Pećanac Chetniks

Pećanac Chetniks
Pećanac (second from left) with a German military officer and Kosovo Albanian collaborator Xhafer Deva (third from left) in Podujevo, Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia, 20 October 1941
Active	1941–43
Allegiance	Nazi Germany Government of National Salvation
Type	Irregular forces
Size	3,000–6,000
Nickname(s)	Black Chetniks
Commanders
Notable commanders	Kosta Pećanac

The Pećanac Chetniks, also known as the Black Chetniks, were a collaborationist Chetnik irregular military force which operated in the German-occupied territory of Serbia under the leadership of vojvoda (war lord) Kosta Pećanac. They were loyal to the German-backed Serbian puppet government.

Pećanac was eventually denounced as a traitor by the Yugoslav government-in-exile, and the Germans concluded that his detachments were inefficient, unreliable, and of little military aid to them. The Germans and the puppet government disbanded the organisation between September 1942 and March 1943, and Pećanac was interned for some time afterwards before being killed in mid-1944 by forces loyal to his Chetnik rival Draža Mihailović.

The Pećanac Chetniks were named after their commander, Kosta Pećanac, who was a fighter and later vojvoda in the Serbian Chetnik Organization who had first distinguished himself in fighting against the Ottoman Empire in Macedonia between 1903 and 1910. In the First Balkan War, fought from October 1912 to May 1913, Pećanac served as a sergeant in the Royal Serbian Army. During the Second Balkan War, fought from 29 June to 10 August 1913, he saw combat against the Kingdom of Bulgaria. During World War I, he led bands of Serbian guerillas fighting behind Bulgarian and Austro-Hungarian lines.