The Supreme Headquarters was created in June 1941 by the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party after the German-led

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

invasion of Yugoslavia of 6 April 1941. It was the main

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * command (Unix), a Unix command * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on A ...

and staff body of 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 ...

, with

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

at its head. Initially titled Partisan Chief Headquarters when it was created on 27 June 1941, it was renamed at the Stolice conference of 26–27 September 1941. Its full name became the Supreme Headquarters of the People's Liberation Partisan Detachments. From January 1942, the headquarters became the Supreme Headquarters of the People's Liberation Partisan and Volunteer Army of Yugoslavia to allow for the incorporation of "Volunteer Detachments" consisting of insurgents that were not willing to formally become Partisans, most of whom were Serb nationalist

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 ...

. By November 1942, this experiment had clearly failed, and it was again renamed the Supreme Headquarters of the People's Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia. Finally, on 1 March 1945, it became the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army (renamed

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 ...

in 1951). The composition of the Supreme Headquarters during the war was successively supplemented, as few members died. Members of Supreme Headquarters throughout the war were:

(supreme commander),

Arso Jovanović Arsenije "Arso" Jovanović ( sr-cyr, Арсо Јовановић; 24 March 1907 – 12 August 1948) was a Partisans (Yugoslavia), Yugoslav partisan General officer, general and one of the country's foremost military commanders during World War I ...

(chief of Supreme Headquarters), Velimir Terzić (deputy chief of Supreme Headquarters), Sreten Žujović,

Edvard Kardelj Edvard Kardelj (; 27 January 1910 – 10 February 1979), also known by the pseudonyms Bevc, Sperans, and Krištof, was a Yugoslav politician and economist. He was one of the leading members of the Communist Party of Slovenia before World War II ...

, Aleksandar Ranković,

Ivo Lola Ribar Ivan Ribar (23 April 1916 – 27 November 1943), known as Ivo Lola or Ivo Lolo, was a Yugoslavs, Yugoslav Croats, Croat communist politician and military leader. In the 1930s, he became one of the closest associates of Josip Broz Tito, leader of ...

(died in November 1943), Svetozar Vukmanović, Milovan Đilas, Ivan Milutinović (died in October 1944), Peko Dapčević, Savo Orović, Sava Kovačević (died in June 1943), Vladimir Popović, Radivoje Jovanović, Vlada Zečević,

Petar Drapšin Petar Drapšin ( sr-Cyrl, Петар Драпшин; 15 November 1914 – 2 November 1945) was a Serbian and Yugoslav Partisan commander. Early life and education Drapšin was born to a family of poor peasant farmers in the village of Turija ...

, Rade Hamović, Vojislav Đokić, Franc Leskošek, Uglješa Danilović, Mihailo Apostolski, Nikola Grulović, Pavle Ilić, Moša Pijade,

Rade Končar Rade Končar ( sr-cyr, Раде Кончар; 6 August or 28 October 1911 – 22 May 1942) was a Serbs of Croatia, Croatian Serb politician and leader of the Yugoslav Partisans in the Independent State of Croatia and Governorate of Dalmatia, ...

(died in May 1942), Gojko Nikoliš, Izidor Papo, Ivan Rukavina,

Pavle Savić Pavle Savić ( sr-cyr, Павле Савић; 10 January 1909 – 30 May 1994) was a Serbian physicist and chemist. In his early years, he worked in Serbia as well as France, and became one of the pioneers in the research of nuclear fission. He ...

, Vladimir Smirnov and Ivan Maček.

Footnotes

References

* * {{cite book, last = Orović, first = Savo, title = Ratni dnevnik 1941–1945 , trans-title= War Diary 1941-1945, year = 1972, publisher = Hronometar, location = Belgrade 1941 establishments in Yugoslavia 1945 disestablishments in Yugoslavia Yugoslavia in World War II Yugoslav Partisans

See also

Footnotes

References