Operation Alfa Operation Alfa ( ; ) was an offensive carried out in early October 1942 by Italian , Croatian and Chetnik forces against the Yugoslav Partisans in the Prozor region , then a part of the Croatian puppet state ( today in Bosnia and Herzegovina ) . The operation was arranged between Mario Roatta , commander of the Italian Second Army , and Chetnik commander Ilija Trifunović - Birčanin with approval from Draža Mihailović . It was carried out in coordination with the Germans and involved a number of the Croatian Home Guard and the Croatian Air Force . Faced with heavy weaponry and vastly outnumbered , the Partisans retreated and left Prozor . Chetniks under the command of Dobroslav Jevđević and Petar Baćović , proceeded to massacre between 543 and 2 , 500 Catholics and Muslims and destroy numerous villages in the area . With protests from both the Italians and the Croatian NDH authorities , the Chetniks were discharged or relocated . Operation Beta , focused on capturing Livno and surrounding localities , was pursued by the Italians and NDH forces afterwards . Jevđević and Baćović avoided prosecution by the new Yugoslav government while Mihailović was found guilty , amongst other things , for the actions at Prozor and was sentenced to death and executed . Background . On 6 April 1941 , the Axis powers invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia , resulting in the capitulation of the Royal Yugoslav Army on 17 April . Yugoslavia was occupied with some parts annexed and with puppet states being established in others . Amongst the puppet states was the Independent State of Croatia ( NDH ) which consisted of modern - day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina . The NDH was divided by a German – Italian demarcation line , known as the " Vienna Line " with the Germans occupying the north and northeastern parts of the NDH , and the Italians the south and southwestern sections . The NDH immediately implemented genocidal policies against the Serb , Jewish and Roma population . Initial armed resistance consisted of two loosely - cooperating factions , the Partisans who were led by communists , and the Chetniks who were mostly led by Serb – chauvinist officers of the defeated Yugoslav Army . However , the Chetniks , in their pursuit of an ethnically pure Greater Serbia , adopted a policy of collaboration and cooperated " extensively and systematically " with Italian forces . In July and August 1942 . under the auspices of the Italians , the Chetniks thoroughly ethnically cleansed eastern Herzegovina of its Croats and Muslims . In September 1942 , the Chetniks , knowing that they could not defeat the Partisans alone , attempted to persuade the Italians into carrying out a " large operation " within their occupation zone . On September 10 and 21 , Chetnik commander Ilija Trifunović - Birčanin met with General Mario Roatta , commander of the Italian Second Army . He informed Roatta that he was not under the command of Draža Mihailović , but that he had seen him in Avtovac on July 21 and that he had his approval in collaborating with the Italians . Trifunović - Birčanin urged him to take action " as soon as possible " in a large operation against the Yugoslav Partisans in the Prozor - Livno area . In return Trifunović - Birčanin offered support in the form of 7 , 500 Chetniks on the condition that they be provided the necessary arms and supplies . Roatta provided " some arms and promises of actions " for his demands . Mihailović later congratulated Trifunović - Birčanin on his conduct and " high comprehension of the national line " in these arrangements . Operation and massacre . In early October , the operation was launched by the Italians targeting Partisans located northwest of the middle part of the Neretva River . The Italian 29th Battalion of the 4th Bersaglieri Regiment , and the 2nd Battalion of the 94th Regiment from the 18 Infantry Division Messina took part . Between 3 , 000 – 5 , 500 Chetniks took part in the operation and were under the command of Dobroslav Jevđević and Petar Baćović . Partisan sources reported 4 , 000 soldiers of the Italian 6th Army Corps , 5 , 000 Chetniks of the Trebinje , Nevesinje , and Romanija Corps , the Croatian Home Guard ' s 7th and 15th Infantry Regiments , and the Croatian Air Force as being involved . The operation was coordinated with Germans and NDH armed forces located near northern Partisan territory in the direction of Banja Luka . The Chetniks arrived by trains from Dubrovnik and Metković and by Italian trucks from Nevesinje . On October 2 – 3 they arrived in Mostar and left on October 3 . The same day , they killed one villager and committed mass looting in the village of Raška Gora , north of Mostar . In the village of Gorani , southwest of Mostar , three villagers were killed and , as elsewhere , they carried out looting and burning . The next day they were in Drežnica where Jevđević gave a speech that " the chief enemy of Serbs are the Partisans , then the Ustaše . They need to be ruthlessly destroyed and the other left alone " . Subsequently the Chetniks killed between 62 – 142 people , looted , and carried out burnings in the town . On October 4 – 5 the Chetniks crossed the Neretva River in Konjic and headed , as did the Italians , towards Prozor , Šćit , Gornji Vakuf , Donji Vakuf , and on to Bugojno , Komar , and Travnik where the headquarters of the 5th Montenegrin and the 10th Herzegovinian Partisan brigades were situated . The offensive took place from three directions with light and heavy artillery and a large number of tanks and trucks converging . Three battalions of the 10th Herzegovinian Brigade intended to group up near Prozor , but had withdrawn and escaped on October 6 , before the arrival of the Italian - Chetnik forces . The Partisan battalions estimated that 1 , 200 – 1 , 500 soldiers of the Italian army and about 3 , 000 – 3 , 500 Chetniks were approaching , while they had a little over 300 men , a ratio of approximately 1 : 15 . On October 7 – 8 the Italians heavily bombed Prozor with artillery and airplanes and entered the town on October 8 . On the same day , Mihailović informed his commanders in Herzegovina that " now is the definite time to wipe out the communists " and to be as tactical as possible with the Muslims and Croats . The nature of these tactics required the Muslims to " only be organized under the command of our [ Chetnik ] military leaders and in our struggle against the Ustaše and the communists with complete loyalty to the Serb population to repair the shameful role they ' ve played since the capitulation of Yugoslavia up to today " . He also called for the Muslims to " take part in the liquidation of those Muslims who still today work against the Serb people " . As for the Croats : " what will become of the borders of the Croatian unit and what rights the Croats will have in the new state of the future will depend solely on them " . He explained that " if they continue to be inactive , there will be no force that will be able to protect them from the retribution of the Serb people , so let them guide themselves in accordance with that " and announced that after the " liquidation of communists , they will be able to liquidate the Ustaša " . On October 14 – 15 , the Chetniks , acting on their own , massacred over five hundred Catholics and Muslims and burnt numerous villages in the process of the operation on the suspicion that they " harbored and aided the Partisans " . According to historian Jozo Tomasevich , incomplete data shows 543 civilians were massacred . At least 656 victims are known by name while another source says about 848 people , mainly " children , women , and the elderly " , were killed . Historian Ivo Goldstein estimates 1 , 500 were massacred in total and attributes the discrepancy " due to the fact that the estimates refer to different territories " . Historian Antun Miletić and Vladimir Dedijer place the figure killed at 2 , 500 . In the following days , around 2 , 000 Chetniks were in the district of Prozor . According to Partisan sources , they moved southeast to the Neretva River and Mostar at the request of Italian officers . The Partisan sources claim that was done by the Italians because " atrocities of the Chetniks and Italians caused great resentment in the local population , including in the Croatian Home Guard located at nearby stations , which wanted to intervene militarily against such oppression " — while Chetnik commanders argue that in fact it was done by the Germans to prevent the Chetnik movement from heading west towards the Dinara . On October 23 , Baćović reported to Mihailović that " in the operation of Prozor we slaughtered more than 2 , 000 Croats and Muslims . Our soldiers returned enthusiastic . " Borba , a Partisan newspaper , also reported that " about 2 , 000 souls " were " killed by the Chetniks in Croatian and Muslim villages of Prozor , Konjic , and Vakuf " . The report also mentions that " the districts of Prozor and Konjic have hundreds of slaughtered and murdered women and children as well as burnt houses . " Aftermath . Roatta objected to the mass slaughters and said Italian support would come to a halt if they did not cease . He requested that " Commander Trifunović be apprised that if the Chetnik violence against the Croatian and Muslim population is not immediately stopped , we will stop supplying food and daily wages to those formations whose members are perpetrators of the violence . If this criminal situation continues , more severe measures will be undertaken " . The massacre upset the NDH government which compelled the Italians to force the Chetniks to withdraw . Some forces were discharged while some were relocated to join Momčilo Đujić ' s forces in northern Dalmatia . Operation Beta later followed in the same month in which the Italians and NDH forces captured Livno and surrounding localities . After the war an indictment was issued against Jevđević in Sarajevo . It charged that under his command in " the first half of October 1942 in and around Prozor they [ Italians and Chetniks ] butchered and killed 1 , 716 persons of both sexes , Croatian and Muslim nations , and plundered and burnt about 500 households " . A month after the massacre , Jevđević and Baćović wrote a self - critical report on Prozor to Mihailović in order to distance their responsibility . Jevđević fled to Italy at the end of the war where Allied military authorities arrested and detained him at a camp . They ignored Yugoslavia ' s request for extradition and set him free . He avoided trial and died in Rome in 1962 . Baćović was killed by the Ustaše in 1945 and also did not come to trial . Mihailović was indicted and in 1946 the Supreme Court of Yugoslavia judged him guilty of leading a movement " which committed numerous war crimes against people " that , among other things , in " October 1942 , under the leadership of Peter Bacovic together with the Italians , killed in the vicinity of Prozor about 2 , 500 Muslims and Croats , among whom were women , children , and the elderly , and burnt a large number of villages " . He was sentenced to death and executed .