaa Nedić regimea (1941-44) Kingdom of Montenegroa (1941-44) |
Chetniks |
Template:Fix bunching Rather than writing it all up with words, why not simply make use of the infobox syntax and display the change as I suggested above? And besides, the Chetniks were decidedly axis and should be listed as such for the period in which that alignment is accurate. I would find it rather pov if this were avoided, we have tens of thousands of Chetnik troops assisting the major Axis offensives at the Battle of Neretva and elsewhere, to just name an example. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 23:57, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- But I still don´t see how the word "openly" fairly describe events from the moment they lost support on. The word "openly" doesn´t match the description as "ocasional and oportunistic" (made to the entire war period). And the Allies operations in that period somehow make such description sound unfair. And they were not only "nominally allied" in that first period. They were actually allied, they fought Axis troops, sabotaged Axis whenever possible, and did all kind other resistance groups did. I still beleave that too much emphasys is given to Tito´s trial on the subject, and too little to the American Congress judgment that ended up attributing him a high condecoration for his resistance efforts. Despite all, none major Allied nations considered them enemies at no point, and never the Germans considered them real Allies, and had Mihailovic head on price until the end. Because all this, we can say they were allied between 1941 to 1943, but in 1944 and 1945 we can only say that they lost support, because in this period, they did actions in both ways, not being really Allied, but also not Axis. What I also mean is if collaboration is mentioned in that way, so should the "cooperation with Allies" be equally included, and that would simply be too much for infobox purposes. FkpCascais (talk) 00:01, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
- @Fainites, the infobox you made last excludes all of my proposals done in this section. FkpCascais (talk) 00:06, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
- Sigh... Let's try and keep the massive unsupported Chetnik-praising posts to a minimum if possible?
- To be brief, they essential served as an axis auxiliary force from mid-1942 at the very latest, and it just got worse from there on. Their role was that of axis support troops, local static militia divisions that held the partisans out of their areas with axis support and under axis overall command (at first just under italian command, see MVAC, and then after the Italian capitulation, under German "patronage"). this was both "opportunistic" and LARGE-scale. The two terms are not mutually exclusive. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 00:27, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
- MVAC does say that Italians had preference in having Serbs in their ranks, but Serbs doesn´t equal Mihailovic Chetniks. How did you make that link. Another assumption? Serbs were also the majority as ethnic component of the Partisans as well, so? Fainites, why you reverted all my proposals if hardly any reasonable oposition was provided to them? FkpCascais (talk) 00:38, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
- Yes, my own unfounded assumptions. Certainly. Look I'm getting sick of this repetition. Did I not advise you numerous times to have a look at the actual sources?
- "Chetnik collaboration with the occupation forces of fascist Italy took place in three main areas: in Italian-occupied (and Italian-annexed) Dalmatia, in the Italian puppet state of Montenegro, and in German and Italian-occupied Slovenia. The collaboration in Dalmatia and parts of Bosnia was the most widespread, however, and the 1941 split between the Partisans and the Chetniks took place earlier in those areas.[15] The Partisans considered all occupation forces the fascist enemy, while the Chetniks hated the Ustaše but balked at fighting the Italians, and had approached the Italian VI Army Corps (General Renzo Dalmazzo, Commander) as early as July and August 1941 for assistance via a Serbian politician from Lika, Stevo Rađenović. In particular, Chetnik leaders (vojvoda-s) Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin and Dobroslav Jevđević were favorably disposed towards the Italians, because they believed Italian occupation over the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina would be detrimental to the influence of the Ustaše state. For this reason, they sought an alliance with the Italian occupation forces in Yugoslavia. The Italians (General Dalamazzo) looked favorably on these approaches and hoped first to avoid fighting the Chetniks, and then use them against the Partisans, which they thought would give them an "enormous advantage". An agreement was concluded on January 11, 1942 between the representative of the Italian 2nd Army, Captain Angelo De Matteis and the Chetnik representative for southeastern Bosnia, Mutimir Petković, and was later signed by Draža Mihailović's chief delegate in Bosnia, Major Boško Todorović. Among other provisions of the agreement, it was agreed that Italians would support the Chetnik formations with arms and provisions, and would facilitate the release of "recommended individuals" from Axis concentration camps (Jasenovac, Rab...). The chief interest of both the Chetniks and Italians would be to assist each other in combating the Partisan resistance.[15][16]
- Yes, my own unfounded assumptions. Certainly. Look I'm getting sick of this repetition. Did I not advise you numerous times to have a look at the actual sources?
- MVAC does say that Italians had preference in having Serbs in their ranks, but Serbs doesn´t equal Mihailovic Chetniks. How did you make that link. Another assumption? Serbs were also the majority as ethnic component of the Partisans as well, so? Fainites, why you reverted all my proposals if hardly any reasonable oposition was provided to them? FkpCascais (talk) 00:38, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
- In the following months of 1942, General Mario Roatta, commander of the Italian 2nd Army, worked on developing a Policy Directive (Linea di condotta) on relations with the Chetniks, the Ustaše and the Partisans. In line with these efforts, General Vittorio Ambrosio outlined the Italian policy in Yugoslavia: all negotiations with the (quisling) Ustaše were to be avoided, but contacts with the Chetniks were "advisable" - as for the Partisans: "struggle to the bitter end". This meant that General Roatta was essentially free to take action with regard to the Chetniks as he saw fit.[15] He outlined the four points of his policy in his report to the Italian Army General Staff:
To support the Chetniks sufficiently to make them fight against the communists, but not so much as to allow them too much latitude in their own action; to demand and assure that the Chetniks do not fight against the Croatian forces and authorities; to allow them to fight against the communists on their own initiative (so that they can "slaughter each other"); and finally to allow them to fight in parallel with the Italian and German forces, as do the nationalist bands [Chetniks and separatist Zelenaši] in Montenegro.
— General Mario Roatta, 1942[15]
- During 1942 and 1943, an overwhelming proportion of Chetnik forces in the Italian-controlled areas of occupied Yugoslavia were organized as Italian auxiliary forces in the form of the "Voluntary Anti-Communist Militia" ("Milizia volontaria anti comunista", MVAC). According to General Giacomo Zanussi (then a Colonel and Roatta's chief of staff), there were 19,000 to 20,000 Chetniks in the MVAC in Italian-occupied parts of the Independent State of Croatia alone. The Chetniks were extensively supplied with thousands of rifles, grenades, mortars and artillery pieces. In a memorandum dated March 26, 1943 to the Italian Army General Staff entitled "The Conduct of the Chetniks", Italian officers noted the ultimate control of these collaborating Chetnik units remained in the hands of Draža Mihailović, and contemplated the possibility of a hostile reorientation of these troops in light of the changing strategic situation. The commander of these troops was vojvoda Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin, who arrived in Italian-annexed Split in October 1941 and received his orders directly from Mihailović in the spring of 1942.
- During 1942 and 1943, an overwhelming proportion of Chetnik forces in the Italian-controlled areas of occupied Yugoslavia were organized as Italian auxiliary forces in the form of the "Voluntary Anti-Communist Militia" ("Milizia volontaria anti comunista", MVAC). According to General Giacomo Zanussi (then a Colonel and Roatta's chief of staff), there were 19,000 to 20,000 Chetniks in the MVAC in Italian-occupied parts of the Independent State of Croatia alone. The Chetniks were extensively supplied with thousands of rifles, grenades, mortars and artillery pieces. In a memorandum dated March 26, 1943 to the Italian Army General Staff entitled "The Conduct of the Chetniks", Italian officers noted the ultimate control of these collaborating Chetnik units remained in the hands of Draža Mihailović, and contemplated the possibility of a hostile reorientation of these troops in light of the changing strategic situation. The commander of these troops was vojvoda Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin, who arrived in Italian-annexed Split in October 1941 and received his orders directly from Mihailović in the spring of 1942.
The Chetnik-Italian collaboration lasted until the Italian capitulation on September 8, 1943, when Chetnik troops switched to supporting the German occupation in forcing the Partisans out of the coastal cities which they liberated upon the Italian withdrawal.[15][16] The German 114th Jäger Division even incorporated a Chetnik detachment in its advance to the Adriatic.[9]
You are using your own edited texts here, and I already told you how much I trust your edits. Please bring sources, and stop bringing your own texts and use it as "the great trouth". FkpCascais (talk) 11:47, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
- lol. The sources are listed both on this talkpage and in the Chetniks article. I'm not asiking you to "trust" me, check the sources. You may be surprised, but that's why we generally list them, you know (not that I particularly give a damn whether you "trust" me or not).
- I'll be waiting here for you to start attacking the various scholars, historians, etc. Don't give up, maybe if you write-up enough of your thoughts, feelings, and opinions people might take your own "reviews" over those of actuall peers. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 12:34, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
- DIREKTOR has provided his sources, regardless of the text above. They are Ramet and Tomasovic. What I am unclear about is what your sources are Fkp. Are you using the same ones? Is this just a matter of interpretation? Fainites barleyscribs 08:37, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
- Yes, regarding this I am challenging the correct interpretation. We are using a group of sources that were presented on the mediation. There are entire books to be found. I beleave that is the "acusation" the one that needs to make a case, and in my view has failed until now. If someone is saying that they are collaborators and are to be included in the Axis list needs to have strong sources supporting that. The sources of my side, just to make it simple, are the condecorations, for exemple. FkpCascais (talk) 10:23, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
- DIREKTOR has provided his sources, regardless of the text above. They are Ramet and Tomasovic. What I am unclear about is what your sources are Fkp. Are you using the same ones? Is this just a matter of interpretation? Fainites barleyscribs 08:37, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
OK. So you are both using Ramet and Tomasocic but have different interpretations of the information therein. Now, as I understand it, you are saying there is a difference between being just collaborators (which you accept they were) and simply adding them to the Axis list. As I understand it you also say their collaboration was opportunistic rather than wholesale. One of the reasons why I suggested the "third column" solution was because there was a possibility that the Chetniks could be accurately represented without trying to put them in either or both Axis/Ally columns. One version might be 1941 formed as a resistance movement to Axis invasion. Officially Allies from 1941 to 1943 but collaborated opportunistically with Axis forces, mostly against the Partisans, from late 1941 onwards. Lost support of Allies and Yugoslav government-in-exile in 1943 and collaborated with Axis forces therafter, though involved in the rescue of Allied airmen. Fainites barleyscribs 12:00, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
- Yes, the solution you proposed of having them in a third column is the best by now, althought, not in the "Axis" side in order, but perhaps the most correct would be in the middle (just as orange goes between yellow and red). The wording could be improved because they seem to have been more involved in actions against Axis than just saving Allied airman, which is the idea your suggested text gives by now. Also, we should discuss the points regarding official naming and flags for the Chetniks, because as they are now, they are convenient to one side only. FkpCascais (talk) 12:45, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
No. I fully apreciate your efforts, Fainities, and I hope you won't take this personally (as people often do), but a third column would not be a fair representation of the Chetniks. I stand by my proposal above with regard to the infobox, and support a more complex representation, since it more accurately depict the extremely complex war situation (as described in the relevant sources).
Furthermore, lets be sure not to allow Fkp to add confusion into a straightforward issue. He appears to be very good at that, lots of lengthy speeches, unfounded claims, pretty words, etc. To be perfectly clear: there is NOTHING to "interpret". If the faction has been shown to have engaged in widespread collaboration with the Axis during the period in question (1942-45) - and it has (fighting as support troops in Axis offensives, holding territory as static militia units, receiving HUGE amounts of supplies from the Axis, signing myriad agreements, etc.), then it is quite POV to enter them as an independent combatant for that period. Especially since that constitutes the majority of the length of the war (1941-45).
Fainites, I'm assuming here you may be willing to get into this obscure issue independently and a tad more thoroughly. You may get a better understanding of "where I'm coming from". In order to gain some insight into the full extent of Chetnik collaboration (and form an opinion of your own regarding its extent), you may want to read Chapter 7, "Chetniks and the Foreign Enemy" of The Chetniks by Prof. Tomasevich - you can find it here: [2], its in English, and, if I'm not mistaken, its entirety of it is available for free. The chapter deals specifically with the subject of this discussion.
As for Tomasevich, you may note that The Chetniks is the only detailed work of comparable quality focusing exclusively on the (relatively obscure) matter of the Chetniks. His are reliable, peer-reviewed (Stanford) university publications, very detailed, and of very high quality. They are a delight to read to anyone mired in the frightful bog of Balkans history, as they are teeming with primary sources - I feel safe to say that virtually nothing the author states is without direct backing.
I'll post a few indepdendent peer reviews, just in case User:Fkpcascais gets one of his urges that require him to slander the late scholar:
"This is a magnificent work of superb scholarship. No other book in any language so clearly presents and analyzes the aims and policies of the Axis in occupied Yugoslavia, as well as those of the various collaborators. . . . The need for such a book is greater than ever, as controversies over the past rage in the post-Yugoslav states."
-Ivo Banac, Yale University
"There is plenty of significance in this truly monumental work of scholarship. Tomasevich's exhaustive mining of German and Italian government documents opens a fascinating window on the wartime exploitation of Yugoslavia’s economic and human resources."
-Choice Magazine
"The present work is the long-awaited sequel to [Tomasevich's] equally monumental War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: The Chetniks. . . . War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration aims at an academic audience, but it would be valuable to anyone interested in understanding the Yugoslav past and present. It is a must for any college library and desirable for larger public ones."
-History: Reviews of New Books
"All the distinguishing features Tomasevich showed in writing the first volume are also expressed in this book, which describes how the occupying forces ruled some parts of Yugoslavia, and how their collaborators adapted under such circumstances. . . . This book, together with its predecessor, is an invaluable foundation that no new research into World War II on the territory of former Yugoslavia will be able to bypass. It promises to remain for a long time to come."
-American Historical Review
"War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945 will almost certainly be considered the definitive work on the . . . .controversial topic of occupation and collaboration regimes in wartime Yugoslavia . . . .Tomasevich covered in meticulous and awe-inspiring detail the activities and experiences of those parts of Yugoslavia occupied by or in active collaboration with the various axis regimes during te Second World War . . . .What Tomasevich has done is certainly deserving of our highest praise. This volume, like his first, is an indispensable addition in the library of every serious scholar of Yugoslavia or the Second World War."
-Canadian Slavonic Papers
"The scholarly standard achieved by Jozo Tomasevich in his two volumes of 'War and Revolution in Yugoslavia' and the thought of what he would have made of volume three of the series make his death a tragedy keenly felt even by those who never knew him."
-Klaus Schmider, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
"There is much to praise about Tomasevich's contribution. His ability to make exhaustive use of the military and diplomatic archives of the major forces involved in this region is no small feat, considering the variety of languages required and the way in which these archives have been dispersed and destroyed. He offers the fullest and most objective account available of the activities of the occupiers and collaborators, together with an extensive account of the economic consequences of the occupation..."
-Eric Gordy, Clark University
"Tomasevich succeeds again, in his final major work, in making solidly supported and reasonable claims in an environment that has long been defined by the instrumentalization and manipulation of historical claims. He restores faith in the enterprise of history by reviving a long-absent figure—the modest professional researcher hard at work."
-Eric Gordy, Clark University
"One cannot fail to be impressed by the remarkable command of research materials demonstrated throughout this study. . . . Tomasevich never shirks the need to tackle honestly the most sensitive and contentious areas of historical debate, and in this respect he has done a particular service to scholarship through his meticulous and balanced attempts to marshal the available evidence concerning Yugoslavia’s losses between 1941 and 1945."
-Slavic Review
--DIREKTOR (TALK) 12:59, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
No I don't take it personally at all. I have read some of the sources such as Ramet, - though not Tomasovic as yet - including one which sees the Chetniks as the wronged victims of a Partisan misinformation campaign with the British as almost equal baddies and the BBC full of communists. I am however trying to avoid becoming involved in content as that makes me an involved editor and then I am not in a position to use adminly powers to prevent edit warring/block edit warriors and the like. I can see where everybody is coming from. (It reminds me slightly of the 1066 and All That description of the English Civil War Cavaliers and Roundheads as Wrong but Wromantic and Right but Repulsive). The only thing I was wondering regarding your third horizontal column is whether or not it is appropriate to put the Chetniks under Axis despite their extensive collaboration. This because they never formally allied with the Axis. The collaboration was localised (in the sense that it was different in different areas), opportunistic and undertaken in pursuit of the Chetnik objectives which, as I understand it, where based on an assumption the Allies would win in the end. Fainites barleyscribs 15:31, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
Yugoslav Front | ||||||||
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Part of World War II | ||||||||
| ||||||||
Belligerents | ||||||||
1941-42: Germany Italy Hungary Bulgaria Independent State of Croatiaa Nedić regimea |
1941-42: Chetniksb |
1941-42: Partisans | ||||||
1942-45: Germany Italy Chetniks Hungary Bulgaria Independent State of Croatiaa Nedić regimea |
1942-45: (1944-45) Bulgaria (1944-45) |
This would be the best generalization according to available sources. I've done some further research into the matter. While independent up until mid-1942, the Chetniks on the whole begin to serve as Axis support troops throughout that year, which saw the signing of several Italian-Chetnik and NDH-Chetnik pacts. Their usefullness as support troops culminated in their participation in the massive 1943 Axis anti-Partisan operations, where they participated wholesale on the Axis side. With their subsequent defeats after the Battle of the Neretva, Chetnik usefullness slumped, but their dependence on the Axis logically increased. After the Italian capitulation in late 1943, they became closely involved with the Germans (the latter having no choice but to use them, having lost the assistance of the Italian army). By late 1944, the Chetniks lost the support of the Crown and the Allies in general, the Partisans were effectively the Yugoslav Army, thus Chetnik opposition to them constituted anti-Allied military activity (in addition being closely supported by the Germans). Essentially we have the very definition of a pro-German force.
Not to start quoting sources here, and without going into details, this would be the general summation. I've based this above text primarily on Ramet and Tomasevich (Chapter 7: The Chetniks and the Foreign Enemy), but also on the Cohen (which is a peer-review publication) and:
- Cripps, John (2001). Mihailović or Tito? How the Codebreakers Helped Churchill Choose (Chapter 13 pp237-263). In Smith, Michael; Erskine, Ralph. Action This Day. London: Bantam
- Walter R. Roberts. Tito, Mihailović, and the Allies; Duke University Press, 1987
The previous infobox was correct as a rough generalization. However, I myself do accept that infoboxes are a very flawed way to describe wars. With that in mind, and taking into consideration Fkp's position which is, in essence, only correct for the first 15 months of the conflict, I've put together a more detailed version. It is simply what the sources say, only in more detail. The initial period of active Chetnik-Partisan cooperation is only 5 weeks long, and does not really merit an entire row in the infobox. Furthermore, Italian puppets of Montenegro and Albania, do not constitute seperate combatant authorities and were merged with the Italian entry. They, unlike the NDH and the Nedić regime, did not have seperate military commands. Also, "Axis" and "Allies" designations were removed, in recognition of the problematic status of the Partisans (at the start of the War) and the Chetniks (at the end of the War), as was initially proposed by User:Jean-Jacques Georges.
To be brief: this is the fixed-up infobox, shorn of needless clutter and inaccurate, over-rigid categories. It is not a "compromise". People like that word on Wiki, but facts are not something to "compromise" on - it is merely a more detailed depiction. I can't imagine my accepting anything other than this, as it is fully supported by the sources (that attitude is known as "uncompromising", a word not particularly liked on Wiki :)). --DIREKTOR (TALK) 14:13, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
- The pared to a minimum approach is very sensible. I also see what you mean about not heading them "Axis/Allies". After all - the fact that the Chetniks hated the Partisans worst of all and concentrated on fighting them doesn't mean they wanted the Axis to win - or that they would have fought on the Axis side had the Allies landed much earlier as they hoped they would. They wanted to inherit, after the Allies won (as I understand it). And - the Chetniks started before the Partisans did because the Partisans were waiting for permission from Moscow - and the USSR was in a pact (putting at it's most neutral) with Nazi Germany until Barbarossa. (It's interesting to speculate what would have happened if Germany hadn't invaded the USSR - but that's another issue). But would that be an additional reason for putting them on the opposite side to Germany for 1941? What do you think. Fainites barleyscribs 20:42, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
- The Chetniks were, in fact, formed earlier than the Partisans, but did not commence actual fighting until the Partisans forced their hand with their initial success in what is termed the "First anti-Partisan Offensive". The first significant revolt was started by the Partisans. The Chetnik policy of "waiting the war out" is well-documented (and quite prudent, if I may add). Also, if you'd care to cast a glance at the above article, you'll notice that the Chetniks had already in 1941 approached the Germans (the following is essentially a verbatim quote from the listed sources):
"The Chetnik command had already dispatched to Belgrade Colonel Branislav Pantić and Captain Nenad Mitrović, two of Mihailović's aides, where they contacted German intelligence officer Captain Josef Matl on October 28 [1941]. They informed the Abwehr that they have been empowered by Colonel Mihailović to establish contact with Prime Minister Milan Nedić [the head of the pro-German collaborationist government in Serbia, the "Nedić regime"] and the appropriate Wehrmacht command posts to inform them that the Colonel [Draža Mihailović] was willing to 'place himself and his men at their disposal for fighting communism'. The two representatives further gave the Germans their commander's guarantee for the 'definitive clearing of communist bands in Serbian territory' and requested aid from the occupation forces in the form of 'about 5,000 rifles, 350 machine guns, and 20 heavy machine guns.' "
- These negotiations failed, later to be replaced by more successful agreements with the Italians and German-backed puppet regimes, the NDH and the Nedić regime, and then the Germans directly after the Italian capitulation (by 1943 the Germans were a lot less picky with their allies in the region, with the Partisans numbering some 250,000 troops). It is only because of the failure of the initial Mihailović negotiations that I think it is warranted to place them as a seperate combatant in 1941/early 1942.
- In short, in ideology (which was essentially "Francoist") and general disposition the Chetniks were significantly closer to the Axis than the Partisans were, even during this initial period. Also, any additional shuffling would imho ruin the whole "minimalistic" appeal I'm trying to achieve :) --DIREKTOR (TALK) 19:20, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
Fkp, what do you think about the solution of not labelling the columns "Axis" or "Allies" ? Fainites barleyscribs 10:48, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- Wrong. As direktor in his exemple said "these negociations failed", so we are basically dealing with negotiations and suppositions what would have happend if. Chetniks were Allied including entire 1943, and the infoox doen´t represent that. FkpCascais (talk) 12:42, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- -.- "Wrong"? The 1941 negotiations failed, therefore the Chetniks are listed as a non-Axis combatant. Later negotiations with the Axis did not fail. At this point we're seeing disagreement for the sake of disagreement. I would not expect these discussions to go any further towards agreement than this, Fainites. As I described earlier, Fkp has been led to believe that research and sources can be rendered irrelevant on Wikipedia - by simply refusing to "agree". He will simply say, having never read two words of any of the references, that he disagrees on the "interpretation", or he will simply restart the argument, or shift it onto another subject. If allowed to do so, he is perfectly capable of simply holding this position for years on end (as was the case in the absurd, year-long RfM).
- The current infobox is about as close as we can possibly get to the sources. I don't see what more there is to discuss on this subject. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 17:49, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- From the point of view of actual collaboration, probably yes. But what I am asking is - if the Chetniks collaborated with Axis forces in order to defeat the Partisans, whilst waiting for the ultimate Allied victory, which they wanted, is that sufficient reason to simply put them in the Axis list? Fainites barleyscribs 20:46, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- Ah, but its not the "Axis list", is it? That's why I removed the labels in the first place. Rather, all we have on the left is the group that fought together for the described period.
- From the point of view of actual collaboration, probably yes. But what I am asking is - if the Chetniks collaborated with Axis forces in order to defeat the Partisans, whilst waiting for the ultimate Allied victory, which they wanted, is that sufficient reason to simply put them in the Axis list? Fainites barleyscribs 20:46, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- The current infobox is about as close as we can possibly get to the sources. I don't see what more there is to discuss on this subject. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 17:49, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- However, if you're asking whether their collaboration with the Axis would in general merit their inclusion as a pro-Axis combatant, we should remember a few additional facts. Firstly, by the end of the war (late 1944 and early 1945), the Partisans' commander (Tito) was also the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (universally recognized by the Allies), and the Partisans were the "official" Yugoslav military (e.g. see the King's speech above where he refers to the Partisans as "Our army"), i.e. an Allied military. The Chetniks (greatly decreased by that time) were a force dependent on German supplies and (in many areas) on German protection as well. They granted support to Axis efforts and were, of course, actively combating the Partisans (the Allies!). I must say that in all objectivity, this description is that of an Axis force. However, as I said, I think the point is moot with the removal of the labels? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 20:58, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
Wait, I've got it. Lets separate them from the lot in the lower row. How's this?
Also fine-tuned the infobox somewhat. I must say I like it a lot now ^_^ --DIREKTOR (TALK) 00:37, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
Yugoslav Front | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of World War II | ||||||||
| ||||||||
Belligerents | ||||||||
1941-42: Germany Italy Independent State of Croatiaa Nedić regimea Hungary Bulgaria |
1941-42: Chetniksb |
1941-42: Partisans | ||||||
1942-45: Chetniks |
1942-45: (1944-45) Bulgaria (1944-45) | |||||||
a Axis puppet regime established on occupied Yugoslav territory |
Very inventive. Short of putting them in upside down or back-to-front, I can't at the moment think of a better illustration of their somewhat ambiguous position. Hopefully it will also intrigue the reader and lead them to the article.Fainites barleyscribs 00:43, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- How about this: we put the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland (official name, not their common name, Chetniks) in the Allies section for the 1941-1943 period, since they were the official Allied forces in Yugoslavia and supported by all Allied states, and the Partisans instead of the Chetniks in alower row, since they fough against the official allied forces and they were not recognised as Allies. It will intrigue in same proportion the reader to read more about it. FkpCascais (talk) 02:30, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- No need for full names, "Greater German Reich", "Kingdom of Italy", "National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia" etc. (the "Independent State of Croatia" only has the full name to disambiguate from the simultaneously-existing "Federal State of Croatia"). The Chetniks were initially named by Mihailović as the "Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army", and the name "Chetniks" stuck even after they were renamed to the more "Allied-supply-friendly" name. They also used it.
- There's no "1941-43" period in the current proposed infobox, nor should there be. The infobox is here to depict the actual combatants in the war, not their "de jure" status (which has NO effect whatsoever on the actual conflict). This is not to say that it isn't worth mentioning: we can easily explain the "de jure" status of the Chetniks in a note (as is actually the case in the article right now).
- There is no "Allies section" in the current proposed infobox, and frankly I see no reason to shuffle the combatants around to make someone "feel better".
- --DIREKTOR (TALK) 04:09, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- OK, so if you exclude naming "Allied" and "Axis", we can solve this by having the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland in a separate column all the way. And no, there is a need to use the official name and so should be donne in all other related articles. The exemple you provided regarding Croatia is bad. The exemple that could be comparable is if we writte instead of "Independent State of Croatia" simply "Ustaše". Both would be wrong, so that is why using the "only official" as you said earlier, naming is the most correct in an encyclopedic context. FkpCascais (talk) 06:19, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- Are we restarting the thread? I expect the next stage is either an attack on the sources or a claim of "false interpretation"... A third column all the way is POV, the Chetniks collaborated extensively with the Germans, Italians, the Nedić regime, and the NDH. The sources are listed. There is really no way I'd agree to separating them from the Axis column in the latter period. And I'm not writing up and going through all of the above again...
- Infoboxes use short names whenever possible. "Independent State of Croatia" is not wrong. "Croatia" would also not be wrong - except that there existed more than one "Croatia" (Federal State of Croatia, Banovina of Croatia). "Ustaše" would be wrong, like writing "Nazis" instead of "Germany". Again, no way we're using "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland", not only is it unnecessary and not correct for the whole period, but nobody outside Serbia even heard of that name. Infoboxes use short names whenever possible, we will not be using full names in this one.
- --DIREKTOR (TALK) 11:18, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- Re the first point - the Partisans and the Chetniks each have their own column in the first bit which reflects ambiguity. Regarding the second point, how about a little footnote, official name" Yugoslav Army of the Fatherland", 194- to 194- but rarely used Fainites barleyscribs 12:30, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- First point: agree. Second point... its kind of silly since then we'd need the full official names of all the other movements to be fair: the "Partisans" were the "People's Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia" ^_^, the "Nedić regime" was the "Government of National Salvation of Serbia", "Germany" was the "Greater German Reich", "Italy" was the "Italian Kingdom", etc. etc. But... I suppose since we already have a note on the Chetniks regarding their status, we can mention their full name there as well. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 13:59, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- Re the first point - the Partisans and the Chetniks each have their own column in the first bit which reflects ambiguity. Regarding the second point, how about a little footnote, official name" Yugoslav Army of the Fatherland", 194- to 194- but rarely used Fainites barleyscribs 12:30, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
Ok, I've inserted the notes mentioning not one, but both the Chetniks' official names. Shall we post it in the article? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 14:19, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
As a person trying not to get involved in the rights and wrongs of content - but having read Ramet and parts of Tomasovic - this seems to me to be a fair representation of the ambiguities about the Chetniks, leaving detailed explanations for the article. The reader would immediately appreciate from this infobox that the position of the Chetniks is not straightforward. Fainites barleyscribs 15:21, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- I'll be the bold one then... --DIREKTOR (TALK) 20:09, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- OK but we haven't heard from Wustenfuchs or others on this version though.Fainites barleyscribs 21:59, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- Like I said, I was "bold". WP:BRD... that page really ought to be a part of a proper policy. Would spare me a lot of grief on these godforsaken Balkans articles. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 22:14, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
In my opinion, this interpretation would be more accurate:
1. period (April 1941)
- Axis powers against Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Yugoslav Royal Air Force gave strong resistance in the April War) 1, 2, 3(sr), 4(sr) List of victories YRAF fighter-pilots in the April War
2. period (May 1941 - July 1941)
3. period (July 1941 - November 1941)
- Yugoslav Partisans against Axis powers
- YAITF(Chetniks) against Axis powers
4. period (November 1941 - September 1944)
- Yugoslav Partisans against Axis powers
- Yugoslav Partisans against YAITF(Chetniks)
- YAITF(Chetniks) against Axis powers (e.g. Operation Mihailović (1941), Operation Kopaonik (1942), Višegrad (1943), Rogatica (1943), Operation Halyard (1944))
- (Occasionally YAITF (Chetniks) in some parts of the country conclude a ceasefire agreement with the Axis powers, and support in the fight against Partisans)
5. period (September 1944 - May 1945)
- SSSR against Axis powers
- Yugoslav Partisans against Axis powers
- Yugoslav Partisans against YAITF(Chetniks)
- YAITF(Chetniks) against Axis powers (e.g. Kruševac (1944), Battle on Lijevča field (1945))
- (Occasionally YAITF (Chetniks) in some parts of the country conclude a ceasefire agreement with the Axis powers, and support in the fight against Partisans)
(In a footnote to explain who were the Axis powers in Yugoslavia and for how long time)
Jozo Tomasevic in his book mentions all of these struggles, which I mentioned as examples. Although he was trying to disparage them in his text, but there is no doubt that each of these battles occurred. More details about some of them may be read online in Serbian. 5(sr) (source: a prominent Serbian political magazine NIN) In any case (neutral) infobox with three columns is better than a (biased and complicated) infobox with two columns.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 22:44, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- LoL. Right... If I had an hour I might be able to write down all that's wrong with the above, but since I'm sick and tired of this nonsense, all I'll say is: nope. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 23:51, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
January 2011
User:Director is biased and does not respect the neutral point of view. We must not let this article be equal Chetniks and Ustasha. We can find ample evidence that the Chetniks were on the Allied side. Chetniks are sometimes negotiated with the Nazis, but have never been against the allies.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 14:14, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
- This is not contributing anything to the discussion. Please avoid personal attacks and stick to discussing article content and sources. If you have any specific complaints about another editor, make the appropriate case in the appropriate place.Fainites barleyscribs 14:27, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
- Sorry, Fainites, I have not seen your comment that you wrote before me. I found it important to understand that I am not a vandal. I just want to find a neutral solution. However, I will not talk about it. I see that you understand the problem and I agree that the decision should go in that direction.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 14:50, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
- I suspect your point is that Chetniks were better then Ustaše? It is imposiblle to say who's better. Allies aren't better then Axis, you should know this, only diferency between Axis and Allies is that Axis lost the war. And User:DIREKTOR does not violate Wikipedia:POV, you should ask your self do you do that?--Wustefuchs (talk) 02:47, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- No Wustefuchs, user Слободни умјетник was not saying that ones are "better" that others. What he is saying is that the way user direktor has edited this and other related articles does make readers understand that the level of collaboration between the two was similar, and that obviously the level of collaboration of the monarchists (again, ocasional and oportunistic) isn´t by any chance comparable to the one that Independent State of Croatia (a German allied puppet state) and Ustaše (its forces) provided to the Germans. FkpCascais (talk) 05:13, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- Regarding direktors violation of NPOV, all I can say that for me personally is better to wait to the end of the mediation process to express my opinion regarding that, but from my experience I can tell you that this user editing is quite problematic and I already had my share of complains regarding the intentional missinterpretation of sources by that user. FkpCascais (talk) 05:16, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
- I suspect your point is that Chetniks were better then Ustaše? It is imposiblle to say who's better. Allies aren't better then Axis, you should know this, only diferency between Axis and Allies is that Axis lost the war. And User:DIREKTOR does not violate Wikipedia:POV, you should ask your self do you do that?--Wustefuchs (talk) 02:47, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
Will someone pls remove this nonsense thread? I can't believe noone was sanctioned for this. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 17:52, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- Who would you propose to be sanctioned and why? FkpCascais (talk) 02:23, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
Enough already. Fkp - you complain about DIREKTOR being uncivil and disruptive but don't like it when I say at ANI that both sides are barely civil to each other. How can this user editing is quite problematic and I already had my share of complains regarding the intentional missinterpretation of sources by that user be described as civil? I am not inviting a discussion here - I am just pointing out that there is a general lack of respect for other editors and a general willingness to assume bad faith on this page. Now one or both or more of you may be right - but specific allegations need to be made in the proper place and dealt with properly. There is no point making vague allegations part of the general discourse on this page. If you think someone is mis-interpreting sources, set out the source, page numbers and paragraphs and we can look at that specific instance.Fainites barleyscribs 12:24, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
Name
"People's Liberation War" was earlier name of the war in Yugoslavia in Croatia. Google.hr has 15,200 results with "Narodnooslobodilački rat", while "Drugi svjetski rat u Jugoslaviji" has 20,000 results (not 117, as I stated). And Serbo-Croatian is not official language anywher any more, why to use it? It's dead like Latin, even though Latin is more oftanly used.--Wustenfuchs (talk) 15:58, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
- I agree. I already proposed the change in the lede section of other languages namings. The Yugoslav Front obviously doesn´t translate to Liberation War in the languages numbered in the lede section. Opinions? FkpCascais (talk) 20:13, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
For me, translation is not such a big problem like the name of language, I don't know any state, region or town wher Serbo-Croatian is official language, it's dead.--Wustenfuchs (talk) 12:03, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
As I can see at Serbian Wikipedia it is named "Други светски рат у Југославији", at Croatian Wikipedia it is "Drugi svjetski rat u Jugoslaviji", and at Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia also "Drugi svjetki rat u Jugoslaviji". The fact is only the books from communist era call it "Narodnooslobodilački rat", while new books avoid this name...--Wustenfuchs (talk) 12:08, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
I don't understand what Serbo-Croatian has to do with this article's title. GregorB (talk) 13:41, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
- I understood something else, and that is what I was talking about, I understood, and I propose, the other languages section in the lede to be changed. The problem is that direktor purpously edited that all other languages name "Yugoslav Front" as "People´s Liberation War" and he did that so he can support the move request that was donne in that direction. What I propose is to correct that section in all languages, whatever the language is. Regarding Serbo-Croatian, the fact that the language is considered "dead" or not by some, has nothing to do with it, and it should be corrected anyway. FkpCascais (talk) 14:21, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
- Well, here's my two cents... I must say I don't like "Yugoslav Front" as a title. What "front", exactly? One might even speak of Yugoslav fronts, but there was guerrilla warfare and even underground resistance, so this is dubious too. My suggestion would be: use whatever name the (modern) English-language sources use. (Of course, if that happens to be "Yugoslav Front", then that's it...)
- Also: it is incongruous to say that "Yugoslav Front" is called "Drugi svjetski rat u Jugoslaviji" in Serbian - the former is a term, while the latter is a description. PLW is today seen as an ideologically charged name, even if it's essentially on the mark. Still, regardless of interwiki links (which should correspond to whatever titles are picked by respective Wikipedias), one cannot say that "Yugoslav Front" (or what have you) is called anything else than PLW in languages of former Yugoslavia. (Although, for reasons I've described, correspondence Yugoslav Front <=> PLW is also weak.) GregorB (talk) 15:45, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
- I touth in the meanwhile just to make a correct translation of "Yugoslav Front" (exemple: Jugoslovenski Front") just until several request moves that are announced get over (I beleave Thewanderer and some other users sugested "Yugoslavia in World War II" and direktor "People´s Liberation War (Yugoslavia)" or something symilar). FkpCascais (talk) 18:48, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
English-speaking authors who wrote about WW2 in Yugoslavia call it Yugoslavia druing the WW2, or War in Yugoslavia 1941-1945. We won't include translations from communist era. And if I may leave a note, if you would translate in all those languages "Jugoslavenski front", for Croatian language it is "Jugoslavensko bojište".--Wustefuchs (talk) 00:18, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
- No problem, I only said "Jugoslovenski Front" as an exemple, each language would obviously be translated correctly. So we agree on this? FkpCascais (talk) 10:15, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
Well, I know that I do.--Wustefuchs (talk) 11:55, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
- Fainites, as you can see, this is an issue where an agreement seems to have been reached, or at least no oposition to it has been provided. A change to do? FkpCascais (talk) 16:44, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
- Sorry. Can I make sure I understand this. This is about what words are used for the translation in the lead? I would have thought if the lead says "Yugoslav Front also known as People's Liberation War" then both need to be translated. If the lead is changed to call it something else then change the translations. This seems to me to be a separate issue to what the article is called. Fainites barleyscribs 21:19, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
- No, we keep only Yugoslav Front and its translations. FkpCascais (talk) 12:53, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
- Sorry. Can I make sure I understand this. This is about what words are used for the translation in the lead? I would have thought if the lead says "Yugoslav Front also known as People's Liberation War" then both need to be translated. If the lead is changed to call it something else then change the translations. This seems to me to be a separate issue to what the article is called. Fainites barleyscribs 21:19, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
Well obviously as the article is currently called "Yugoslav Front", the first line should say "The Yugoslav Front is......" and include the translation of the term. That is the minimum. However, if it is agreed that it also commonly known as the Peoples Liberation War or whatever, (even if that term is gradually falling out of use following the end of communism,), then i do not see why also translating PLW is a problem - unless it makes the first sentence look very messy because there are so many languages. Fainites barleyscribs 18:30, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
So the first line would go;
- The Yugoslav Front, (Serbo-Croatian: insert here; Croatian: Jugoslavensko bojište; Macedonian:insert here ), also known as the Yugoslav People's Liberation War, was fought in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II (1941–1945) between the Yugoslav resistance forces, primarily the Partisans, and the Axis powers.
Currently it says serbo-croat rather than Serbian and Croatian - but let's not reproduce linguistic wars here. The point is to give a translation of what the title means, whether it is called something else in the Balkans. Is Југословенски фронт correct? I don't speak any myself. Fainites barleyscribs 09:44, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- Correct. FkpCascais (talk) 12:37, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- Serbo-Croatian is a (very much existing) macrolanguage that encompasses Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin). Listing all four or five of them would be redundant (not to mention another Balkans-nationalist absurdity). A quick glance at Talk:Serbo-Croatian language might clarify matters. I admit I'm not entirely familiar with these sort of linguistic issues, though, kwami might help. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 18:03, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- I have seen these wars and my understanding is that from the linguists point of view, serbo-croat is the language spoken by serbs, croats. bosnians etc. From the Croats and Serbians point of view they are speaking Serbian or Croatian which are different languages. I think we have more than enough to worry about here without adding language disputes as well. Fainites barleyscribs 20:42, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- All I'm saying is that the reason why "Serbo-Croatian:" is there in the first place is that its kind of silly to enter Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin, and Serbo-Croatian, alongside Slovene and Macedonian. Mind you, the term is identical in all four "languages" (the only difference is that Serbian, apart from the Latin alphabet, also uses the Cyrillic alphabet). Indeed, the four languages themselves are all completely mutually intelligible and virtually identical :) --DIREKTOR (TALK) 21:08, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- The correct translation was in question here. Serbo-Croatian is not a problem at all. So, can we agree that at least for now, Yugoslav Front (and not People´s LW) is what we should have translated there? FkpCascais (talk) 02:19, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- Both translations can be posted, Fkp. But the point is moot: the article will be renamed one way or the other ("Yugoslav Front" is almost completely unused in sources). --DIREKTOR (TALK) 11:29, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- At the present time it is called Yugoslav Front so that should be translated. I have no problem with also including translations of PLW aswell as it is at least a common name. The first sentence may not be the place to it though as it may look very messy to have too many translations in the first sentence. If serbo-croat could be used with just latin and cyrillic versions this may reduce the clutter.Fainites barleyscribs 12:15, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- Yup, like I said: both translations can be posted, where's the problem?
- At the present time it is called Yugoslav Front so that should be translated. I have no problem with also including translations of PLW aswell as it is at least a common name. The first sentence may not be the place to it though as it may look very messy to have too many translations in the first sentence. If serbo-croat could be used with just latin and cyrillic versions this may reduce the clutter.Fainites barleyscribs 12:15, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- Both translations can be posted, Fkp. But the point is moot: the article will be renamed one way or the other ("Yugoslav Front" is almost completely unused in sources). --DIREKTOR (TALK) 11:29, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- The correct translation was in question here. Serbo-Croatian is not a problem at all. So, can we agree that at least for now, Yugoslav Front (and not People´s LW) is what we should have translated there? FkpCascais (talk) 02:19, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- All I'm saying is that the reason why "Serbo-Croatian:" is there in the first place is that its kind of silly to enter Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin, and Serbo-Croatian, alongside Slovene and Macedonian. Mind you, the term is identical in all four "languages" (the only difference is that Serbian, apart from the Latin alphabet, also uses the Cyrillic alphabet). Indeed, the four languages themselves are all completely mutually intelligible and virtually identical :) --DIREKTOR (TALK) 21:08, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- I have seen these wars and my understanding is that from the linguists point of view, serbo-croat is the language spoken by serbs, croats. bosnians etc. From the Croats and Serbians point of view they are speaking Serbian or Croatian which are different languages. I think we have more than enough to worry about here without adding language disputes as well. Fainites barleyscribs 20:42, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- Serbo-Croatian is a (very much existing) macrolanguage that encompasses Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin). Listing all four or five of them would be redundant (not to mention another Balkans-nationalist absurdity). A quick glance at Talk:Serbo-Croatian language might clarify matters. I admit I'm not entirely familiar with these sort of linguistic issues, though, kwami might help. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 18:03, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- It seems the proper term is "National Liberation War" rather than "People's". It really blows everything else out of the water. Its the problematic English translation of "Narodnooslobodilački rat": it can just as easily mean "People's Liberation War" as "National Liberation War", though it seems that "National" is quite decisively more common (it also has a far less "communisty" sound). The translation depends on the author, but there's really no question that the most common term is indeed "National/People's Liberation War" --DIREKTOR (TALK) 12:21, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
Like I said, there's no reason not to include both translations. I'm not sure about the Macedonian and Slovene translations of "Yugoslav Front", but here it is:
- The Yugoslav Front, ([Jugoslavenski front] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help) or [Jugoslavensko bojište] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), Југословенски фронт; [insert] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help); Slovene: insert), also known as the National Liberation War (Serbo-Croatian: Narodnooslobodilački rat, Народноослободилачки рат; Macedonian: Народноослободителна борба; Slovene: Narodnoosvobodilna borba), was fought in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II (1941–1945) between the Yugoslav resistance forces, primarily the Partisans, and the Axis Powers.
It should be noted that the term "Yugoslav Front" ("Jusoslavenski front") is never ever used in any of those languages to refer to this conflict... --DIREKTOR (TALK) 13:53, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
No but it is in English and this being en-wiki we then have to translate it. I agree -it's weird, but for example the beginning of the French Resistance page is The French Resistance (French; La Résistance française). Of course they just called themselves "the Resistance". I couldn't find a detailed policy on this. maybe we're all missing something.Fainites barleyscribs 15:24, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
Are you people agreed the translation of Yugoslav Front needs to go in? Can someone who knows the languages do that? Fainites barleyscribs 10:15, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
- I have a good idea what the Macedonian and Slovene translations might be, but I'm not sure. Perhaps someone else of "we the people" is more knowledgeable? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 11:20, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
We Have a Winner
As promised, I did some further research into the proper scholarly terminology surrounding this war. It would seem we have a winner. "National Liberation War" is three times more common even than "People's Liberation War" with cca. 6,500 hits on Google Books [3] and 86,000 on Google. It is also used by high-quality sources like Tomasevich (which was Wanderer's objection, I believe). Both the current title, "Yugoslav Front", and generic names such as "World War II in Yugoslavia" or "Yugoslavia in the Second World War" render negligible Books results in the hundreds. The article should be moved forthwith to "National Liberation War (Yugoslavia)" per WP:COMMONNAME.
P.S. It should also be noted that the two terms ("People's Liberation War" and "National Liberation War") are interchangeable, being the two (equally valid) translations of the Serbo-Croatian adjective "narodno" in the Yugoslav term for the war, "Narodnooslobodilačka borba". As such their hits should probably be combined (some 8,700 Books hits, approximately) when considered against the current title (354 Books hits) and the previous "generic", user-invented titles (cca. 200-350 Books hits). --DIREKTOR (TALK) 12:28, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
- You'll need to start a specific debate on this. I have been looking at the WWII war on the eastern front because the Soviets called it "The Great Patriotic War" ( thus neatly sidestepping what they were up to for the first 2.5 years). In that article they meet the issue of different names head on thus, The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis States and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. It was known by many different names depending on the nation, notably the Great Patriotic War (Russian: Великая Отечественная Война) in the former Soviet Union and Russia, while known in Germany as the Eastern Front (German: die Ostfront[4]), the Eastern Campaign (German: der Ostfeldzug) or the Russian Campaign (German: der Rußlandfeldzug)..... etc etc. The words "the eastern front of WWI" are descriptive. An editor above suggested something similar for this article. Fainites barleyscribs 11:44, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
- I am aware of the fact that "Great Patriotic War" was the Soviet term for the Eastern Front. The difference being that "Eastern Front" is a far more common term than "Great Patriotic War" in English-language sources. On the other hand "National/People's Liberation War" (cca. 6,500+2,200 hits) is practically the only real name for this conflict in use (in English-language sources). That is to say, not only is it "the most common" - there is no comparable alternative. Sure we Wikipedia users can think-up a "generic"/"descriptive"/invented term such as "World War II in Yugoslavia", but those are simply not names used in English sources (note e.g. 270 hits, all of which are simply sentence fragments "Despite the ethnic cleansing of World War II in Yugoslavia", etc.). --DIREKTOR (TALK) 17:28, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
Infobox image and result
I believe a new image should be created for the infobox in order to better depict the war in its entirety. One that is split into 6 sections like in the World War II article should be enough. IMO one for the Partisans, one for the Chetniks, one for the Ustase, one for the Germans and one for the Italians should be fair.
Also, should a more detailed "Result" description be given? -- ◅PRODUCER (TALK) 19:41, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- I don't mind a collage, but one that includes Filipović's famous "Yay! I'm being hanged!" photo :) (Its easily the most famous photo of the war, they built monuments about it :P). I thought about this myself: the problem is there are no really good photo's of Chetniks or the Ustaše, and the one about the Italians is pretty lame too. Now that we have FkpCascais's attention we may get our Chetnik photo soon enough (they get deleted frequently, though, so wee need one that's actually free this time). We need good pics of marching soldiers, or actual combat, for the Italians, the Ustaše and the Chetniks.
- Also I was thinking more along the lines of a more complex collage: four pics, two of which take-up two out of six slots (tall pics, like Filipović), with two other ones taking each one slot. Something like the old Yugoslav Wars article collage, if you remember PRODUCER. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 19:53, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- Yes, I noticed this while looking for pics for the montage. I tried to find something in the Bundesarchiv but it's void of pics of Ustase soldiers. Perhaps the picture of Pavelic with Ribbentrop would suffice. The montage would look a bit dull if every pic was of infantry simply walking around or standing. The Yugoslav Wars montage you created was deleted so a new one should be created or my old one should be used. -- ◅PRODUCER (TALK) 21:06, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
How about this. [4] Fainites barleyscribs 00:04, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
- Good pic but I doubt the license given actually applies to the image. -- ◅PRODUCER (TALK) 01:06, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
This is not a correct picture of the Chetniks. 1 Fainites, I think you understand why. It is a smaller fraction of Kosta Pecanac who was loyal to the Nedic regime. They should not represent all the Chetniks.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 21:02, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
- The Pećanac Chetniks were a very small force. There is no indication whatsoever that those are Pećanac Chetniks. Please show that they are. No trouble fixing the image if they are... --DIREKTOR (TALK) 21:28, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
- Whatever, we have to find an image that will objectively show the participation of the Chetniks in the war.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 21:56, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
- "Whatever"? So they're not Pećanac Chetniks? I thought as much. :) As for a Chetnik image, I see no reason to alter the current one. It is a very objective fact that the Chetniks played a major role in the war as Axis collaboration forces. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 21:59, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
- Why do you think they are Pecanec Chetniks Слободни умјетник? Is there any way of identifying this? Fainites barleyscribs 23:28, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
- They're not Pecanac Chetniks, Fainites. I've never even seen a photo of Pecanac Chetniks, they're a tiny group. The reason why User:Слободни умјетник thinks they are Pećanac Chetniks is that he believes all Chetniks with Axis forces must be Pećanac Chetniks - simply because they're collaborating. The idea stems from a pro-Chetnik propaganda line (repeated by the radicals in Serbia) intended to use the Pećanac Chetniks as scapegoats thus "absolving" the vast majority of WWII Chetniks, or at least to muddle the issue ("oh yes some collaborated, but those were Pećanac Chetniks, the real Chetniks did not collaborate..."). I wouldn't be surprised if the nonsense was in schoolbooks (we're still being fed similar post-war-propaganda regarding controversial issues in Croatia as well, for the record). --DIREKTOR (TALK) 00:35, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Fainites, see this change 1 and you will understand why I thought so. I must mention that I have no sympathy for any of the warring parties. The allegations of user:direktor are ridiculous, but I will not waste my time on them. Regardless of who is in this picture, that picture is not representative. Would anyone complain that we put these pictures 2 3 in place of this? Of course it would. So I suggest to reach a compromise. --Слободни умјетник (talk) 09:12, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- There are no "allegations" being made here, User:Слободни умјетник, which is why I support your not wasting any time on them.
- The image was added to the Pećanac Chetniks article by User:Свифт a week ago [5]. When yesterday at 21:25 you stated here that this image shows Pećanac Chetniks [6], I paid a visit to the article, noticed User:Свифт's edit, and removed the image from the Pećanac Chetniks article at 22:06 [7] (because, of course, there is no indication at all these are Pećanac Chetniks). And that's the edit you are linking to. What are you trying to say? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 10:41, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- I only wondered if it was possible to tell from their cap badges or something. If it isn't possible to say then they should not have been represented as Pecanac Chetniks. Now look - obviously the selection of a photo of the Chetniks is very emotive issue. Given that they started as resistance, collaborated with Italians and Germans but actually wanted the Allies to win, it's difficult to select a photo that represents their complexities. That's why I suggested the one that was a picture of the column of Chetniks in the mountains with no Nazi's, no jolly smiling Americans, no nothing. Just Chetniks. Fainites barleyscribs 14:04, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Is the image pd? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 14:12, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Don't know. I contacted the uploader to try and resolve this and he posted a response which is copied on my talkpage. It needs somebody who understands serbian I think.Fainites barleyscribs 14:15, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- What rotten luck... I don't speak Serbian. I only speak Croatian, but considering that the languages are completely identical I might have a chance. :) Can you post a link to your commons talkpage? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 14:29, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- OK. I have asked on ORTS about it but too early for a response. Fainites barleyscribs 14:37, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- It's on my commons talkpage. Here is the link to the copy of the permission. It contains an e-mail address. I think someone needs to e-mail them again in the correct language. Fainites barleyscribs 14:46, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- (I was kidding above, if you can speak Croatian you can speak Serbian, they're essentially the same damn thing :))
- It seems to be the permission by Miloslav Samardžić, editor of a website (and/or magazine?) called Pogled ("view") for use of materials from their website under GNU FDL. However, nowhere can I see evidence as to the origin of the image, its (real) author or original copyright status. The text makes no reference as to this specific image. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 14:58, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Yeah I know - I intervened in an edit war there too - nationalists -v- linguists with isoglosses thrown in. No clue as to who owns the pic but I wondered if the people at the website might know as in my uncle took that or it's in the state archives or something. Fainites barleyscribs 15:05, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- I have no idea what website that is. The image itself is not referred to in the text. If this image is not free, it is very likely there are other images under the same fraudulent license. This should be brought to the attentions of the guys at commons. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 15:14, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Do you agree that we put this file? The source is the same as at this picture.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 16:21, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Who's in the picture? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 16:52, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Draža Mihailović confers with his men--Слободни умјетник (talk) 18:12, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Who's in the picture? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 16:52, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Do you agree that we put this file? The source is the same as at this picture.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 16:21, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- I have no idea what website that is. The image itself is not referred to in the text. If this image is not free, it is very likely there are other images under the same fraudulent license. This should be brought to the attentions of the guys at commons. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 15:14, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Yeah I know - I intervened in an edit war there too - nationalists -v- linguists with isoglosses thrown in. No clue as to who owns the pic but I wondered if the people at the website might know as in my uncle took that or it's in the state archives or something. Fainites barleyscribs 15:05, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- It's on my commons talkpage. Here is the link to the copy of the permission. It contains an e-mail address. I think someone needs to e-mail them again in the correct language. Fainites barleyscribs 14:46, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- OK. I have asked on ORTS about it but too early for a response. Fainites barleyscribs 14:37, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- What rotten luck... I don't speak Serbian. I only speak Croatian, but considering that the languages are completely identical I might have a chance. :) Can you post a link to your commons talkpage? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 14:29, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Don't know. I contacted the uploader to try and resolve this and he posted a response which is copied on my talkpage. It needs somebody who understands serbian I think.Fainites barleyscribs 14:15, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Is the image pd? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 14:12, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- I only wondered if it was possible to tell from their cap badges or something. If it isn't possible to say then they should not have been represented as Pecanac Chetniks. Now look - obviously the selection of a photo of the Chetniks is very emotive issue. Given that they started as resistance, collaborated with Italians and Germans but actually wanted the Allies to win, it's difficult to select a photo that represents their complexities. That's why I suggested the one that was a picture of the column of Chetniks in the mountains with no Nazi's, no jolly smiling Americans, no nothing. Just Chetniks. Fainites barleyscribs 14:04, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- The image was added to the Pećanac Chetniks article by User:Свифт a week ago [5]. When yesterday at 21:25 you stated here that this image shows Pećanac Chetniks [6], I paid a visit to the article, noticed User:Свифт's edit, and removed the image from the Pećanac Chetniks article at 22:06 [7] (because, of course, there is no indication at all these are Pećanac Chetniks). And that's the edit you are linking to. What are you trying to say? --DIREKTOR (TALK) 10:41, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- There are no "allegations" being made here, User:Слободни умјетник, which is why I support your not wasting any time on them.
- Fainites, see this change 1 and you will understand why I thought so. I must mention that I have no sympathy for any of the warring parties. The allegations of user:direktor are ridiculous, but I will not waste my time on them. Regardless of who is in this picture, that picture is not representative. Would anyone complain that we put these pictures 2 3 in place of this? Of course it would. So I suggest to reach a compromise. --Слободни умјетник (talk) 09:12, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- They're not Pecanac Chetniks, Fainites. I've never even seen a photo of Pecanac Chetniks, they're a tiny group. The reason why User:Слободни умјетник thinks they are Pećanac Chetniks is that he believes all Chetniks with Axis forces must be Pećanac Chetniks - simply because they're collaborating. The idea stems from a pro-Chetnik propaganda line (repeated by the radicals in Serbia) intended to use the Pećanac Chetniks as scapegoats thus "absolving" the vast majority of WWII Chetniks, or at least to muddle the issue ("oh yes some collaborated, but those were Pećanac Chetniks, the real Chetniks did not collaborate..."). I wouldn't be surprised if the nonsense was in schoolbooks (we're still being fed similar post-war-propaganda regarding controversial issues in Croatia as well, for the record). --DIREKTOR (TALK) 00:35, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Why do you think they are Pecanec Chetniks Слободни умјетник? Is there any way of identifying this? Fainites barleyscribs 23:28, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
- "Whatever"? So they're not Pećanac Chetniks? I thought as much. :) As for a Chetnik image, I see no reason to alter the current one. It is a very objective fact that the Chetniks played a major role in the war as Axis collaboration forces. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 21:59, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
- Whatever, we have to find an image that will objectively show the participation of the Chetniks in the war.--Слободни умјетник (talk) 21:56, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
On an unrelated note, it seems Serbian scholars have researched the matterof Chetnik collaboration in detail, The Collaboration of Mihailović's Chetniks with the enemy forces of occupation: 1941-1944 by historians Jovan Marjanović and Mihailo Stanišić is indeed locally published, but since the subject is so specific it may be worth checking out. raw facts clearly supported by primary sources may well be eligible for inclusion. Regardless, its an interesting fact that there are actual Serbian books entitled "Collaboration of Miihailović Chetniks", when we heard here the claim that there was no collaboration. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 16:57, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- Yes that is unrelated. On a related note - what do you think of the picture? It's got Mihailovic and Chetniky looking Chetniks and most importantly, they are not posing with either Nazi's or Americans and it therefore might last more than 5 minutes in the infobox.Fainites barleyscribs 19:31, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Draza_confers_with_his_men.jpg --Слободни умјетник (talk) 17:37, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
- Looks good to me. How about you DIREKTOR et al ? I prefer the one of Chetniks marching through the mountains but I haven't heard back from OTRS yet. Also - it might come up a bit small. Still - if it gets approved by OTRS it might look good on the Chetniks page.Fainites barleyscribs 19:34, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
- Yes that is unrelated. On a related note - what do you think of the picture? It's got Mihailovic and Chetniky looking Chetniks and most importantly, they are not posing with either Nazi's or Americans and it therefore might last more than 5 minutes in the infobox.Fainites barleyscribs 19:31, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
Casualties
I attempted to sort out the casualties section:
- I removed the 1946 figures as no reference was given and I couldn't find any sources mentioning 1,703,686.
- I fixed a few figures of Kočović and Žerjavić that didn't correspond with this table (3) [8].
- Removed the "Victims by SFR Yugoslav federal unit" table as no source was given.
- Titled the 1964 list and added the omitted "Unknown" section.
-- ◅PRODUCER (TALK) 22:26, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
The 1,700,000 figure is a demographic figure. It includes people who fled and who weren't born. Fainites barleyscribs 23:57, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
- I know the Yugoslav government gave a general figure of 1.7 million in 1946. I couldn't verify that the specific figure of 1,703,686 or any of the figures given for the 1946 column in the "Victims by ethnicity" table actually came from the Yugoslav government in 1946. I had the same problem for the figures given in the "Victims by SFR Yugoslav federal unit" table. These numbers could simply be bullshit since who knows how many IP's added, deleted, or messed with the figures (I noticed inflated Croatian figures, deleted Albanian figures, etc. when verifying the Kočović and Žerjavić figures given). -- ◅PRODUCER (TALK) 01:01, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
- Those are HUGE casualties... almost double the combined US and UK war deaths. Its the fourth place in Europe, I think: 1. Soviet Union, 2. Germany, 3. Poland, 4. Yugoslavia, about 7% of the total population (if I'm not mistaken). World war isn't enough for us, nooo, we'll start a few civil wars too, get things interesting... show those sissy Nazis who invented ethnic cleansing... :) --DIREKTOR (TALK) 01:40, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
Ramet says the 1.7million was announced by Tito and therefore those charged with working it out for reparations purposes in Yugoslavia already "knew" waht the figure had to be. However, when examined, this figure was a demographic loss figure including deaths from typhus, emigrations and lost births. More recent calculations show the loss through war casualties and war crimes was closer to 1,027,000. That includes about 530,000 Serbs, 192,000 Croats, 103,000 Muslims. Most of all three groups died in the NDH. However, Ramet then mentions subsequent claims of 700,000 Serbs in Jasenovac alone but doesn't say whether these claims have been validated. Whatever it is - it's still so huge as to be almost incomprehensible.Fainites barleyscribs 15:33, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
Regarding the Pećanac Chetniks
These poor fellas keep being brought up. A disclaimer seems necessary regarding them. They seem to have come in very handy as scapegoats for distorting history. Faced with the undeniable fact that Chetnik troops did, in fact, collaborate, the official line seems to be that the "Pećanac Chetniks were the collaborators", while the rest were "good guys". Nothing could be farther from the actual facts.
The Pećanac Chetniks were only a significant force at the start of the war, but were at all times much smaller than Mihailović's Chetniks, which grew significantly while they did not. They were an incredibly small force of just a few thousand men, and only got weaker until, in 1943, they were disbanded. On the other hand, the Mihailović Chetniks were a large force, who's addition to the military forces e.g. of fascist Italy alone numbered at 20-30,000 men - and later increased. The bottom line is that the Pećanac Chetniks were negligible compared to the numbers of Mihailović Chetniks in Axis ranks. I've never met anyone who's even heard of them who was not trying to feed people the above propaganda line. --DIREKTOR (TALK) 22:13, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
- ^ a b Perica, Vjekoslav (2004). Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States. Oxford University Press. p. 96. ISBN 0195174291.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 255.
- ^ Vucinich, Wayne S. (1974). "Yugoslav Resistance in the Second World War: The Continued Debate". Reviews in European History. 1 (2): 274.
In September 1943, the total strength of the armed forces of the Independent State of Croatia (regular army and Ustashe militia) was about 262,000 officers and men.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Tomasevich 1969, p. 120.
- ^ Feldgrau.com
- ^ a b Tomasevich, Jozo; War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: The Chetniks, Volume 1; Stanford University Press, 1975 ISBN 978-0-8047-0857-9 [9]
- ^ a b Cohen, Philip J., Riesman, David; Serbia's secret war: propaganda and the deceit of history; Texas A&M University Press, 1996 ISBN 0-89096-760-1 [10]
- ^ a b Ramet, Sabrina P.; The three Yugoslavias: state-building and legitimation, 1918-2005; Indiana University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-253-34656-8 [11]
- ^ a b c Tomasevich, Jozo; War and revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: occupation and collaboration, Volume 2; Stanford University Press, 2001 ISBN 0-80473-615-4 [12]
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 255.
- ^ Vucinich, Wayne S. (1974). "Yugoslav Resistance in the Second World War: The Continued Debate". Reviews in European History. 1 (2): 274.
In September 1943, the total strength of the armed forces of the Independent State of Croatia (regular army and Ustashe militia) was about 262,000 officers and men.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Feldgrau.com
- ^ Tomasevich 1969, p. 120.
- ^ Walter R. Roberts, Tito, Mihailović, and the Allies Duke University Press, 1987 ISBN 0822307731, p.165
- ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference
tomasevich-the-chetniks
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
ramet-three-yu
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).