Republic of Užice

This article is about the short-lived territory in western Serbia. For the 1974 film, see Guns of War.

The Republic of Užice (Serbo-Croatian: Užička republika / Ужичка република) was a short-lived liberated Yugoslav territory and the first liberated territory in World War II Europe, organized as a military mini-state that existed in the autumn of 1941 in occupied Yugoslavia, more specifically the western part of the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia.^[a] The Republic was established by the Partisan resistance movement and its administrative center was in the town of Užice.

Republic of Užice Užička republika Ужичка република
1941
Flag
Anthem: None official[a]
Status	Partisan Liberated Territory
Capital	Užice
Common languages	Serbo-Croatian (de facto Užičan dialect)
Chairman[b]
General Secretary[c]
Legislature	Main National Liberation Committee for Serbia
Historical era	World War II
• Partisan arrival in Užice	28 July 1941
• Battle of Drežnik	18 August 1941
• German ultimatum	10 September 1941
• Fall of Užice	24 September 1941
• Battle of Kadinjača	29 November 1941
• Conquered	1 December 1941
Preceded by Succeeded by German-occupied Serbia German-occupied Serbia
Today part of	Serbia
^ There was no officially adopted anthem. Sa Ovčara i Kablara [sr] was a popular song on liberated territories around Užice, and was considered the unofficial anthem of this short-lived state. Himna Užičkoj Republici ("Anthem to the Republic of Užice") was created after the war. ^ Chairman of the Main Peoples Council of Serbia. ^ General Secretary of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and Commander in Chief of the Partisans.

Monument to fallen partisans in battle on Kadinjača Hill.

Borders

The Republic of Užice comprised a large portion of western part of the occupied territory and had a population of more than 300,000^[3] (according to another source, nearly one million^[4]). It was located between the Valjevo–Bajina Bašta line in the north, the river Drina on the west, the river Zapadna Morava in the east, and the Raška region to the south.^{[citation needed]}

Different sources provide differing information about the size of the republic: according to some sources, it included 15,000^[4] or 20,000^[5] square kilometres.

History

The government was made of "people's councils" (odbori), and the partisans opened schools and published a newspaper, Borba (meaning "Fight"). They even managed to run a postal system and around 145 km of railway and operated an ammunition factory from the vaults beneath the bank in Užice.^[6]

In November 1941, in the First anti-Partisan offensive, the German troops occupied this territory again, while the majority of Partisan forces escaped towards Bosnia, Sandžak and Montenegro, re-grouping at Foča in Bosnia.^[7]

End

The leftist policy then pursued by Josip Broz Tito (known later as the leftist errors) substantially contributed to the defeat of the partisans in the Republic of Užice.^[8] Because of the pro-fascist Serbian propaganda which described the partisans as being led by foreigners,^[9] the population of Serbia turned against the uprising and against the partisan insurgents. At the beginning of December 1941^[10] the partisans moved from Serbia to Bosnia (nominally part of the NDH) and joined their comrades who had already left Montenegro.^[11]

In popular culture

The 1974 Yugoslav partisan feature film The Republic of Užice covers the events surrounding the existence of the Republic of Užice.

See also

• Republic of Bihać, a similar, albeit created 1 year later, republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Former countries in Europe after 1815

Notes

1. Official name of the occupied territory^[1][2]