During the Great War, Serbian authorities applied Serbian komitadjis, or “Chetniks”, in the warfare against Austro-Hungarian troops. Methods like pretending to be dead or waving the white flag and then firing at unsuspecting Austro-Hungarian troops was used. Serbian troopers would also fire on ambulances and medical personel. The following are quotes taken from various publications at the time.

“As everyone knows, hatred of Austria-Hungary in Serbia had been systematically stoked for years by the government, parliament, and the press, which was almost exclusively in Russian pay. This was expressed in the Serbian warfare methods from the very first clash of the armies. The furious fighting style of the Serbian soldiers and the inhuman cruelties of the Serbian komitachis… Previous reports from Serbian battlefields have already documented various cruelties of the Serbian warfare and actions by the population, which had been incited by the authorities, that violated international law…”¹

False usage of the white flag ner Tekeriche

“During a battle near Tekeriche, the Serbian troops raised a white flag. The Austro-Hungarian commander ceased firing and approached the Serbs, who received him with murderous fire at a distance of 300 paces. A twelve-year-old girl wounded an artilleryman who was drawing water with a shotgun shot. The Serbian troops particularly like to fire on our ambulances.”²

“In several cases, Serbian komitachis pretended to be dead or wounded and then threw bombs at approaching Austro-Hungarian wounded soldiers”.³

Serbian civilians cutting of the genitals of Austro-Hungarians

“Irregulars found with weapons or hand grenades were executed, including a corpse desecrator (who tried to cut off the genitals of an officer’s corpse).

Other attested cruelties: On August 10, first at Franz Joseph’s Heights, the mutilated body of an infantryman from the 10th Infantry Regiment was found.

Serbian atrocities. Continued. The genitals were probably cut off during the victims’ lifetime in two cases. In one man, the abdomen was slit open, the intestines were torn out, and the abdominal cavity was stuffed”.⁴

Serbian komitadjis throwing bombs

“Serbian Komitatschis dead or wounded and then pelted approaching Austro-Hungarian wounded soldiers with bombs.”⁵

References

The War of the Nations eine chronik der ereignisse seit dem July 1, 1914- https://www.google.se/books/edition/Der_V%C3%B6lkerkrieg/3-4-AQAAMAAJhl=sv&gbpv=1&bsq=Grausamkeiten+der+serbischen+Komitatschis&dq=Grausamkeiten+der+serbischen+Komitatschis&printsec=frontcover

1. The Lie about the Austrian-Hungarian War in Serbia, 1916. Hans Gross.https://www.google.se/books/edition/Die_L%C3%BCgen_%C3%BCber_die_%C3%B6sterreichisch_ung/wRpoTlonvJwC?hl=sv&gbpv=1&bsq=Grausamkeiten+der+serbischen+Komitatschis&dq=Grausamkeiten+der+serbischen+Komitatschis&printsec=frontcover ↩︎
2. imbid ↩︎
3. imbid ↩︎
4. imbid. ↩︎
5. https://www.google.se/books/edition/Sammlung_von_nachweisen_f%C3%BCr_die_verletz/tawJAAAAIAAJ?hl=sv&gbpv=1&bsq=Grausamkeiten+der+serbischen+Komitatschis&dq=Grausamkeiten+der+serbischen+Komitatschis&printsec=frontcover ↩︎