} Milan Kalabić ( sr-cyr, Милан Калабић; 1886 – 3 October 1942) was a Serbian military officer who fought in the Balkan Wars and the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and was involved with the Chetniks during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. He collaborated, from 1941 until 1942, with the collaborationist government of Milan Nedić as an officer in the

Serbian State Guard The Serbian State Guard ( sr, Srpska državna straža, italics=yes, SDS; sr-Cyrl, Српска државна стража; german: Serbische Staatsgarde/Serbische Staatswache) was a collaborationist paramilitary force used to impose law and o ...

and the county prefect of

Požarevac Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čačalica (208m). As of 2011 ...

. He also aided the Chetniks, which would result in his execution by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

in October 1942. He was the father of Chetnik commander Nikola Kalabić.

Early life

Milan Kalabić was born in 1886 in the village of Podnovlje, near

Doboj Doboj ( sr-cyrl, Добој, ) is a city located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of Bosna river, in the northern region of the Republika Srpska. As of 2013, it has a population of 71,441 ...

. His father, Nikola, fought in the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histo ...

of 1876–78 and was involved in the

liberation of Bulgaria The Liberation of Bulgaria is the historical process as a result of the Bulgarian Revival. In Bulgarian historiography, the liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishme ...

from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. In 1912, with the start of the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

, Milan fled to the Kingdom of Serbia and joined the

Serbian Army The Serbian Army ( sr-cyr, Копнена војска Србије, Kopnena vojska Srbije, lit=Serbian Land Army) is the land-based and the largest component of the Serbian Armed Forces. History Originally established in 1830 as the Army of Pr ...

as a volunteer. He became an officer and fought in the First Balkan War, the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 16 ( O.S.) / 29 (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies r ...

and the

Nikšić murders

In February 1924, Kalabić and five other members of the gendarmerie arrested Montenegrin officers and brothers Stevan and along with some relatives and friends for no apparent reason. Both brothers were tortured and killed. Kalabić later informed their relatives that the two had frozen to death on the way to the prison. Seventy-five days later, the body of Šćepan Mijušković was discovered and Kalabić was forced to flee Montenegro into

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

. In 1930, he was tried and found guilty of the murders. He was given an eighteen-year prison sentence but was later pardoned of the crime and reappeared in Belgrade in 1940.

Second World War and death

Kalabić became an officer of the

(SDS) following the

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

and occupation of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

. He was also appointed prefect for the county of

and passed on information and military supplies to the Chetniks, with whom his son,

Nikola Nikola () is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek ''Nikolaos'' (Νικόλαος). It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montene ...

, fought and served as a commander. After a period of surveillance, Kalabić was arrested by the German

on 3 October 1942 and executed alongside other Chetnik prisoners.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalabic, Milan 1886 births 1942 deaths People from Doboj Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbia under German occupation Chetnik personnel of World War II Serbian people executed by Nazi Germany Executed Serbian collaborators with Nazi Germany