Srb uprising Srb uprising was the uprising against the genocide policy of Independent State of Croatia in Srb , a village in the Gračac municipality in Lika region , by the local population , aided by the Chetniks and the communist Yugoslav Partisans , in July 1941 . Controversy around the uprising stems from divergent views about the nature of the event among members of the academic community . Opinions range from its classification as a " Chetnik " rebellion against Ustaše , with retaliations against local civilians ( " Greater Serbia " ) ; to " Partisan strategy " ( with Serbs as the backbone of antifascist movement ) ; to guerilla struggle with civilian casualties . Official Croatia ( political establishment , including its Presidents ) for the moment adheres to the Partisan version , by which the uprising was an antifascist event , raised by Serbs on the margins of Ustaše genocide , with Chetnik retaliations against Ustaše security forces , but also the local Croatian civilians . Background . On 6 April 1941 , the German Reich invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . During the Invasion of Yugoslavia , " Ustaše " , a Croat nationalist organization aboard , proclaimed the Independent State of Croatia ( NDH ) on 10 April 1941 , supported by Germany and Italy . By May 1941 , the Ustaše formed the Jadovno concentration camp in Lika where they incarcerated and executed thousands of ethnic Serb and other prisoners , which led to the rebellion . The Serbs became the majority in the Croatian Partisans until September 1943 , and were absolute majority in the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland , better known as Chetniks . Large scale persecutions in the area started in June 1941 , including ethnic cleansing of 1 , 200 Serbs and their expulsion to Serbia by Ustase commander Vjekoslav Luburic , whereas in the municipality of Srb , days ahead of the rebellion , Vjekoslav Luburic forces murdered 279 Serbian civilians in villages of Suvaja , Osredak and Bubanj . The rebellion . On 27 July 1941 , the communist Partisans and Chetniks started to organize a rebellion against Ustaše . Leader of the rebellion was former gendarmerie officer in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia , Stojan Matić . Matić was a supporter of the collapsed monarchy . The first faze of struggle was guerrilla around the local villages . The rebels committed a war cime in a village of Boričevac , after which they attacked Kulen Vakuf where they clashed with the Croatian Home Guard . The massacre in Bričevica was condemned by Marko Orešković , a political commissar , later commander of Croatian Partisans . He removed Matić from his command post . In Boričevac the civilians were slaughtered , even though they peacefully surrendered to the rebels . Leading war criminals were Nikica Vidaković , a communist and Jovina Medić , a Chetnik . Vidaković committed a war crime in village Boričevac ; the village was burnt down and its inhabitants killed . Medić committed a war crime in the villages in the Una river valley , where he killed number of Bosnian Muslims . Commemoration . In the Socialist Republic of Croatia , the Srb uprising was commemorated as the Day of the Antifascist Struggle on 28 July . With creation of the independent Croatia in 1991 , the new Day of the Antifascist Struggle was 22 June . Nevertheless , Croatian authorities , under organization of the Independent Democratic Serb Party ( SDSS ) still commemorate this day as a first day of an antifascist uprising . Some politicians in Croatia , including President of the Croatian Party of Rights condemned this commemoration . The " anti - gathering " in Srb is organized every year as sign of protest to the commemoration . The commemoration was always attended by members of the state leadership . Former president Stjepan Mesić was at the 2012 commemoration and called members of the " anti - gathering " the " quasi - patriots " . However , for the first time , members of the state leadership weren ' t present at the commemoration in 2012 .