Nikola Kalabić

vojvoda Nikola Kalabić
Born	20 December 1906 Podnovlje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary
Died	20 January 1946 (aged 39) Degurićka cave, FPR Yugoslavia
Allegiance	Kingdom of Yugoslavia Chetniks
Years of service	1941–1945
Rank	major
Unit	Gorska garda (Mountain Guard)
Battles/wars	World War II

Nikola Kalabić (Serbian: Никола Калабић; 20 December 1906 – 20 January 1946) was a Serbian Chetnik commander during World War II.^[1]

Life

He was born to father Milan and mother Joka in Podnovlje municipality Doboj in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. He had a sister named Angelina, born 1912.

Nikola's father separated from Joka after World War I and proceeded to get married three times. Nikola lived with his father at first so he attended school in places where his father served with the Serbian army. He eventually finished six grades of gymnasium before becoming a student of geodesy in Belgrade. During his studies, he met Borka (a year younger than him) who was born in Rajkovići near Valjevo in present-day Serbia into a family of old supporters of the People's Radical Party and Nikola Pašić. Borka and Nikola married in 1929 and on 3 August 1930 they had twins Mirjana and Milan. Their first service was in Belgrade. They then moved to Aranđelovac and finally back to Valjevo (where there are Kalabićs today). Nikola Kalabić (until the start of World War II) worked in Land-registry management in Valjevo.

World War II

During World War II, Nikola Kalabić was commander of Mihailovic's elite formation named Mountain Guard Corps (Serbian Cyrillic: Корпус горске гарде). On 26 November 1943, he together with Colonel Simic, General Inspector of Chetnik Troops, concluded a formal collaboration agreement (German: Waffenruhe-Verträge) with the representative of the German Military Commander in Southeast Europe, General der Infanterie (Lieutenant General) Hans Felber.^[2]

Capture and alleged collaboration with the OZNA

Near the very end of the war, Kalabić like many other Chetniks, tried to hide in rural areas of the country, awaiting an attempt to overthrow the new government. The OZNA had a plan to capture former members of the Chetnik movement and other military organizations outside of Yugoslavia. There, OZNA agents infiltrated the support network of Kalabić and arrested him in a covert operation on 5 December 1945. After a few days, Kalabić agreed to collaborate with the OZNA in their efforts of locating and arresting Draža Mihailović, in return for immunity from prosecution. This claim however has been brought into question by family members of Kalabić claiming that he did not surrender Mihailović.^[3]

References

1. Kalabić officially dead, Večernje novosti, January 20, 2011
2. Tomasevich 1975, pp. 323.
3. Nikola Kalabić killed before the capture of Draža, Blic online, January 22, 2011

Books

• Tomasevich, Jozo (1975). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0857-9.