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The National Liberation War of Macedonia (Macedonian: Народноослободителна Борба на Македонија (НОБ), Latinic: Narodnoosloboditelnata Borba vo Makedonija (NOB)) was a political and military operation carried out by Macedonian partisans from October 11, 1941 until 1944 when the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was established.
| National Liberation War of Macedonia | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Yugoslav People's Liberation War (World War II) | |||||||||
| File:Goce delcev odred small.jpg Partisan fighters of the Goce Delčev National Liberation Detachment, 1943 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Allied Powers (communist): Macedonian Partisans Macedonian National Liberation Army |
 Italy Bulgaria Albania | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| many | many | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| ~56,000 | ~60,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
Total Casualties: ~25,000-~50,000 | |||||||||
Background: the invasion of Yugoslavia
Between 6 April, 1941 and 17 April, 1941, Axis forces invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Croatia allied with Nazi Germany and temporarily became an independent state; Independent State of Croatia. Bosnia was ceded to Croatia by Germany and Serbia also became and independent state as Nedić's Serbia. The Macedonian (Vardar Banovina or Vardar Macedonia) part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was annexed by Bulgaria and, along with various other regions, became Greater Bulgaria. The western-most part of Vardar Macedonia was occupied by the fascist Kingdom of Italy with the remainder being ceded to Axis-allied Bulgaria by Nazi Germany.
Timeline
Early stages and conflict
The Bulgarian army entered Vardar Macedonia on April 18, 1941. The prominent force which occupied most of Vardar Macedonia was the Bulgarian 5th Army, which occupied the region from the time of its annexation until the time it was liberated. The 6th and 7th Infantry Divisions were active in invading the Vardar Banovina between April 18 and April 24, 1941. The army was mainly present in the western part of Vardar Macedonia, close the Italian occupational zone, because of some border clashes with Italians, who implementеd Albanian interests and terrorised the local peasants.[1] Units of the 5th army were occupying larger cities and towns; Skopje occupied by the 14th Infantry Division and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Bitola occupied by the 15th Infantry Division and Štip, occupied by the 1st Cavalry Regiment. Both the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Regiments were branches of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Bulgarian 5th Army.[2]
Before the German invasion in USSR, there had not been any resistance in the Vardar Banovina. After that and when already most of Yugoslavia was annexed by Axis Powers, Macedonian partisans, which not only included ethnic Macedonians, but also local Aromanians, Serbs, Albanians and Bulgarians[3], had begun organizing their resistance. On August 22, 1941, the First Skopje Partisan Detachment was founded and had been attacking Axis soldiers in Bogomila, in today's Čaška municipality near Skopje.
The revolt on October 11, 1941 by the Prilep Partisan Detachment is considered to be the symbolic beginning of the resistance. Armed insurgents from the Prilep Partisan Detachment attacked Axis occupied zones in the city of Prilep, notably a police station, killing one Bulgarian policeman of ethnic Macedonian origin, which led to attacks in Kruševo by the Kruševo Partisan Detachment and the creation of small rebel detachments in other regions of Macedonia. Partisan detachments were formed in Greek Macedonia and today's Bulgarian Macedonia under the leadership of Communist Party of Greece and Bulgarian Communist Party. Combatants of the Jane Sandanski Brigade were to participate in the National Liberation War of Macedonia, but soon after the foundation, the brigade was disbanded and the combatants joined the Bulgarian partisans. In Strumica, approximately 3,800 fighters took part in the formation of military movements of the region; The 4th, 14th and 20th Macedonian Action Brigades, the Strumica Partisan Detachment and the 50th and 51st Macedonian Divisions were formed.
1942-1943
With the ongoing war in 1942 and 1943 for liberation of Macedonia between anti-fascist partisan detachments and Axis forces, new squads were constantly formed and in 1942 nine partisan detachments were active in Vardar Macedonia and had liberated and controlled mountainous territories around Prilep, Skopje, Kruševo and Veles. The policy of minimal resistance changed towards 1943 with the arrival of the Montenegrin Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo, who began to organize an armed resistance against the Bulgarian occupation. During World War II he served on the Supreme Staff of CPY and became Josip Broz Tito's personal representative in Vardar Banovina.
The first Macedonian army, the Macedonian National Liberation Army, was formed in 1943, consisting of several military units and battalions one of the first being the Mirče Acev Battalion, which was formed on August 18, 1943 on Mount Slavej. At around the same time period, the first (and only, until 1991 Macedonian political party) was created; the Communist Party of Macedonia which was closely affiliated with the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. On November 1, 1943, the First Macedonian-Kosovo Brigade was formed by having existing battalions from the regions of Macedonia and fascist Italian occupied Kosovo combine to create one unit, but on December 20, 1943 joined the Second Macedonian Brigade. Among the first liberated, were the regions of Debarca, Mavrovo and Rostuša and the towns Kičevo and Debar, within Italy's occupational territory.
Many former IMRO members assisted the Bulgarian authorities in fighting Tempo's partisans. With the help of Macedonian emigrants, several pro-German and anti-Greek armed detachments (Ohrana) were organized in the Kostur, Lerin and Voden districts of Greek Macedonia in 1943. These were led by Bulgarian officers originally from Aegean Macedonia; Andon Kalchev and Georgi Dimchev[4].
1944 and aftermath
Since the formation of a partisan army and Communist party in 1943, Macedonian partisans were aspiring to create an autonomous government. In Spring of 1944 the Macedonian National Liberation Army launched an operation called "The Spring Offensive" which engaged an estimated 60,000 German and Bulgarian soldiers.
On August 2, 1944, on the 41st anniversary of the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, the first session of the newly created Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) was held at the St. Prohor Pčinjski monastery. A manifesto was written outlining the future plans of ASNOM for an independent Macedonian state. However, under pro-Serbian pressure a decision was later reached that Vardar Macedonia will become a part of new Communist Yugoslavia.
Strumica was liberated from Bulgarian occupation by the Strumica Partisan Detachment, headed by Boro Pockov and liberated Strumica from German occupation on November 6 of the same year. On October 15, 1944, Macedonian partisans liberated Ohrid from Axis occupants for a short period of time. They were forced to withdraw by the overwhelmingly larger German army and Ohrid became occupied by Nazi German forces. On the early morning of November 7, 1944 units of the 48th People's Liberation Division and the V Brigade of the 48th People's Liberation Division headed an attack on Axis forces. The remaining units of the 48th People's Liberation Division entered the town and resumed attacks on opposing forces on that evening. On the following morning, Ohrid was entirely liberated from Axis occupation.[5]
After the liberation of a majority of towns in Vardar Macedonia, the Macedonian National Liberation Army aided Yugoslav Partisans in conclusive operations for the liberation of Yugoslavia from fascist occupation. The army of ethnic Macedonians in Nedić's Serbia and the regions of Macedonia was now some 25,000 strong, compiling of several reorganized Macedonian partisan units, such as the 15th Macedonian Corps.[6] On November 19, 1944, with the liberation of Tetovo and Gostivar, the Vardar region of Macedonia was completely liberated and as intended by ASNOM, joined Yugoslavia. Nedić's Serbia along with a liberated Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia became the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.[7][8]
By the end of the war the Macedonian National Liberation Army numbered over 56,000 combatants in the Vardar Banovina and this region alone produced some 25,000 victims. German, Italian and Bulgarian occupiers of the region had over 60,000 military and administrative police personnel.[9]
Controversies
Following the National Liberation War, accusations surfaced that partisans in Macedonia were involved in acts that some characterize as war crimes. The partisans engaged in retribution in the immediate post-war period against people who did not support the formation of the new Macedonian republic. The numbers of dead due to organized killings, however, far outstrip even the most lavish estimates of the partisan crimes' death toll. Indeed, the partisans were the only armed force in the region that actually didn not have official genocidal agendas.
The execution of 12 young males and 4 females by fascist Bulgarian soldiers is one of the most controversial events of World War II among ethnic Macedonians. The massacre, which took place on June 16, 1943, engaged 16 members of the Communist Party of Vataša, a village near Kavadarci. The Bulgarian Army was scouting ethnic Macedonian partisans and raided all the houses in the village. Without any success of pursuing the partisans, members of the Bulgarian Army captured the 12 men and interrogated them, demanding them to reveal the whereabouts the partisans. After the unsuccessful interrogation, the men were beaten and shot by the Bulgarian soldiers. A group of females were witnesses to the executions, several of them were sisters of the male victims and escaped but 4 of them were also killed by the army.[10][11]
One of the victims of these campaigns was Metodija Andonov - Čento, a wartime partisan leader and president of ASNOM, who was convinced of having worked for a "completely independent Macedonia" as "an IMRO member". He was arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Also, Communists who supported Metodi Šatorov's pro-Bulgarian line in new Macedonia, called Šarlisti, were systematically exterminated by the CPY in the autumn of 1944 and repressed for their anti-Yugoslavian political positions. Šatarov himself was sentenced to death by the Yugoslav Communist Party in 1941. Šarlo was killed under unknown circumstances in September, 1944 in a battle in the Rhodope Mountains.
On the other hand, former Mihaylovists were also persecuted by the Belgrade-controlled authorities on accusations of collaboration with the Bulgarian occupation, Bulgarian nationalism, anti-communist and anti-Yugoslav activities, etc. Notable victims included Spiro Kitinčev, mayor of Skopje, Ilija Kocarev, mayor of Ohrid and Georgi Karev, the mayor of Kruševo and brother of Ilinden revolutionary Nikola Karev. Another IMRO activist, Sterio Guli, son of Pitu Guli, reportedly shot himself upon the arrival of Tito's partisans in Kruševo in despair over what he saw as a "second period of Serbian dominance in Macedonia".
However, the Bulgarian army during the annexation of the region was partially recruited from the local population, which formed as much as 40% of the soldiers in certain battalions. Some official comments of deputies in Macedonian parliament[12]and of former Premier, Ljubčo Georgievski after 1991 announced the "struggle was civil but not a liberation war".[13] According to official sources the number of Macedonian communist partisan's victims against the Bulgarian army during WWII was 539 men, which is not a high level. Bulgarian historian and director of the Bulgarian National Historical Museum Dr. Bozhidar Dimitrov, in his 2003 book The Ten Lies of Macedonism, has also questioned the extent of resistance of the local population of Vardar Macedonia against the Bulgarian forces.
See also
References
- ^ Богдан Филов, Дневник /под общата редакция на Илчо Димитров/ (Изд-во на Отечествения фронт), С. 1986; 1990
- ^ Bulgarian army occupation units in Yugoslavia 1941
- ^ Кои беа партизаните во Македонија Никола Петров, Скопје, 1998
- ^ IMRO Militia And Volunteer Battalions Of Southwestern Macedonia, 1943-1944 by Vic Nicholas
- ^ http://www.ohrid.org.mk/eng/istorija/ww2.htm
- ^ ФОРУМ, "КАТАРАКТА", Ефтим Гашев
- ^ World Investment News Macedonia, Historical Events
- ^ Unet.com.mk Uprising!
- ^ Narodnooslobodilachka vojska Jugoslavije. Pregled Razvoja oruzhanih snaga narodnooslobodilachkog pokreta, 1941-45, Belgrade, 1982, 590-815
- ^ THE EXECUTION OF THE 12 YOUNG MEN FROM VATASA IN MACEDONIA ON THE 16 JUNE, 1943
- ^ TODAY IN HISTORY, 1943 Macedonian Information Agency, June 16, 2007
- ^ СТЕНОГРАФСКИ БЕЛЕШКИ Тринаесеттото продолжение на Четиринаесеттата седница на Собранието на Република Македонија, 17 January, 2007
- ^ КОЈ СО КОГО ЌЕ СЕ ПОМИРУВА - Лидерот на ВМРО-ДПМНЕ и Премиер на Република Македониjа, Љубчо Георгиевски одговара и полемизира на темата за национално помирување.