IMRO Militia in Macedonia 1943-1944

Hristo Lagadinov from Uhrana 1943-1944 with George Mladenov editor of Vardar .The picture is taken Aug. 1951 in the IRO camp of the city of Lavrion Greece.

IMRO Militia

And Volunteer Battalions

Of Southwestern Macedonia,

1943-1944.

By Vic Nicholas

Table of Contents

Early Beginnings…………………

The Call to Arms…………………

Leadership, Structure and Motives.

Objectives and Ulterior Motives….

Violence and Bloodshed………….

German & ELAS Attacks………..

IMRO Volunteer Battalions………

The Last Hoorah!……………………….

Photographic Appendix…………..

Footnotes………………………….

MACEDONIA’S SECRET

ARMY:

The IMRO Militia

And Volunteer Battalions

Of Southwestern Macedonia,

1943.1944.

They came from mountain villages. They came from

the little hamlets on the plains. They came from the small

provincial towns that stud the mountainous districts of south

western Macedonia. They came with steely determination and

the pictures in their mind of the suffering of their families and

their people under 30 years of Greek misrule and occupation.

They were a collection of sturdy embittered peasants

who were to become a fearsome fighting force and who would

rule south western Macedonia and the Kostour (Kastoria)

district in particular with an iron fist. This formation was

eventually to be extensively used quite effectively in

conjunction with German forces during anti-guerrilla sweeps

and drives. They were also used regularly as guard troops. They

were to write in their own blood the final glorious chapter in the

history of the IMRO.^ this local Macedonian fighting force was

to be cruelly destroyed with the utmost brutality and ultimately

suffer the final ignominy of being written out of history.

This is their story. A story that encompasses courage,

emancipation and finally defeat and suffering.

Early Beginnings

The Kostour (Kastoria) district was the epicenter of the

internecine warfare of the Macedonian struggle at the turn of the

century. It was here, more than anywhere else, that Greek mercenaries

committed grave atrocities on the local Macedonian population! who

dared to organize themselves for a future devoid of occupiers and a

future full of hope and freedom. Every village had its share of heroes

and martyrs. The exploits of the local heroes such as Vasil

Chakalaroff, Pando Kliasheff and Lazo Pop-Traykoff3 were passed

–on in village folk-lore and they were revered in an almost saintly

manner by the local Macedonian population.

The violence perpetrated on the villages in this district by the

Greek mercenaries after 1904,4 cemented into the peasants collective

psychosis a distinct feeling of ‘otherness’5 and an undying enmity

towards Greeks. The Balkan Wars of 1912-13 saw the partition of

Macedonia, with the lions share going to Greece, including the

fanatically pro-Bulgarian districts of south-western Macedonia. This

illogical distribution of territory which bore no correlation to the

ethnic back-ground and self determination of the population living

there further exacerbated the already bad situation. 6

During the 1920’s and 30’s, bad administration, government

endorsed persecution and cruel mindless violence by Greek

nationalist bands sowed the seeds of revenge that kept brewing within

the local Macedonian population that was waiting for an opportune

moment to forment.7 That opportunity would come in the shape of

the second world war. ^

The Call to Arms – Rallying Around the Committee Flag

It is generally accepted that the initial bands were formed on

the 5th of March 1943 in the district of Kostour (Kastoria) by the

Italian occupation authorities who armed the local Macedonian

villages to help combat the growing communist threat presented by

the ELAS andartes8 raiding the Italian forces in the district.9 A

company of 80 was established in the town of Kostour (Kastoria) on

March 5th under the command of Zhivko Shekrov and Luka Dimanin

with Risto Naskov ably assisting. Within 3 days, a further 34

volunteers from the village of Kumanichevo (Litya) arrived to bolster

the militia’s numbers.

More importantly, the ELAS forces in late 1942 launched a

series of attacks on the villages Drenichevo (Kranahori), Starichani

(Lakomata), Zhelegozha (Pendavrison), Breshchani (Avgi), Grache

(Ftelia) and others, for no strategic reason other than to terrorize the

Macedonian population. The ELAS attacks and the arming and

retaliatory measures taken by the local Macedonians has gone down

m history as the Kostour (Kastoria) uprising, and it’s impact and

implications was to be far reaching. J_0

However, it has since come to light in a written history of the

village Trsye/Lerin (Trivounon/Florina), that the village was raided in

February 1943 by an armed IMRO detachment dispatched from the

town of Kostour (Kastoria) to capture two communist activists who

were hiding in the village. The memoir further states that the majority

of the boys of this detachment were natives of the village of

Setoma/Kostour (Kefalaria/Kastoria). So there was evidently some

clandestine arming of Macedonian peasants prior to March 1943. The

Italian Military Command had also armed the village of Chetirok

(Mesopotamia) in February to the strength of 30.11

The colloquial name given to the bands armed in March 1943

was ‘Ohrana’, a Russian loan word also being the name of the czarist

secret police of Russia. ‘Ohrana’ in Russian is defined as ‘security’ or

‘guardian’, and these roles were specifically what the Italian

occupation authorities had in mind for this fledgling force of armed

village militias.

The force comprised of men and boys from all the peasant

occupations in the district. They were farmers, farmers sons, share

croppers, orchardists, artisans, shephards, timber cutters and itinerant

immigrant workers (sojoumers) who would ply their trade in

Bulgaria, France, USA, Canada and even as far afoot as Australia for

stretches lasting up to seven years at a time before returning to their

villages. L2 Their reasons for taking arms varied. Some of the men

were pre-war members of IMRO, and thus harboured deep patriotic

convictions. Others took arms for the sake of tradition, in that they

wished to follow in the heroic foot steps of their fathers and

grandfathers who forged a legendary reputation as redoubtable

fighters against the Turks and Greeks during the turn of the century

revolutionary struggle.

Most, however, took up arms to avenge wrong doings

and violence inflicted on their families by Greeks and

Grecophiles and was motivated by the prospect of a long

awaited opportunity to avenge the blood of their kith and their

kin.U

In fact, the men preferred to be known by the name used

by their forebears — ‘komiti’ or ‘komitadji’ — rather than ‘Ohrana’

which was thrust upon them. Most of the villages were armed to

company strength (usually between 25-30 men, although larger

villages quite often had companies in excess of 50 men). The

companies were known by the colloquial name of’chetas’. Their

enemies knew them by the name of’comitadjis’. The majority of

the participants in this battle formation wore no uniforms, just

their plain clothes. However, they wore a white arm-band with

the word “Komiti” hand written in black ink for the purpose of

identification. 14

Only the companies based in the towns of Kostour

(Kastoria) and Rupishcha (Argos Orestikon) wore uniforms.

These were supplied by the Italians and were resplendant with

shoulder patches bearing the inscription “Tiranska Cheta”

(Tyrants Company) and the letters IBK-SIS above the

inscription which stood for “Italo-Bulgarski Komitet – Svoboda

Hi Smrt” (Italo-Bulgarian Committee ” Freedom or Death) .15

Leadership, Structure and Motives

Prior to the formation of the armed militias in early

1943, the Commander-in-Chief of the German forces in the

Balkans – Field Marshal List – consented in May 1941 to a

handful of officers from the Bulgarian army, which was

occupying south eastern Macedonia and Thrace, to be attached

to the German occupying forces as “liaison officers”. All the

Bulgarian officers brought into service were locally born

Macedonians who had imigrated to Bulgaria with their families

during the 1920’s and 30’s to avoid persecution. All were

members ofIMRO and followers of Ivan

Mihailoff, the controversial, but dynamic leader of the interwar

IMR0.16

The main leaders and organizers during the early phase of

activity from 1941 to 1942 were Tsvetan MIadenoffFY and Andon

Kalcheff in the Lerin (Florina) region and Georgi Sarakinoff in the

Voden (Edessa) region. Kalcheff was born in the village of

Zhuzheltsi/Kostour (Spilea/Kastoria) in 1910 and immigrated along

with his family to Bulgaria in 1921. From a well known IMRO family

dedicated to the ideals of a united and free Macedonia, Kalcheff was

educated at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. From 1931 to 1940,

Kalcheff studied in Germany obtaining a Doctorate in Finance. In 1940,

Kalcheff returned to Bulgaria and was immediately mobilized into the

armed forces and commissioned as an officer.JJS Kalcheff was to

eventually obtain the rank of Major. It was Kalcheff who would lead the

whole military organization in south western Macedonia in 1943 and

1944. Later German accounts mention that he was a strong, stately and

overall very impressive man. 19

All the liaison officers had their own little headquarters which

were directly answerable to the army headquarters in Sofia. They were

attached to the German military kommandanturen (military commands)

to facilitate their connection with the local population and they also

aided in the activities of the Bulgarian club established in Salonika.

Moreover, in addition to the liaison officers in service at the German

headquarters, Bulgarian interpreters were also sent to assist in the towns

of Kostour (Kastoria), Voden (Edessa), Lerin (Florina), Kaylari

(Ptolemaida) and the city ofSolun (Salonika).20

By 1943, the main local village company leaders in the Kostour

(Kastoria) district were Pando Makrieff from the village Chetirok

(Mesopotamia), Nikola Georgieff from Kondorobi (Metamorphosis),

Paskal Kalemanoff “Dobrolitski” from Dobrolishcha (Kalohorion),

Vasil Yanakieff from Maniak (Maniaki), Naso Kachamata from

Lobanitsa (Agios Dimitrios), Mihail Ristovski and Dinto Soulov from

Chereshnitsa (Polikerason), Boris Stoyanoff from Gabresh (Gavros),

Vangel Kalaydjia from V’mbel (Moshohorion), Bay Kale, Bay Kuze

and Risto Naskoff – all from Ezerets (Petropoulakion), Dimitar Ivanov