An area of the

Italian governorate of Montenegro The Italian governorate of Montenegro ( it, Governatorato del Montenegro) existed from October 1941 to September 1943 as an occupied territory under military government of Fascist Italy during World War II. Although the Italians had intended t ...

was occupied by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

forces in September 1943, after the

Armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brig ...

, in which the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

capitulated and joined the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

. Italian forces retreated from the governorate, and from neighbouring

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. German forces occupied Montenegro, along with

, and the territory remained under German occupation until Axis forces evacuated in December 1944. During the occupation the area was administered with Wilhelm Keiper as the general representative. He was initially subordinate to "Military Commander of Albania and Montenegro" Theodor Geib until spring 1944. After this time, Keiper's Montenegrin area command was independent and put directly under Commander-in-Chief in Southeast Europe

Alexander Löhr Alexander Löhr (20 May 1885 – 26 February 1947) was an Austrian Air Force commander during the 1930s and, after the annexation of Austria, he was a Luftwaffe commander. Löhr served in the Luftwaffe during World War II, rising to commander of ...

Ljubomir Vuksanović Ljubomir "Ljubo" Vuksanović was a Montenegrin lawyer who was the chairman of the National Administrative Council ( sr, Народна управа, german: Nationaler Verwaltungsausschuss) established by Germany in October 1943 in the German occu ...

became head of the National Administrative Council established in October 1943, and officially appointed in November the same year. The Germans and their local collaborators in Montenegro fought against the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

. After the Germans withdrew from the Montenegro and evacuated towards Austria, the fascist leader

Sekula Drljević Sekula Drljević (; 7 September 1884 – 10 November 1945) was a Montenegrin nationalist, Yugoslav jurist, politician, orator, and theoretician. During World War II, he was a collaborator with the Ustaše in the German puppet state of t ...

attempted to create a government-in-exile in the neighbouring

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

(NDH), which was a German quasi-protectorate. Drljević also created the

Montenegrin National Army Montenegrin National Army ( sr, Црногорска народна војска / Crnogorska narodna vojska) was an army whose supreme commander was Montenegrin collaborationist politician and separatist Sekula Drljević. When Pavle Đurišić ret ...

, a military force set up by him and the Croatian fascist leader

Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and served as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, l ...

. However, his government-in-exile, known as the "Montenegrin State Council", was dissolved after the fall of the NDH government. Montenegro was later taken over by the

Josip Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav Communism, communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until ...

, and became part of

Democratic Federal Yugoslavia Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, also known as Democratic Federative Yugoslavia (DF Yugoslavia or DFY), was a provisional state established during World War II on 29 November 1943 through the Second Session of the Anti-Fascist Council for the Nation ...

Footnotes

References

* * * {{coord missing, Germany Montenegro in World War II

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

1944 in Montenegro

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

1940s establishments in Montenegro 1944 establishments in Yugoslavia 1944 disestablishments in Yugoslavia Collaboration with the Axis Powers Axis powers