Petrit Latifi

Even though the Serbian governments would often claim that the Serbian komitadjis, or paramilitary troops, were independent, newspapers at the time prove otherwise. In an article published in the “Lienz News” in 1914, a Serbian soldier serving in Valjevo explained that the Serbian terrorist and paramilitary groups like Narodna Odbrana were funded and armed by the Serbian government.

Cited from the article:

“A Serbian soldier serving in Valjevo, explained that in 1906 the Komitaschis were created and armed by the Serbian government. Previously, they were active Serbian officers and non-commissioned officers. Their activity consisted of provoking uprisings in the Turkish provinces.

At the time of the annexation crisis, the activity of the Narodna Odbrana, whose tools the Komitaschis had been, was directed against Austria, against which war to the death was propagated. The Narodna Odbrana was subsidized by the Serbian government and supplied with weapons. A subcommittee, the so-called Black Legion, had the task of destroying anyone who did anything against the Narodna Odbrana.

Cabrinovic confirms all these statements from occasional accounts of the war in Lošnica and In the files found in Klein-Zwornik on espionage carried out in Bosnia, it is stated that Serbia registered over 300 spies in Bosnia in the Losnica intelligence office alone. From the files it is clear that all Bosnian Sokol anti- alcohol associations served only as a cover for the activities of the Narodna Ebbrana and for the preparation of a war and uprising in Bosnia.”

Referene

https://digital.tessmann.it/tessmannDigital/digitisedJournalsArchive/page/journal/63023/1/23.10.1914/385389/6/filterId-63023%01385389%014704748-query-serbischer-filterIssueDate-%5B01.01.1912+TO+31.12.1939%5D-filterF_type-Newspaper.html