Ustroj kopnene vojske domobranstva Nezavisne države Hrvatske, 1941-1945
Home Guard of the Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945)

Author(s): Nikica Barić
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, History, Military history, Political history, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today), Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Historical revisionism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II
Published by: Hrvatski institut za povijest
Keywords: Independent State of Croatia; Ustasha; NDH; Ante Pavelić; Home Guard; Domobranstvo; Ustasha milita; Ustasha military schools; World War II; partisans; Croatian Home Guard
Summary/Abstract: Home Guard (Domobranstvo) was the regular army of the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), which was established in April 1941 after the Axis attack on Kingdom of Yugoslavia. NDH was ruled by the extreme right wing Ustasha movement headed by Ante Pavelić and its territory consisted of Croatia, Slavonia, Syrmia, Dalmatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hungarians occupied and annexed Međimurje and Italians annexed parts of Croatian coast. A demarcation line divided NDH in German and Italian spheres of influence. Alongside with Home Guard, Ustasha militia was established as a military wing of the ruling Ustasha movement. Although Home Guard had air forces and navy, its ground forces were the most numerous and the most important. Tradition of the Croatian units of the Royal Hungarian Home Guard from the Austro-Hungarian Empire was often evoked after the establishment of NDH. Some Croats who were former Austro-Hungarian officers were also included in the Home Guard. Nevertheless, the basis for the formation of Home Guard were Croat and Bosnian Moslem officers and conscripts who had previously served in the royal Yugoslav army. The paramilitary units of the Croatian Peasant Party, the leading Croatian political party in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, played an important role immediately after the proclamation of NDH. Elements of this para-military organization took part in the disarmement of the Yugoslav units. In late April 1941 one of its detachments was sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina to establish Croatian military organization in that area. Nevertheless, Ustasha were distrustful of this organization and it was soon abolished [...]

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