Serbia Serbia - Original Chetnik items

[ЧЕТНИК]

A rather rare "war casting" original given to me as a gift from the chetnik from the Bajina Basta area.It was burried for almoust 50 years!!!Аnd couple of photos of proud wearers.Enjoy!

Ову ми је поклонио четник из Бајине Баште,врло ретки ратни лив!И неколико слика где се ове кокарде јасно виде...Уживајте!

Edited June 9, 2015 by ЧЕТНИК

[ЧЕТНИК]

And some photos of the Dinaric Chetnik Division warriors with the "blind man" variation...On the first photo commander of the Division, legendary chetnik Duke Momchilo Djujic.

И неколико слика припадника Динарске Четничке Дивизије са кокардом коју је направио слепи мајстор!

[ЧЕТНИК]

First photo is particularly interesting to me. That's 2nd lieutenant of Četnik (Assault) units of the regular Yugoslav army. These special units were formed in 1940 with purpose to fight behind the enemy lines. Their members wore uniforms that were different from the rest of the army (apart from mountain troops - they wore similar uniform). On the photo we can see some elements of it, first blouse with "visible" buttons (there were 6 of them), collar wasn't raised and there were skulls with crossed bones on it, soft šajkača with regular M1939 cap emblem. Their waffenfarbe was black, same as for artillery. I think someone already wrote about this in other topic.

​Person on the photo is Pavle Meskovic, pre WW2 chetnik (storm trooper ) Lieutenant with General Mihailovic (Chicha) from the first day of uprising,reposed in Australia...On the he first known photo of Chetnik guerrillas in WW2.Pavle is on the Chicha`s right side.

Особа на слици је Павле Мешковић официр(мислим да је у рат ушао као поручник) четничког батаљона Краљевине, са Чичом од првог дана.Упокојио се у Аустралији...На приложеној слици види се Павле са десне стране Чиче, види му се кићанка на шубари...Ovo je најраније направљена фотографија из трећег србског устанка!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2015 by ЧЕТНИК

[Mervyn Mitton]

Very interesting set of early badges and some excellent photos of the period.  Thankyou for showing them  -  I imagine the badges would attract a high price ?     Mervyn

[ЧЕТНИК]

Very interesting set of early badges and some excellent photos of the period.  Thankyou for showing them  -  I imagine the badges would attract a high price ?     Mervyn

​You are most welcome.It is my understanding that prices vary between 700-1400$USA.Some of the badges are only known specimens, like the gray "war casting".Stay tuned,more badges and photos to come!

 

Edited June 11, 2015 by ЧЕТНИК

[Mervyn Mitton]

Yethnk   -  you will understand that I am no expert on these badges  -  I would like to clarify one point  -  were they worn by the pro-German forces or, by the anti-German partisans ?    This probably sounds a silly question to you - however, I want to be clear in my mind.  Apart from the occasional picture this is the first old, original collection that I have seen.   I will pass this reference onto Robin Lumsden, who is an expert on German WW2 items and studies the use of Skulls in military badges.   Best wishes    Mervyn

ps.   I see you live in Australia  -  which part  ?   I was brought up in Melbourne and Sydney  -  but a long time ago....

Edited June 18, 2015 by Mervyn Mitton

[ЧЕТНИК]

Yethnk   -  you will understand that I am no expert on these badges  -  I would like to clarify one point  -  were they worn by the pro-German forces or, by the anti-German partisans ?    This probably sounds a silly question to you - however, I want to be clear in my mind.  Apart from the occasional picture this is the first old, original collection that I have seen.   I will pass this reference onto Robin Lumsden, who is an expert on German WW2 items and studies the use of Skulls in military badges.   Best wishes    Mervyn

ps.   I see you live in Australia  -  which part  ?   I was brought up in Melbourne and Sydney  -  but a long time ago....

Scull and crossbones badge was official badge of Chetnik Association of Kingdom of Yugoslavia formed in the 1929.During the WW2 it was almost exclusively worn by the Chetniks who collaborated with Germans in Occupied(Nedic`s) Serbia.Those "Goverment Chetnik" units where under the command of Duke Kosta Pecanac who was executed by anti-axis (Mihailovic`s) chetniks because of Nazi-collaboration...In other occupied Serbian lands, it was a different story.Vast majority of Chetnik forces in Croatian SS (Ustasha)led "Independent state of Croatia(NDH)" was under the Mihailovic command, but preferred the scull and crossbones badge over official Kingdom of Yugoslavia badge.Most probably because in the official Kingdom Yu-badge was included the croatian  red Checkerboard same as it was on the ustasha NDH emblem.Chetniks in Montenegro also rather wore scull and crossbones over Yu-badge.Picture #1 Chetnik veteran from the WW1 member of the Chetnik Association of Kingdom of Yugoslavia in official uniform. Group of Association members with the official flags before the WW2In this one group of Kosta Petcanac(Goverment chetniks) in WW2

George(Ђорђе)Lashich chief of staff of the Montenegrin chetniks

Chetnik Duke from Bosnia Dobrosav Jevdjevic, member of the "Young Bosnia" Serbian group who assassinated Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparking the WW2.He was a flat mate of Gavrio Princip, the main assassin who actually shot Franz...

And last, but certainly not least, the Chetnik spirit lives on!Photo taken in Sydney (Chetnik hub) in 2010...

Chetnik veteran from the WW1 member of the Chetnik Association of Kingdom of Yugoslavia in official uniform

Duke Kosta Milovanovic-Pecanac photo taken afther the WW2

And this is young Petchanac receiving the keys of the Serbian Monastery  from the Austro-Hungarian officer near the end of the WW1. Petchsanac was born not far from this Monastey at 1879.

Edited June 23, 2015 by ЧЕТНИК

[ЧЕТНИК]

Talking about rare war casting chetnik badges,here is one from the estate of the late chetnik officer Dushan Trbojevic.His photo from the period 1941-5 underneath...Under his photo the second badge,most probably from the same casting.These are the only two specimen in existence known to me!

Ретки ратни лив,из заоставштине Дражиног Официра Душана Трбојевића,испод слика Душана из рата.Испод Душанове слике још једна кокарда вероватно из истог калупа.Ове две су ми једини примерци познати до сада!

Edited July 14, 2015 by ЧЕТНИК
Uploading more photos

[eatmeat]

So the topic will not sleep...

SS dagger Meine ehre heisst treue, shortened and inscribed "SLOBODA ILI SMRT" or "Freedom or death" in english

 

 

[Lightfoot]

Do you have a story behind this custom made dagger? I have a doubt in the originality of being used as a chetnik dagger. Because this dagger couldn´t been captured from the enemy like bayonets for example. This nazi dagger was a parade item that the germans didn´t use in battle. Hope to hear an explanation because I would love to hear it.

[ЧЕТНИК]

My humble contribution to the subject.Original period photo...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Do you have a story behind this custom made dagger? I have a doubt in the originality of being used as a chetnik dagger. Because this dagger couldn´t been captured from the enemy like bayonets for example. This nazi dagger was a parade item that the germans didn´t use in battle. Hope to hear an explanation because I would love to hear it.

I think it is very possible that Officers had non Combat items in their quarters out of the direct combat zone. I have seen photos of Army and LW officers with daggers in occupied areas.

[Von Thronstahl]

Do you have a story behind this custom made dagger? I have a doubt in the originality of being used as a chetnik dagger. Because this dagger couldn´t been captured from the enemy like bayonets for example. This nazi dagger was a parade item that the germans didn´t use in battle. Hope to hear an explanation because I would love to hear it.

Here is another "conversion" of SS dagger but to partisan knife.  This was once in my possession and it was bought directly from an old man who didn´tknow anything but that is a knife.  

Sorry for the off topic. 

 

[Von Thronstahl]

Here are some of mine Chetnik photos: 

Back sidewith some writings. I can´t read it despite the fact I learned cyrilic at school.  Maybe native speaking and writing members could help me.

[ЧЕТНИК]

Back sidewith some writings. I can´t read it despite the fact I learned cyrilic at school.  Maybe native speaking and writing members could help me.

 

Text translation;

For memory and long remembrance from the Ravna Gora life, with my chetnik brothers.

Long live King Peter The Second!Long live uncle Draza Mihailovic!Long live Serbian Army!Down with Tito and his red ustashe!Death to Tito and his bands!

                                                                                              Radovan Arsenijevic

Edited September 14, 2015 by ЧЕТНИК

[ЧЕТНИК]

On 3/3/2015, 12:53:53, paja said:

One more question, I noticed that some of these fakes have a spider web-like part between the crossed bones while others don't.

Original badge that serbman was so kind to show us in post #191 (http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/31679-serbia-original-chetnik-items/?p=609500) has that detail.

I've been going through photos of fakes and it seems to me that all those badges without inscription are also without "spider web". Are there authentic pieces like that? 

 

Congratulations Paja on good observation skills!The bronze colored,always unmarked, badge is original indeed!They are made of noticeably different material than the more common "silver" ones.And, to my knowledge they haven't been faked yet!My uneducated guess is that they are produced prior the “silver” ones,that is probably the reason why they are so rare.On the pictures below you can see my specimen and the matching breast badge which (unfortunately) I cleaned.The breast badge is the only specimen known to me so far!Breast badge is undoubtedly original it was given to me as a gift by a chetnik from the Valjevo area.And as usual, few period photos at the end.

Честитам Пајо на оштром оку и бритком уму!Ова кокарда која је увек необележена и другачије је-бронзане- боје и много је ређа од сребрнкастих које су углвном-али не увек-обележене…Још нисам наишао на фасификат ове кокарде!Мислим да су ливене пре сребрнкастих,зато су тако ретке.Прилажем слику мог примерка заједно са грудном значком рађеном у истом стилу и вероватно у истома материјалу.Ову грудну значку коју сам (нажалост) очистио поклонио ми је четник из околине Ваљева.Никада ни пре ни после нисам наишао на грудну значку овакве израде! И за крај, као и увек,неколико слика из епохе…

Edited November 6, 2015 by ЧЕТНИК
spelling correction

[Merdare]

Hello, pomaže bog,

First of all, I am pleasantly surprised to find this amount of information on the Cetnik movement.Thank you all.

I come from a Cetnik family, as my grandfather was in the JVO.Unfortunately, he passed away in 1983 when I was still very young. So he was not able to pass on a lot of information to me. Which is too bad since we live in Belgium and Brussels was a little bit a Cetnik HQ in the '70's. My grandparents had very good and close contacts with Bora Blagojevic for example, or Miodrag Boskovic. (Off-topic: I am trying to reconstruct some of the events surrounding those people, since I read some contradictions on the internet on how they died. My grandmother is still alive, so I get useful information from her. All info is welcome, or I'm willing to share if interested.)

Anyhow, I've been looking on e-bay at two daggers that are being sold for around 500 euro's. I would like to buy them so I can give them to my sons when it's time. Maybe you know the ones I am talking about.

Would you recommend them?

If this questions is already raised for the specific items in earlier posts, please just say so, I will find some time to check out all the hyperlinks in the posts. It's just a load of information :-)

Kind regards!

 

[vladan]

Bog ti pomogo

Iv been collecting ck items for the last five years, and could not get this out fast enough so you don't waste your money. 99.9% and i do mean 99.9 of ck items you see for sale unless on a reputable military forum type sight are FAKE,COPIES or REPLICAS.  2nd there are a handful of experts and they don't talk much. A Kama (a ck. Knife) if you find one will certainly run you over  $3k. Most important of all to remember that a wise collector who is very knowledgeable in this subject but quiet recently told me "its not what you are buying but who you are buying from". You are going to find meany helpful people here.

Good luck my friend 

Vg

[ЧЕТНИК]

On 3/3/2015, 12:53:53, paja said:

On 14/11/2015, 3:08:59, Merdare said:

Hello, pomaže bog,

First of all, I am pleasantly surprised to find this amount of information on the Cetnik movement.Thank you all.

I come from a Cetnik family, as my grandfather was in the JVO.Unfortunately, he passed away in 1983 when I was still very young. So he was not able to pass on a lot of information to me. Which is too bad since we live in Belgium and Brussels was a little bit a Cetnik HQ in the '70's. My grandparents had very good and close contacts with Bora Blagojevic for example, or Miodrag Boskovic. (Off-topic: I am trying to reconstruct some of the events surrounding those people, since I read some contradictions on the internet on how they died. My grandmother is still alive, so I get useful information from her. All info is welcome, or I'm willing to share if interested.)

Anyhow, I've been looking on e-bay at two daggers that are being sold for around 500 euro's. I would like to buy them so I can give them to my sons when it's time. Maybe you know the ones I am talking about.

Would you recommend them?

If this questions is already raised for the specific items in earlier posts, please just say so, I will find some time to check out all the hyperlinks in the posts. It's just a load of information :-)

Kind regards!

 

Hello:Бог ти помого!

Мerdare;

Drop me your contact address in my profile inbox in relation to my favorite Ravna Gora hero-Bora Blagojevic.I got some relevant info which is going to interest you, I am sure.

In relation to daggers. I collect chetnik stuff since late 80-es.Last time I saw original chetnik kama for sale on E-bay was more than 10 years ago!It was exceptionally well made specimen which went for around 2000$USA…For everybody's  info, I am submitting the photos of fakes I came across in years.

In relation to prices outside "stingray"-bay:I recently  bought a well made original kama without the scabbard for 400E...I got offered another original with the King Peter the Second monogram on the scabbard for peanuts,but I did not buy it!I did not want to rip the pour lady off!!!She did not have an idea what she was selling...

Kind regards!

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2015 by ЧЕТНИК

[paja]

Greetings Merdare and welcome to GMIC,

As Vladan and ЧЕТНИК already pointed out most of the "četnik" daggers on ebay are modern replicas even though often sold as the real deal. There were many examples of fakes in this topic but unfortunately most of the images are still not available from the last forum upgrade. ЧЕТНИК was so kind to post some of them in his last reply.

You can find photos of some original daggers from Lightfoot's collection in topic and compare quality. He also posted photos of rare and highly desirable M24ČK knife worn by the members of četnik (assault) units within regular army of Kingdom of Yugoslavia. 

Best regards!

Edited November 17, 2015 by paja

[Merdare]

Dear friends, dragi prijatelji, thank you for your replies and my apologies for my late response. I have been overworking lately. In some way I am happy to read that most low cost items probably are fake. Call it pride/ponos. On the other side, I might have to adjust my goals, and go for one dagger for my oldest son. He will pass on my slava (family saint's feast day), and hopefully our history and traditions. The last week of this year, I am taking some time off so I’ll dig into all the information I can find on this very fine forum. @ ЧЕТНИК: I’ll contact you right away!

[Merdare]

Good morning, I scanned a photo of my great-grandfather (grandfather of my father - maternal side). He was in the "kraljeva garda". I really like the uniform.

[Bodmilantik]

Hello

My collections,original period !

 

Regards Luka

Edited December 10, 2015 by Bodmilantik

[Bodmilantik]

25 minutes ago, Bodmilantik said:

Hello

My collections,original period !

 

Regards Luka

 

[paja]

Bunch of these started appearing lately. I read somewhere that they are coming from Leskovac (ring a bell?).
I was very surprised with some of the amounts they were sold for, you can get them here for like 10 euros.