Conflicts and Hostilities between the Ustashe and the Green Cadre in Posavina at the end of the Second World War, with a special focus on Orašje

Abstract

The conflicts and general relations between the Ustashe and the Green Cadre (Bosnian Mountaineers) in Posavina during the last few months of the Second World War are examined in this article within the context of the general situation on the European and Yugoslav fronts, as the final collapse of fascist Germany and its satellites in Europe was already looming. As the end of the war approached, relations between the Ustashe and the Green Cadre, especially in Posavina, became increasingly tense and complicated. There were more frequent misunderstandings and conflicts between smaller Ustasha units, mostly comprised of Catholic Croats, and the Bosnian Mountaineers (Green Cadre), predominantly composed of Bosnian Muslims (or officially referred to as Croatian Muslims of Islamic faith). These conflicts in the Posavina region, around Brčko, Gradačac, Modriča, Šamac, and Orašje, are viewed in this article as an illustration of the real state of affairs regarding the relationship between the Independent State of Croatia (Ustasha military and civilian authorities) and Bosnian Muslims (in general) during the Second World War. These relationships were undoubtedly very complex and multi-layered, burdened with many local specificities that sometimes did not fit into some well-known schemes and narratives. There is ample evidence that the vast majority of the Muslim population, after initial expressions of loyalty and hope, were generally reserved and distrustful towards the Ustasha regime. Racial laws, repression, and persecution of Serbs, Jews, and other „undesirable elements“, followed by the insurgent wave as a response to this repression, instilled fear and insecurity among the population, leading to bloodshed and retaliatory actions in which Muslim civilians suffered. Already in the second half of 1941, prominent Bosnian Muslims publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the state of the country by signing resolutions in Sarajevo and several Bosnian cities, demanding that the regime cease repression based on race, persecutions, and killings of innocent civilians, primarily Serbs and Jews. On the other hand, spontaneous self-organization for defense against the Serbian insurgent forces in the form of village militias and legions in several areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a result of distrust in the ability (and willingness) of the Croatian state to defend them and ensure a peaceful life, especially after the agreement with the Chetniks in mid-1942. The most organized was certainly the DOMDO battalion of Muhamed-age Hadžiefendić, which would actively operate from the beginning of 1942 until the autumn of 1943 in the Tuzla area. After the first fall of Tuzla into the hands of the Partisans on October 2, 1943, its collapse and complete disappearance would begin. Shortly after those dramatic events around Tuzla, from the remaining peripheral parts of the DOMDO battalion (Zvornik, Živinice, Gračanica, later Brčko), units of the Green Cadre (later: „Bosnian Mountaineers“) would be formed, which the Ustasha regime reluctantly had to tolerate. It is no coincidence that the high military-political authorities of the Independent State of Croatia classified those units as „rebels“ in their official reports. Until the end of the war, they were treated as an unreliable element against the interests of the Independent State of Croatia, which had to be kept under control and disarmed and dispersed at an opportune moment. Under increased pressure from the NOVJ units, tensions and distrust between the units of the Green Cadre („Bosnian Mountaineers“) on one side and the Ustasha on the other side intensified from September 1944 onwards. From the end of 1944, these tensions escalated into armed conflicts in several places in Bosnian Posavina. Here, misunderstandings and conflicts in Modriča, Odžak, Šamac, and Orašje are taken as examples. The most drastic and consequential conflict was the one in Orašje, which took place from March 12-14, 1945, and is given special emphasis here. In this work, an attempt has been made to break local myths with historical facts, as well as, since earlier, deeply entrenched stereotypes, that the Ustaše and the „Green Cadre“ were, in fact, one and the same, that they had the same goals, and that they fought for the „same cause“. This identification aimed to „attach“ to Bosnian Muslims as much Ustasha ideology as to Catholic Croats, as much as Chetnik ideology to Orthodox Serbs. Accordingly, it determined the extent of their participation on the winning side. Only by demystifying these imposed, fundamentally mistaken perceptions from our past, can we build a culture of memory, trust, and good interethnic relations, both in ethnically mixed communities and at the level of the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is the purpose and meaning of this research.