Knindže

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The so-called " Knindže " ( Serbian - Cyrillic Книнџе , Serbo-Croatian for " Ninjas from Knin ") or Crvene Beretke ; was (Red Berets Serbian Cyrillic беретке Црвене) de facto a paramilitary specialized police unit of the Yugoslav State Security Service RDB , which the army of Republic of Serbian Krajina supported during the Croatian War. The area of ​​operation of the Knindže was the Republic of Serbian Krajina , which is not recognized under international law . The members of the unit were named after their commander, the convicted war criminal Dragan Vasiljković ( fighting name "Kapetan Dragan"), also as " Draganovci " ("Dragan's men"). The core of the Serbian Jedinica za specijalne operacije (unit for special operations) was recruited from the Knindže and the Srpska dobrovoljačka garda (Serbian Volunteer Guard ).

history

After Milan Martić was installed by the Yugoslav State Security Service SDB as the military leader of the rebellious Serbs in the Krajina, the SDB set up an elite combat force for him. Martić's unit with the nickname "Knindže" was formed as a special police unit, probably in mid-1990, and was under the command of Dragan Vasiljković. In August 1990, the unit was first openly deployed during the so-called Tree Trunk Revolution as the professional core of the armed forces of the insurgent Serbs in Croatia in consolidating their control over the city of Knin. During the spring and summer of 1991 the unit was relocated to the Banija region of northern Krajina.

After the outbreak of the Croatian War at the end of 1991, the "Knindže" were heavily involved in the fighting in the regions around Knin and Banija. In May 1991, the SDB - now renamed Resor državne bezbednosti (RDB) - set up a unit for special operations called “Red Berets” in Golubić in the Krajina , in addition to the well-trained and reliable “Knindže” . At that time, this was also under the command of Dragan Vasiljković and also under the supervision of Franko "Frenki" Simatović . The "Knindže" and the "Red Berets" served as mobile elite units and carried out joint military operations.

Trivia

The Serbian newspaper Politika published a comic series in the autumn of 1991 under the title Knindže - Vitezovi Srpske Krajine (Knindže - Knights of the Serbian Krajina), which propagandistically glorified fictional heroic deeds of "Kapetan Dragan" and his unit . The first edition was published with the title Po zapovesti kapetana Dragana (On the orders of Kapetan Dragan) and the second edition in November 1991 with the title Za slobodu Srpske Krajine (For the freedom of the Serbian Krajina). Danko Djukić provided the text and Žarko Katić provided the drawings . Also at the end of 1991 a variant of the novel was published under the title “The Demons Are Coming” by the author Miloš Krajišnik , also published by Politika.

The Serbian musician Baja Mali Knindža ("Baja, the little Kniner Ninja") chose his stage name after the unit.

literature

  • Agilolf Keßelring: The historical analysis of paramilitary units as a challenge for recent military history using the example of command responsibility in the crumbling Yugoslavia . In: Military History Journal . tape 77 , Issue 2. De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Munich 2018, Combined War and Command Responsibility in Krajina and Baranja using the example of Arkan's "Tiger" and Dragan's "Knindže", p. 415–457 , here p. 437 ff. , Doi : 10.1515 / mgzs-2018-0082 .
  • Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] - Office of Russian and European Analysis (ed.): Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict . tape 2 . Washington DC 2003, Annex 1: The Organization and Arming of the Croatian Serbs, 1988–1991 - Formation of Elite Combat Units, pp. 26, 32 f . (detailed illustration).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ compound of Kninjani (plurality of Kninjanin for a person from Knin) and Nindže (plurality of Nindža for Ninja ). See: Milorad Radovanović: Serbian Sociolinguistics . In: International Journal of the Sociology of Language . No. 151 . Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 2001, pp. 104 .
  2. ↑ Agilolf Keßelring: The historical analysis of paramilitary units as a challenge for recent military history using the example of command responsibility in the crumbling Yugoslavia . In: Military History Journal . tape 77 , volume 2. De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Munich 2018, result and conclusions, p. 454 , doi : 10.1515 / mgzs-2018-0082 : "The investigation of the connection between paramilitary troops deployed in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Serbian and Croatian leadership in Belgrade and Zagreb based on the sources developed by the ICTY shows that 1. the Serbian "tigers" Ražnatovićs and Knindže / Crvene Beretke Vasiljkovićs are to be regarded as troops of the Serbian secret service, [...] "
  3. ↑ Vladimir Miladinović: Knindže - Vitezovi Srpske Krajine. March 9, 2014, accessed December 25, 2017 .
  4. ↑ A more detailed analysis of the propaganda content can be found in Ivan Čolović: Brothel of Warriors: Folklore, Politics and War . fiber Verlag, Osnabrück 1994, ISBN 3-929759-08-X , Brothel of Warriors, The Holy Warriors, p. 64-70, 127 f . (Original title: Bordel ratnika: Folklor, politika i rat . Belgrade 1993.).