one of two rebel groups in Serbia during WWII, now overzealous nationalist bearded morons

Chetniks were originally paramilitaries who fought in Balkan Wars. Name is derived from četa which means company.

Most famous chetniks are those of WW2 and that story is kinda complicated.
They were nominally Yugoslav but in practice they were Serb nationalists.

Most of them swore allegiance to the King and nominally accepted command of Draža Mihajlović but in reality there were several de facto independent formations which fought in different parts.

In the first year they fought against occupiers and their local collaborators, however later they started collaborating with Germans and Italians and fought communists. Mihajlović argued that they should wait until German and Italian defeat was imminent to avoid unnecessary loses, and that fighting communists was a priority.

Some of the commanders collaborated pretty openly, meanwhile Draža tried to keep a distance, and it's still debated how much he really collaborated.

They did some pretty gruesome crimes and those in Montenegro practically started an ethnic cleansing of Muslim population in the north.

In Croatia they fought with ustašas to protect local Serb population, but later many of them joined partisans while some of četniks started collaborating with ustašas to fight partisans (communists).

Overall by 1944 most of them abandoned the movement and joined Tito's army after he offered them amnesty.

As for my personal opinion, they shouldn't be demonized like they were, but they shouldn't be considered heroes either. Save for some exceptions most of their formations were pretty incompetent or openly collaborated with Germans and Italians.

The Chetniks (from turkish Cheta which means band) were a rebel group during the WW2 which allied with various forces for their own advantage. Their ultimate goal was to establish an "ethnically clean" Greater Serbia in the Balkans which meant they terrorized Croatian and Bosnian muslims in several areas. Their leader was a bearded serb nationalist, Draza. Today they are more of a symbol of nationalist Serbian ideas.

>>1111554
>were a rebel group
Rebelling against whom? They enjoyed support of government in exile and of Allies in the first part of WW2.
>Their ultimate goal was to establish an "ethnically clean" Greater Serbia
That part is disputed though.
Many people joined out of simple patriotic reasons. For example my grandpa who was an officer in pre-war army.
>which meant they terrorized Croatian and Bosnian muslims in several areas
And other Serbs too. Just like how Croats and Muslims terrorized Serbs.
>Their leader was a bearded serb nationalist
Mihajlović was primarily a monarchist.
Some like Đujić were primarily Serb nationalists.

>>1110340
Aren't chetniks just king army?
Althrou king had majority support in Serbia, and none support in croatia, but also great support in Slovenia?
Can we say that chetniks were Serbian or Yugoslav army?