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The Crusaders (, also known as Škripari) were a Croatian pro- Ustashe
anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...
guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...
army. Their activities started after the capitulation of the
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...
in May 1945, towards the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The Crusaders' activities ended in 1950.


During World War II

The leadership of the Independent State of Croatia was preparing for the impending major battles against the
Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...
who were in 1944 reinforced by the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
. They wanted to establish a front on the
Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...
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Koprivnica Koprivnica () is a city in Northern Croatia, located 70 kilometers northeast of Zagreb. It is the capital and the largest city of Koprivnica-Križevci County. In 2011, the city's administrative area of 90.94 km2 had a total populati ...
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Sisak Sisak (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin ...
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Petrinja Petrinja () is a town in central Croatia near Sisak in the historic region of Banija, Banovina. It is administratively located in Sisak-Moslavina County. On December 29, 2020, the town was 2020 Petrinja earthquake, hit by a strong earthquake wit ...
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Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. In the 2021 census, its population was 49,377. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located southwest of Zagreb and northeast of Rijeka, and is connected to them via the ...
line. They also wanted to establish a guerrilla army that would fight behind the front lines. This guerrilla force would also, if necessary, fight the British, Americans, and Soviets. During the penultimate meeting of the Main Ustaše Headquarters, it was discussed whether a guerrilla army should be created, and if so, how this army would fight. A plan for moving the Croatian Army through
Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
was already accepted when
Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and was dictator of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fasc ...
ordered the army's retreat through
Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
towards
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
(at the time in the British occupation zone). Preparations for guerrilla warfare began in 1943 when the Germans formed the ''Jagdverbände''. These formations used the same tactics as the guerrillas who fought against them. Staff jobs, that is planning, logistic, technical work and training were performed by German army experts, while the Ustaše provided the manpower. The guerrilla units were named ''S-Units'' (''S Skupine''). Due to Italian capitulation the plan was implemented in 1944, and in 1945 the plan included the whole of what was then Croatian territory. Croatian guerrilla actions against Yugoslav Partisans were not notable during the war, but they influenced post-war guerrilla combat. Notable people who worked with the ''S-Units'' were
Vjekoslav Luburić Vjekoslav Luburić (6 March 1914 – 20 April 1969) was a Independent State of Croatia, Croatian Ustaše official who headed the system of concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during much of World War II. Luburić al ...
,
Ljubo Miloš Ljubomir "Ljubo" Miloš (25 February 1919 – 20 August 1948) was a Croatian public official who was a member of the Ustaše of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. He served as commandant of the Jasenovac concentrat ...
and
Dinko Šakić Dinko Šakić (; 8 September 1921 – 20 July 2008) was a Croatian Ustaše official, and convicted war criminal, who commanded the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from April to November 1944, during Wor ...
. Regardless, the majority of the
Armed Forces of the Independent State of Croatia The Croatian Armed Forces were formed in 1944 with the uniting of the Croatian Home Guard (World War II), Croatian Home Guard and the Ustaše Militia in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). It was established by the fascist Ustaše regime of ...
and a large number of
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...
members retreated towards the Austrian and Italian borders.


After the reestablishment of Yugoslavia

Soldiers who returned from abroad in mid-1945 acted in unorganized, small groups, which provided a foundation for future guerrilla forces. Crusaders in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina were mostly former personnel of the Armed Forces of the NDH, mostly
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...
, but also Croatian Home Guard, members of the former Croatian legionnaire divisions of the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
and non-military Ustaše members. Croatian historian Zdravko Dizdar describes the Crusaders mostly as soldiers and other individuals associated with the NDH army who went underground for fear of their lives, because the Partisans had engaged significant
OZNA The Department for Protection of the People, commonly known under its Serbo-Croatian acronym as OZNA, was the secret police of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Communist Yugoslavia that existed between 1944 and 1946. Founding The OZNA w ...
resources in tracking them down, which led to either their
summary execution In civil and military jurisprudence, summary execution is the putting to death of a person accused of a crime without the benefit of a free and fair trial. The term results from the legal concept of summary justice to punish a summary offense, a ...
s, judicial executions, or long prison sentences. Any known associates of eliminated Crusaders, mostly their relatives, were also often targeted by the Partisan military and political apparatus. Despite the name, the Crusaders were not a religious movement. Religion was a banner that they used to distinguish themselves from atheist communists. Most supporters of the Crusaders were
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
but there were also many
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
members, including the Crusader commander in
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...
, Hasan Biber. They also stated that the
Yugoslav partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...
were a Serbian anti-Croat movement. There was also support for the Crusaders in anti-Communist emigrant communities, especially in Spain, Argentina, Canada, the United States, and West Germany. The Yugoslav Department of State Security (UDBA) blamed the
Croatian Peasant Party The Croatian Peasant Party (, HSS) is an agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Croatia, political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun Radić, Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The ...
(HSS, also called ''Mačekovci'') and the Catholic clergy for the creation of the Crusaders. The UDBA claimed that the name "Crusaders" was coined in June 1945, when remaining elements of the Croatian Armed Forces and the clerical part of the HSS joined. The UDBA states that remains of ''Ustaše bandits'' under wing of a Pastoral Letter took the name "Crusaders". The Crusaders' insignia was the Croatian Coat of Arms with the white cross, or the Ustaše sign with the "U" replaced with a white cross. Their flag was the Croatian tricolor with the slogan "For Croatia and Christ Against Communists" ("''Za Hrvatsku i Krista protiv komunista''") on one side, and " In this sign thou shalt conquer" ("''U ovom ćeš znaku pobijediti''") on the other. The Croatian guerrillas were called various names: Crusaders (''križari''), Cavers (''Špiljari''), ''Škripari'', ''Kamišari'' (cavers), ''Jamari'' (cavers), ''Šumnjaci'' (forest people), even White Partisans (''bijeli partizani''). The name "Crusaders" was used universally, while the other names were used regionally.


Activities

In the summer of 1945 after their complete dispersion, the Crusaders started to organise, connect and form strongholds. The main Crusader force was in southern
Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...
, but there was also a strong presence in
Banija Banovina or Banija is a geographical region in central Croatia, between the Sava, Una, Kupa and Glina rivers. The main towns in the region include Petrinja, Glina, Kostajnica, and Dvor. There is no clear geographical border of the region tow ...
, in areas around
Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. In the 2021 census, its population was 49,377. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located southwest of Zagreb and northeast of Rijeka, and is connected to them via the ...
, in
Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...
and in northern Dalmatia. Crusaders engaged in large scale actions in those areas. Crusader tactics included the assassination of Yugoslav Communist officials, Communist Party members and Yugoslav soldiers; disarming of Yugoslav soldiers and police; robbing of the supporters of the communist government, attacks on collectives, the destruction of state property and the disruption of transport. The new communist government in Yugoslavia started to focus on the Crusaders in July 1945. They feared the possibility that this group could bring the return of the "60,000 Ustaše who are waiting from
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
to
Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
". The Yugoslav government declared an
amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...
in August and September 1945. Large number of Crusaders responded. This amnesty was extended to everyone except Ustaše, members of the Cossack Cavalry Corps, supporters of
Dimitrije Ljotić Dimitrije Ljotić ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Љотић; 12 August 1891 – 23 April 1945) was a Serbian and Yugoslav fascist politician and ideologue who established the Yugoslav National Movement (Zbor) in 1935 and collaborated with N ...
(''ljotićevci''), NDH officers who commanded units of
battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...
size or larger, informers, members of the Kulturbund and all those who had escaped Yugoslavia. Violent methods had priority. Formation of warrant section was common, they would block the terrain to form ambushes. The Yugoslav Department for the Protection of the People (OZNA) installed special groups dressed as Crusaders and agents into Crusader units. Installed OZNA members would bring Crusader groups with ''their groups'' (other installed OZNA groups). Crusaders were offered amnesty if they assisted in detection, capture and killing of their comrades. According to varied testimony, those guarantees were not honoured. In 1946 and 1947, OZNA started to act in concert with local inhabitants. Many Crusaders were summarily executed as an example to others. Those who were tried were sentenced to long imprisonment, while leaders of Crusader groups were punished with death. The most dramatic conviction was the deportation of the family of some Crusaders and their sympathizers, or entire villages. The places where OZNA moved them were mostly
Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
islands. Members of Crusader families were also confined in prisons or camps. The coordinated activities of OZNA, The Corps of People's Defence of Yugoslavia (KNOJ) and the
Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...
(JNA) in winter of 1945/46 large number of Crusaders who enlisted fugitives from prisons and camps was destroyed. In 1946, Crusaders became stronger in northern Croatia, while in south their power was decreasing. The Yugoslav authorities were torn between wishing to eliminate the Crusaders and their refusal to admit that they were forced to take the Crusaders seriously. In the press and on radio, the Crusaders were almost never mentioned. They were only mentioned during the trials of Crusaders or trial of Alojzije Stepinac. In March 1946 the leader of the
Chetniks The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...
,
Draža Mihailović Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгољуб "Дража" Михаиловић; 27 April 1893 – 17 July 1946) was a Yugoslavs, Yugoslav Serb general during World War II. He was the leader of the Chetniks, Chetnik Detachments ...
was captured. In July of the same year, president of the Government of the
People's Republic of Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...
, Vladimir Bakarić stated that they would destroy the guerrillas within a month if the Crusaders weren't helped by Austria and Italy. During 1946 the Crusaders launched a few large attacks. One took place on the
Velebit Velebit (; ; ) is the largest, though not the highest, mountain range in Croatia. The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior. Velebit begins in the northwest near ...
mountain where 10 JNA soldiers were killed. This attack is considered the most successful Crusader attack. Against this, 840 Crusaders was killed in this year and only 540 remained in service in Croatia. The Yugoslav government invested great efforts to renew residential buildings and communications. Communist Party organisations, charged to prevent the spread of
defeatism Defeatism is the acceptance of defeat without struggle, often with negative connotations. It can be linked to pessimism in psychology, and may sometimes be used synonymously with fatalism or determinism. In politics, defeatism is used for one's p ...
and demoralisation, still reported conflicts between Croats and Serbs. Communists were worried about the small number of Croats in the Communist Party. During the first three years of its rule, the Communist Party eliminated all possible opposition and their opponents' leaders were imprisoned. By 1947, almost every Crusader group was destroyed and 836 Crusaders were killed or captured. In that year Crusaders killed 38 people, of whom 5 were soldiers, and wounded 14 people, of whom 2 were soldiers. Crusaders recruitment was between 10 and 15. About 2,000 of the most active collaborators of the Crusaders were captured. Ustashas in exiles in Austria and Italy spread exaggerated reports on numbers and activities of Crusaders. Conditions in Croatia in mid 1947 was described in reports by Ustaše Officers Ljubo Miloš and Ante Vrban. They illegally entered Yugoslavia from Austria with the intent to unite Crusader groups. They reported of "overwhelming support for them for the population and that Croatia and Croatian emigration will soon lead to separate worlds if nothing was done". However, UDBA soon captured both Vrban and Miloš and used them to lure senior officers and politicians back in the country by sending false information, so they can arrest them.''Tko je tko u NDH: Hrvatska 1941–1945'' (1997) Minerva, Zagreb,  p. 276.-277. ISBN 953-6377-03-9 (in Croatian) At the beginning of July 1948 no guerrilla group was mentioned in Yugoslav records. Information that there were still 67 guerrilla soldiers was ignored since most of them were inactive. In one document it was reported that in 1948, 243 Crusaders were killed, captured or surrendered. Without the support of the people, the Crusaders were demoralized and surrendered. The survivors turned to crime. Communist leaders continued to equate the HSS and the Catholic clergy with the Crusaders. The British Ambassador reported that the number of guerrilla personnel had decreased to a few hundred in February 1950. Though there was an attempt at founding a new Crusader group in 1952 near Našice, it was clear that their existence as an active movement was at its end. Eventually, remaining members of the Crusaders either surrendered or went into hiding, some remaining underground as long as the mid 1960s. With the end of the Crusaders, the last sign of armed Ustaše resistance to Communism in Croatia vanished.. The leader of the Crusaders was a former Croatian general,
Vjekoslav Luburić Vjekoslav Luburić (6 March 1914 – 20 April 1969) was a Independent State of Croatia, Croatian Ustaše official who headed the system of concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during much of World War II. Luburić al ...
, and possibly also Rafael Boban, which he is rumoured to fought with the Crusaders until 1947 where he died. Although the Communist government of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
, especially through the Department for the Protection of the People (OZNA) Department of State Security (UDBA) fought against the Crusaders and their sympathizers mercilessly, some level of armed resistance to the Yugoslav government by Croatian nationalists continued long after the end of WWII. Activities included individual actions but also more complex attacks like the 1972 introduction of the
Bugojno group The Bugojno group () was the name given to a Croatian separatist insurgent cell which was infiltrated into SFR Yugoslavia on 20 June 1972 to spark a rebellion against the socialist Yugoslav government. Their plans failed. Of the 19 men involved, ...
as well as attacks abroad like the 1971 Yugoslav Embassy shooting at Sweden and the subsequent hijacking of Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130.


See also

* Anti-Soviet partisans *
Forest Brothers The guerrilla war in the Baltic states was an insurgency waged by Baltic states, Baltic (Latvian partisans, Latvian, Lithuanian partisans, Lithuanian and Estonian partisans, Estonian) partisans against the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1956. Known ...


References


Sources

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Further reading

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External links


Križari na gospićkom području 1945. – 1950.
{{Authority control Aftermath of World War II in Yugoslavia Anti-communist resistance movements in Eastern Europe Anti-communist guerrilla organizations Anti-communism in Croatia Neo-fascist organizations Croatian nationalist organizations Croatian nationalist terrorism Cold War rebellions Insurgent groups in Europe Insurgencies in Europe Rebellions in Yugoslavia Wars involving Yugoslavia Wars of independence