Operation Alfa

Operation Alfa (Italian: Operazione Alfa; Serbo-Croatian: Operacija Alfa, Операција Алфа) was an offensive carried out in early October 1942 by the military forces of Italy and the Axis puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), supported by Chetnik forces under the control of vojvoda Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin. The offensive was directed against the communist-led Partisans in the Prozor region (today in Bosnia and Herzegovina), then a part of the NDH. The operation was militarily inconclusive, and in the aftermath, Chetnik forces conducted mass killings of civilians in the area.

The operation was arranged between Generale designato d'armata (acting General) Mario Roatta, commander of the Italian Second Army, and Trifunović-Birčanin, with the approval of the overall Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović. It was carried out in coordination with the Germans and included elements of the Croatian Home Guard and the NDH Air Force. Faced with heavy weaponry and seriously outnumbered, the Partisans retreated and withdrew from Prozor without significant fighting. Chetniks elements under the command of Dobroslav Jevđević and Petar Baćović then massacred between 543 and 2,500 Croats and Muslims and destroyed numerous villages in the area. Following protests from both the Italians and the Croatian authorities, the Chetnik elements were discharged or relocated. Italian and NDH forces followed up Operation Alfa with Operation Beta, which was focused on capturing Livno and surrounding localities. Baćović was killed by NDH forces near the end of the war, while Jevđević escaped to Italy and avoided prosecution by the new Yugoslav government. Mihailović was captured by the communist authorities following the war, tried and found guilty for the Chetnik actions at Prozor (among other charges), and was sentenced to death and executed.