Serbian Chetnik Organization

Serbian Chetnik Organization
Disbanded	Detachments organized into the Serbian Army; Chetniks in the Balkan Wars
Type	Paramilitary
Role	Guerrilla warfare HUMINT Raiding Reconnaissance Tracking
Nickname(s)	Chetniks
Motto(s)	"Freedom or Death" (Слобода или смрт / Sloboda ili smrt) "Long live freedom" (Живела слобода / Živela sloboda) "With faith in God" (С вером у Бога / S verom u Boga)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Jovan Babunski Gligor Sokolović Kosta Pećanac Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin Vojin Popović

The Serbian Revolutionary Organization (Serbian: Српска револуционарна организација / Srpska revolucionarna organizacija) or Serbian Chetnik Organization (Српска четничка организација / Srpska četnička organizacija) was a paramilitary revolutionary organization with the aim of liberation of Old Serbia (Kosovo and Macedonia) from the Ottoman Empire (in the vilayets of Kosovo, Manastir and Salonika). Its Central Committee (Централни одбор / Centralni odbor) was established in 1902, while the Serbian Committee (Српски комитет / Srpski komitet) was established in September 1903 in Belgrade, by the combined Central Boards of Belgrade, Vranje, Skopje and Bitola. Its armed wing was activated in 1904.^[1] Among the architects were members of the Saint Sava society, Army Staff and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It operated during the Struggle for Macedonia (Борба за Македонију / Borba za Makedoniju), a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts in the region of Macedonia; its operations are known as Serb Action in Macedonia [sr] (Српска акција у Македонији / Srpska akcija u Makedoniji).^[2]

Coincidentally, the Circle of Serbian Sisters or Kolo Srpskih Sestara, was also being formed in Belgrade in 1903. Although known for its charitable work, the Circle also helped the Chetnik Organization in the Ottoman-held territories of Old Serbia and Macedonia by sending food and medical supplies, doctors and nurses to aid the wounded and stricken as the Kosovo Maiden did in Medieval Serbia.

The Chetnik central committee had initially funded individual, and small groups of hajduks (brigands), who were either self-organized or part of the Bulgarian revolutionary organizations in Macedonia (Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee or Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization). These sought to protect the Slavic Christian population from zulum (atrocities, persecution). With the failed negotiations of a joint Serbian-Bulgarian action, and growing nationalism within the Bulgarian committees, the Serbian committee decided to fully organize their own armed groups. The Central Committee sent the first two bands into Macedonia in 1904, which were exposed early and completely destroyed. The second wave proved more successful; however, hostility between the Bulgarian Committee and the Serbian Committee began. Serb Chetniks thus fought the Ottomans, and Bulgarian and Albanian bands. Prominent guerrilla fighters include Jovan Babunski, Gligor Sokolović, Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin, Mihailo Ristić-Džervinac, Jovan Grković-Gapon, Vasilije Trbić, Garda Spasa, Borivoje Jovanović-Brana, Ilija Jovanović-Pčinjski, Jovan Stanojković-Dovezenski, Micko Krstić, Lazar Kujundžić, Cene Marković, Miša Aleksić-Marinko, Doksim Mihailović, Kosta Milovanović-Pećanac, Vojin Popović-Vuk, Savatije Milošević and Petko Ilić. After the proclamation of the Young Turk revolution in 1908 and the proclamation of the constitution, all of the brigands in Macedonia, including the Serbian Chetniks, put down their weapons; however, guerilla fighting soon continued, later merging into the Balkan Wars.