Milan Kalabić

Milan Kalabić
Born	1886
Died	3 October 1942
Allegiance	Kingdom of Serbia German-occupied Serbia Chetniks (Spy)
Years of service	1924–1942
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Unit	Nikšić gendarmerie (1924) Serbian State Guard (1942)
Battles/wars	Balkan Wars First World War Second World War

Milan Kalabić (Serbian: Милан Калабић ; 1886–1942) was a Serbian Lieutenant Colonel that fought in the First World War, known later for his unlawful killings, and his work in the Serbian quisling government in the Second World War as officer and county prefect, at the same time aiding the rival Chetniks, which would result in his execution by the Gestapo. He was the father of Nikola Kalabić, the well-known Chetnik voivode.

Life

Origin

Milan was born in 1886, in the village of Podnovlje, near Derventa. His father, Nikola, was a participant in the Russo-Turkish War 1876–1878 and in the liberation of Bulgaria. In 1912, with the start of the First Balkan War, Milan flees to Serbia and joins the Serbian army as a volunteer, becoming the officer of volunteers, participating in the wars of 1912–1918 (First, Second Balkan War, and First World War).^[1]

Nikšić murders

He was appointed the commander of the gendarmerie in Nikšić.

In February 1924, Kalabić and five other gendarmers arrested Montenegrin officers and brothers Stevan and Šćepan Mijušković along with some relatives and friends, for no apparent reason. The brothers were tortured, and Kalabić informed their family that they had frozen to death on the way to the prison. 75 days later, a passerby found the body of Šćepan, and Kalabić was forced to flee Montenegro into Kosovo.

Trial and amnesty

He came to Drenica, where he committed more murders, and then Bihać. In 1930 he was tried in Nikšić and sentenced to 18 years in prison, but was pardoned and given amnesty in 1932. He appeared in Belgrade in 1940. He was later the receiver of the Star of Karageorge. In July 1940, Simo Mijušković, the third brother of the victims, made an assassination attempt on Kalabić, but he survived.

Second World War and death

He worked in the police, then became a Serbian State Guard officer under Milan Nedić (the Prime Minister of the quisling government), and a prefect of the county of Požarevac. He fought the Partisans at Valjevo in winter 1941/1942 and Požarevac in Spring 1942.

At the same time working for Nedić, he passed on information and military supplies to the Chetniks, where his son Nikola was a commander. On October 3, 1942, after a period of surveillance, the Gestapo arrested him and a number of Chetnik commanders and men, executing them all.

His son, Nikola Kalabić, was the commander of the Mountain Guard of the Chetniks, in the Second World War.

References

1. ^ Milenko S. Filipović, (1969), Contributions a la connessance ethnologique de la Bosnie du sud-est, p. 83

Sources

• p. 215
• Srdja Pavlovic, Balkan Anschluss, p. 174

Persondata
Name
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1886
Place of birth
Date of death	3 October 1942
Place of death