Mane Rokvić

Mane Rokvić (Serbian Cyrillic: Мане Роквић) was a Serbian guerrilla commander during the Second World War. Rokvić briefly commanded of the Yugoslav Partisan 4th detachment of the Sloboda Battalion during the 1941 Drvar uprising, a spontaneous resistance by the Serbian population to the genocidal activities of the Independent State of Croatia in Western Bosnia. Later and most notably, Rokvić left the communist cause to join the royalist Dinara Chetnik Division to command of the King Alexander I regiment.[1]

Mane Rokvić
Mane Rokvić as a Chetnik commander
Native name
Мане Роквић
BornDate Unknown
Died1944
Allegiance Communist Party of Yugoslavia  Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Years of service1941-1944
RankVojvoda
BattlesDrvar uprising
Awards

Early life

Rokvić was born in Kolunić near Bosanski Petrovac, in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prior to the Second World War, Rokvić was employed as a mechanic in the Šipad lumber and furniture factory in Drvar. He joined the Yugoslav Communist Party in 1929.[2][3]

World War II

As commander of the Medeno Polje based 4th detachment of Sloboda Battalion, Rokvić is credited with successfully attacking Croatian fascist ustaše forces in Pasjak near Drvar on 26 July 1941.[4][5][6] With the momentum of victory, Rokvić's detachment subsequently liberated the towns of Drvar, Bosansko Grahovo and village of Oštrelj with three other Partisan detachments in what is known as the Drvar uprising.

Following the Drvar uprising, Rokvić broke ranks with the communist Partisans and joined the royalist Serbian Chetnik cause after learning that Yugoslav Partisans under instructions of Croatian communists razed Serbian homes in Drvar prior to Italian occupation forces arriving.[7]

Upon joining the Serbian royalist cause in the fall of 1941, Rokvić stood up the King Alexander I regiment, one of six regiments that would later form the Dinara Chetnik Division led by Serbian Orthodox priest, turned guerrilla, Vojvoda Momčilo Đujić.

As commander of the King Aleksandar I regiment, which for certain time was garrisoned in Drvar, Rokvić along with the commander of the Gavrilo Princip regiment Branko Bogunović, was promoted to the rank of vojvoda by Chetnik veteran organizer Ilija Trifunović Birčanin.[8][9]

Together with Momčilo Đujić, Pavle Popović, Pavle Omčikus, and Branko Bogunović; Rokvić agreed to and co-signed the Elaborat of Dinara Division in March 1942.[10][11] Earlier that year, Rokvić was decorated by president of the Yugoslav government-in-exile Slobodan Jovanović with the Karađorđe's Star.[12]

After the Italian capitulation at the end of 1943, 600 Chetnik fighters under the command of Rokvić operated in the southwestern part of the Bosnian Krajina along the Bosansko Grahovo-Drvar-Bosanski Petrovac-Bihać corridor.

It is believed that at the end of 1944, Rokvić withdrew his forces towards Slovenia where it is believed that he was captured and subsequently murdered by the Croatian ustaše.[13] Other accounts claim that in 1944 Rokvić was found guilty of war crimes committed in the village of Gata and sentenced to death near Knin by a Dinara Chetnik Division military court.[14]

References
  1. Redžić, Enver; Redzic, Enver (2005). Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-7146-5625-0.
  2. (Plećaš-Nitonja 1975, p. 105):" После 12 година оданог чланства у комунистичкој Партији, Мане Роквић је тога дана престао да буде комуниста... "
  3. Milovanović, Nikola B. (1984). Kontrarevolucionarni pokret Draže Mihailovića: Rasulo. Slom. Odmetništvo. Emigracija (in Serbian). Izdavačka radna organizacija "Rad".
  4. Communications in the National Liberation War: War Memories, 1941-1945. Vojnoizdavački zavod. 1981. p. 348. Mane Rokvić, former commander of the 4th detachment of our "Sloboda" battalion, in Medeno Polje
  5. (Plećaš 1983, p. 176): "У станици у Западној Босни под вођством Мане Роквића, заузели су Дрвар, "
  6. (Plećaš & Dimitrijević 2004, p. 168): "...под вођством Мане Роквића, заузели су Дрвар"
  7. Plećaš-Nitonja, Nikola (1975). Požar u Krajini (in Serbian). Plećaš-Nitonja.
  8. (Redžić 2005, p. 158)
  9. (Milovanović 1984, p. 623)
  10. (Николић 2009, p. 84)
  11. (Николић 2009, p. 84):" „Елаборат" су потписали Момчило Ђујић, Павле Поповић, Павле Омчикус, Бранко Богуновић и Мане Роквић."
  12. (Dedijer 1946, p. 387): "Rokvić i Bogunović, s Karađorđevim zvezdama kojim ih je odlikovao Slobodan Jovanović..."
  13. (Milovanović 1984, p. 623)
  14. (Šešelj 1992, p. 114): "Убијено је само сто људи. Четник Мане Роквић због тога је убијен. • Али и један је превише... - Мане Роквић је због тога кажњен, убијен... Четнички суд Динарске дивизије га је осудио на смрт."

Sources
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