Births on February 27

Momčilo Đujić, Serbian-American priest and commander (d. 1999)

Momčilo Đujić (Serbian Cyrillic: Момчилo Ђујић, Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [mǒmtʃiːlo dʑûːjitɕ]; 27 February 1907 – 11 September 1999) was a Serbian Orthodox priest and Chetnik warlord (Serbo-Croatian: vojvoda, војвода). He led a significant proportion of the Chetniks within the northern Dalmatia and western Bosnia regions of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fascist puppet state created from parts of the occupied Kingdom of Yugoslavia during World War II. In this role he collaborated extensively with the Italian and then the German occupying forces against the communist-led Partisan insurgency.

Đujić was ordained as a priest in 1933 and gained a reputation as something of a firebrand in the pulpit. After the assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia in 1934, he joined the Chetnik Association of Kosta Pećanac, forming several bands in the Knin region of Dalmatia. The Chetnik Association became a reactionary force used by the central government to oppress the populace. Active in promoting workers' rights, Đujić was briefly jailed for leading a protest by railroad workers, and he was a member of the exclusively-Serb Agrarian Union political party.

After the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Croatian Ustaše regime implemented a policy of widespread incarcerations, massacres, forced emigration and murder of Serbs and other groups, but Đujić escaped to the coastal zone annexed by Italy and began recruiting Chetniks in a refugee camp. When a general uprising began in August, Đujić returned to Knin and employed his Chetniks to defend local Serbs from the Ustaše, and under his command they captured the town of Drvar in the Bosanska Krajina. He then quickly began collaborating with the Italians, gaining their help through signing a non-aggression agreement. At this time, he was still aligned with the insurgency led by the communists. He soon betrayed them and began subverting Partisan units and attacking them alongside the Italians. He formed the Chetnik Dinara Division in early 1942. By mid-1942, Đujić was encouraging his Chetniks to co-operate with NDH forces, and on 1 October Chetniks under his command perpetrated a massacre of nearly 100 Croat civilians in the village of Gata. In early 1943 he attempted to participate on the Axis side in the Case White campaign against the Partisans but this was blocked by the Germans. In August, the Dinara Division suffered significantly at the hands of the Partisans and through desertion. By the time of the Italian capitulation in September it was of little use for offensive operations. When the Germans occupied the area, they restricted it to guarding railway tracks from Partisan sabotage. By November 1943, the Chetnik supreme commander, Draža Mihailović, was ordering Đujić to collaborate with the Germans. In November 1944, Đujić and 4,500 of his Chetniks combined with German and NDH forces in an attempt to defend Knin from the ascendant Partisans. Đujić progressively withdrew his troops until they surrendered to the western Allies in May 1945.

Đujić was tried and convicted in absentia for war crimes by the new Yugoslav communist government, which found him guilty of mass murder, torture, rape, robbery, forcible confinement and collaborating with the occupying forces. Included in these charges was responsibility for the deaths of 1,500 people. He eventually emigrated to the US, settling in California. He played an important role in Serbian émigré circles and founded the Ravna Gora Movement of Serbian Chetniks alongside other exiled Chetnik fighters. He later retired to San Marcos. In 1989, Đujić appointed the ultranationalist Serb politician Vojislav Šešelj as a Chetnik vojvoda. He later stated that he regretted awarding the title to Šešelj due to his involvement with Slobodan Milošević and his Socialist Party. In 1998, Biljana Plavšić, then President of the Republika Srpska, presented Đujić with an honorary award. Plavšić was later convicted of crimes against humanity related to her activities during the Bosnian War. Đujić died at a hospice in San Diego in 1999, aged 92. In Serbia, moves to rehabilitate the reputations of Đujić and the Chetnik movement have been criticised as historical revisionism and falsification of history.