Vulnetari
| Vulnetari | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1941—1946 |
| Allegiance |
|
| Branch | Militia |
| Type | Infantry |
| Role | Axis auxiliaries |
| Size | 5,000 — 6,000 |
| Colors | red and black |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
|
| Insignia | |
| Identification symbol |
black-red band around their arms |
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The Vulnetari ("volunteers") were a volunteer militia of Albanians from Kosovo set up in 1941 by Italian forces after the successful invasion of Yugoslavia. They served as an auxiliary force for civilian control and protection of villages.
Some of the militia served as frontier guards under both Italian and German rule. The Vulnetari fought only in their own local areas, so they fought against both Partisans and Chetniks, "against whom they showed themselves skilled and determined fighters". The Vulnetari of the region of Đakovica went to Plav and Gusinje to support the Italian counteroffensive during the Uprising in Montenegro.
Independently, Vulnetari units often attacked ethnic Serbs and carried out raids against civilian targets. According to Serbian scholars, the Vulnetari burned down hundreds of Serbian and Montenegrin villages, killed many people, and carried out plundering campaigns both in Kosovo and Metohija and in neighboring regions.
At the end of World War II, the militia was used to protect retreating German forces. After German forces retreated through Kosovo, members of the Vulnetari militia hid themselves in their villages.
The name of this unit is derived from Albanian word Vulnetarë (volunteers), rendered in Serbian Cyrillic as вулнетари. They were also known by the demonym "Kosovars".
During the Invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 Albanian volunteers put themselves at disposal of general Eberhard, the commander of German 60th Infantry division. The Vulnetari were mostly middle-aged Albanian peasants who lived at their homes and did not wear uniforms but only a black-red band around their arms.
According to Smilja Avramov, in June 1941 massacres of the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija took on an organized character as the Vulnetari were established.
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