Milan Kalabić


Early life

Milan Kalabić was born in 1886 in the village of Podnovlje, near Derventa. His father, Nikola, fought in the Russo-Turkish War of 1876–78 and was involved in the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire. In 1912, with the start of the First Balkan War, Milan fled to the Kingdom of Serbia and joined the Serbian Army as a volunteer. He became an officer and fought in the First Balkan War, the Second Balkan War and the First World War.

Nikšić murders

In February 1924, Kalabić and five other members of the gendarmerie arrested Montenegrin officers and brothers Stevan and along with some relatives and friends for no apparent reason. Both brothers were tortured and killed. Kalabić later informed their relatives that the two had frozen to death on the way to the prison. Seventy-five days later, the body of Šćepan Mijušković was discovered and Kalabić was forced to flee Montenegro into Kosovo. In 1930, he was tried and found guilty of the murders. He was given an eighteen-year prison sentence but was later pardoned of the crime and reappeared in Belgrade in 1940.

Second World War and death

Kalabić became an officer of the Serbian State Guard following the Axis invasion and occupation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He was also appointed prefect for the county of Požarevac and passed on information and military supplies to the Chetniks, with whom his son, Nikola, fought and served as a commander. After a period of surveillance, Kalabić was arrested by the German Gestapo on 3 October 1942 and executed alongside other Chetnik prisoners.