In a directive letter dated 30 July 1942, Ostojić urged all Chetnik commanders to "develop the strongest possible oral and written propaganda". He stated that, "the people must be persuaded that the Chetniks are their only friends and that it is from them that they can expect freedom and a happy life" and instructed the Chetniks to "work day and night and maintain the spirit of the people". He wrote, "the hour of freedom is near. Allied aid for the Chetniks is assured, and the whole world is admiring them." In August, he launched a counter-attack against Ustaše troops returning to Foča as the Italians withdrew their garrisons from the hinterland. The Chetniks feared the Ustaše were about to unleash another round of genocidal violence on the Serb population in the area. After they occupied the town, at least 2,000 local Muslims were killed in Foča by forces under Ostojić's command. The Chetnik commander in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Petar Baćović, reported the massacre to Mihailović. The historian Marko Attila Hoare states this massacre was part of a "systematic effort to exterminate or expel the Muslim and Croat population" from parts of Yugoslavia that were to form part of Greater Serbia. The historian Jozo Tomasevich agrees, observing that expulsion of the non-Serb population from this and other areas was done in pursuit of the principal Chetnik ideology of achieving an ethnically homogenous Greater Serbia.