He who does not have freedom, dreams of it.
– Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević, My Home, 1897
The main distinctions of the Farinacci regime could find no better place to be shown to future historians and analysts than in the Governorate of Dalmatia. The policies set forth by
Giuseppe Bastianini [1] proved to be a damning, but expected showcase of all the faults the totalitarian regimes bestow upon their
undesirable subjects – forceful Italianization of the educational system, replacement of all South Slavic road signs with Italian exonyms and the complete banning of the usage of the Croatian language in public and in private (with indefinite imprisonment as punishment for any and all reported violations), with a quote attributed to the Governor aimed at those he deemed responsible of breaking the White Duce's law.
„Emigrate peacefully or face the consequences.“
Town squares, streets, promenades, alleys, all started bearing the name of significant Italian historical persons like Camillo Benso di Cavour, former fascists such as Michele Bianchi
[2] and many important Roman generals and leaders.
Resistance was immediate. The infamous First Dalmatian Partisan Detachment was only one such reponse to the much larger symptom, and with the relative confidence garnered from the perceived successes of the so-called reforms (as Bastianini liked to put it), Farinacci
recalled over
eighty five percent of Regio Esercito troops under the command of Mario Roatta to Italy proper for additional security (in order to combat the burgeoning Partisan guerrilla movement in the mainland
[3]). The initiative was taken up by the
Dinara Army of prominent Chetnik Momčilo Đujić that had proven its very feverish dislike of the Croats in comparison to their Italian donors during the War in 1941.
The Golden Lion, hoping to foster better relations with his apprehensive father-in-law and his dearest Queen, vowed
not to interfere in the affairs of the Governorate, even if it meant the slow and painful death of Croatian culture in Central Dalmatia. The Ban could not do much but watch hopelessly, especially when his own relationship with the King was less than stellar due to their headstrong attitudes that refused to give in concerning many issues plaguing Croatia's own internal matters. The only faction daring enough to assemble the discontent people in occupied Dalmatia turned out to be none other than one of Tito's finest –
Vicko Krstulović and his
Dalmatian branch of the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Many spies actively worked on sabotaging the Italian colonizers every step of the way and setting the stage for the strengthening of Krstulović's conviction, which bore fruit in August 1942 at a meeting on Mount Cincar, when the Marshal gave his blessing.
„Tear it all down and free our people.“
15th September turned out to be more than a momentous day, for it caught the invasive regime of the neo-Roman Empire completely off-guard, and the scenic little settlement of
Pedrosi (
Pridraga), not far away from the Novegradi Sea
[4] (
Novigradsko more) became the first village to be liberated in Krstulović's crusade, the word not quite managing to reach the Italian garrison in
Novegradi (
Novigrad) before a force of eight hundred communists entered the town. A short firefight had ensued, and the Dinara Army, in spite of their training by older Italian military advisors, still possessed little experience in the way of military tactics, allowing for an easy takeover once the demoralized defenders noticed the sizable army approaching. The
Battle of Novegradi proved to be a noteworthy victory for the rebels headed by
Pavle Pap, who strengthened his formations with desperately needed equipment like a dozen mortars and several military vehicles that provided a much needed backbone to otherwise very vulnerable troops.
The message relayed to Zara (
Zadar) was of little comfort for the Italians.
Yugoslavs approaching. Large army. Help.
Bastianini ordered a small contingent of his countrymen and six platoons of Chetniks to abandon their indiscriminate oppression of the Slavic population within the nearby countryside and go investigate the source of all the commotion. Fortunately for Pap's men, the young Perlez-born commander correctly predicted the move, sending one of his most trusted commanding officers known as
Lala to meet the enemy in the small settlement of
Smilce (
Smilčić) in an elaborately set ambush. Needless to say, ther tactic yielded fruitful results, with the garrison troops caught completely by surprise when the loud rebels jumped out of from their hiding spots behind the large rocks.
The Italian troops put up quite a fight, but the same could not be said for the Dinara Army, elements of which ran off with their tail between their legs, some died in the hot rocks in the name of their financiers and many surrendered without much resistance.
Mirko Kovačević, looking at the utterly defeated men simply grinned smugly at the amount of captured firepower before offering the men a chance at redemption, or at least the best offer they would realistically receive.
„Join us or endure a fate worse than death.“
Almost universally, the Serb majority formations joined the threatening Montenegrin, adding about five hundred men to their cause. Krstulović himself soon joined right after, crossing the border with a group of his most trustworthy confidants through some back channels within the Royal Croatian Home Guard.
Now the situation really started to turn dire for the gubernatorial loyalists.
Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin, commander of the Sebenico (
Šibenik) detachment of Đujić's men was ordered to strengthen the defenses of the city while sending out a token number of troops to lift the
Siege of Bencovazzo (
Opsada Benkovca) that endured heavy fighting from the forces of
Đordano Borovčić. Communication between different parts of the Governorate turned out to be surprisingly ineffective and difficult, likely the work of several saboteurs planted within loyalist ranks, resulting in the
Courier [5] taking over the city before Birčanin's reinforcements could even arrive to relieve their own troops stuck in the city.
In little over a fortnight, the communists had a large territory in the central Governorate under their control, effectively threatening to cut off Sebenico and everything south of Lake Aurana (
Vransko jezero) from the gubernatorial capital of Zara. Whilst the Italian government scrambled to find a proper solution for the burgeoning partisan movement, the South Slavs of the liberated territory (appropriately named the
Novigrad Republic) went through what some historians describe as a cultural renaissance, wherein after over fifteen months of silence, the people of the region could finally relish in everything that made them who they are – Croats (first and foremost), Dalmatians and townspeople belonging to wherever they hailed from. The torchbearers of the revival were numerous, but none more so than the dissatisfied Croats from over the border, such as poet
Jure Kaštelan, former gymnasium professor
Anka Berus and composers
Silvije Bombardelli and
Ivo Tijardović [6], the last of whom personally crossed the border under a fake identity (
Giovanni Coronini) before joining the cause of Vicko Krstulović, even setting the lyrics of an unknown author to music – the composition that soon started to be sung by the fighters all over the Governorate, known only as the
Dalmatian March (
Dalmatinska koračnica). The song itself was only one of many other poems mentioning the accolades of the communists in the area that had arisen during the time of the
Rebellion in Dalmatia (
Pobuna u Dalmaciji), and the apathetic inaction of the royal government in Zagreb resulted in Northern Dalmatia becoming one of the most prominent left-wing strongholds up until the modern times.
We know, we know, dear Marshal
We are protecting your sea waves
(2x)
Our hand of justice
Watches over the nation of Shoresmen [7]
(2x)
Brotherhood and unity
Is the message of peace
(2x)
Look, people
At this bright titovka
(2x)
That the Partisan carries
To all the new victories
(2x)
Be weary, be weary
You bunch of imperialists
(2x)
The Dalmatian justice is coming
To every corner of this world!
(2x)
With Kovačević and Pap consolidating the territory under their control, little else remained but to push on towards Zaravecchia (
Biograd na Moru) and Lake Aurana in order to take both and split the Governorate in half. Bastianini, aware of the utter mess his men found themselves in, implored Rome to find a solution for all his woes and have it sent to Zara as fast as humanly possible. As it turns out, in some odd twist of fate, the same
General Roatta sent back to Italy in February 1942 answered the call. With four hundred men arriving to the Zara harbor on
October 10, one that had welcomed them with open arms as if liberated from a foreign plague by their mere presence, the old Italian general quickly went to work. He knocked some sense into Đujić and completely subordinated Father Fire's troops to his group of arrivals, forbidding them from all reprisals not ordered directly by the Italian command (fearing that further atrocities might turn even more people toward the KPJ) as well as ordering the Navy to enter the Novegradi Sea and blockade the city's coast.
Reports were received of a Partisan advance towards Zaravecchia, forcing Roatta to march with his troops in order to meet the speedy conquerors from the northeast the very next day, in order to save about a hundred Italians and Chetniks that attempted to stand their ground near the lake. On
October 11, Lake Aurana would finally see the first clash between Roatta and Borovčić, but nobody quite expected that it would be their last, not even the most ardent supporters of each side. While one faction enjoyed much revolutionary fervor that often filled in the empty spaces arising from the critical lack of heavy weaponry and vehicles, Roatta's party had everything an army needed to properly function – tanks, ammunition, heavy guns, and most important of all – absolute desire for vengeance. The result, after another two days of brutal fighting, turned out to be more than lopsided.
For every Italian loss, there were at least five communist casualties inflicted by the reinforcements that successfully saved the beleaguered Axis forces within the area. It is said that so many rebel corpses had ended up in the body of water that the rotting stench of death could not have been washed away while Italy still ruled Dalmatia, and the common name for the location had since become known as
Starry Lake (
Zvizdano jezero in Chakavian dialect) by the Shoresmen due to so many titovkas bearing the red star of communism littering the surface as the repugnance of Farinacci's ideology destroyed even more homes and lives.
Of the two hundred and sixty captured communists, over fifty died along the twenty six kilometers of road on their way back to Zara from beatings and heartless executions if any of the prisoners even appeared to disobey their direct orders, but the Courier's punishment was likely the most humiliating of all. Pinned down to the hot rocks by four large Italians, while the fifth one brandished a knife more suitable for men twice his size, and before Borovčić had the chance to look up at his torturer, the tiny officer already began cutting into his forehead, screams of agony soon following. For anyone witnessing the entire ordeal, the whole sequence might've lasted the whole eternity as screams turned into whimpers before the work was finally finished. Once Borovčić had awoken with a debilitating migraine, his comrades read out his scars with disgust in their eyes –
FERT [8].
Unfortunately for the prisoners of war, they were all marched through the streets of Zara in a column, getting spat on by the fired up, wholly Italian citizenry while Mario Roatta rode his horse in the front, the whole affair bearing many similarities with the celebrations of triumphs in Ancient Rome. The pro-regime newspapers (meaning
all of them) composed new songs of Roatta's heroism, but the Croatian-Italian War veteran was well aware that his work had only just begun, and he was far too weary of repeating his past mistakes, most notable of which being the disastrous short-lived occupation of Zagreb in June 1941.
After shipping off the prisoners to Melada (
Molat), ordering hostages be taken as a preventive measure against South Slavic families he gave his subordinates the freedom of deeming suspicious, and deporting random Croats to the Adriatic Inferno (due to these measures lasting for as long as Italian rule did, by the end of it all only ten percent of the population of Zara identified as South Slavs
[9]), Roatta finally begun drafting a large plan to destroy the Novigrad Republic and stabilize the situation within the Governorate. At the same time further east, Krstulović ordered the remainder of his men to march to the Cherca (
Krka) which would open an easier and faster route toward Sebenico.
The Italian decided to let them go, merely relaying bits and pieces of strategy (fearing the possibility of his messages being intercepted) to Trifunović-Birčanin that should be undertaken whilst he thoroughly planned on how to defeat the Partisans. Novegradi was still blockaded, and the nearby Carabinieri managed to hold a well-defined line between the Governorate and the
free territories. Another battle had ensued while Roatta was discussing his intentions with Đujić and the rest of his trusted cadre, and soon it grew apparent that if the Dinara Army fails to follow its (decidedly) imprecise orders, Sebenico would be ripe for the taking.
The Red horde was well on its way despite certain, and Roatta knew he had to act. He sent out a message to Rome that was acknowledged and fulfilled almost immediately, and two hundred fresh troops under the command of
Giovanni Esposito [10] arrived to the port of Capocesto (
Primošten) with the help of Regia Marina to connect with the paranoid Chetniks and Carabinieri of Sebenico, in order to strike from the southeast while the
Generale swooped in from the west. Codenamed
Operation Tartarus (
Operazione Tartaro in Italian,
Operacija Tartar in Croatian), as its name might imply, intended to completely destroy any semblances of resistance within Dalmatia and to put Farinacci's plan of converting the area into an ethnically homogeneous area along the Third Shore
[11] into motion. Even if the simultaneous rebellion in Ragusa had made his forehead shine from the sweat of discomfort more times than he liked to admit, Roatta had to focus completely on ridding the lands from Krstulović's filth. Without hesitation, it was decided that the gubernatorial forces would pursue the policy that later came to be known as
Total Ruthlessness.
[12]
- kill every non-Italian speaker on soon-to-be liberated land, regardless of them being armed or not.
- all male persons in non-occupied areas fifteen years or older to be sent to correctional facilities and camps across the nation.
- all houses even remotely suspicious to be destroyed completely until there is nothing left but ashes.
On
October 31, first incursions began into rebel territory from the southeast, with the Dinara Army showing its eagerness in sending their enemies to the newly erected
concentration camp on
Busi (Biševo) Island. The first battle that came near
Cacagno (Kakanj) would certainly not be the last, as by the end of the rebellion in late November, there would be four
Battles of the Dirt Roads (
Bitke na Zemljanim cestama), three of which were won outright by the combined forces of Roatta and Esposito while one ended in a tactical victory with only minor setbacks for the Axis cause.
From the west, though, Roatta entered with only half his forces (all exclusively Italian, with him deeming Đujić too unreliable at this point in time and commanding him to stay put in Zara), the thought of the incredulously low amounts of equipment possessed by the enemy at Starry Lake still fresh in his mind. With only three hundred men, a rain of gunfire soon befell him as his legion ducked for cover close to the small Croat-majority village of
Scabergne (
Škabrnja) on
All Saints' Day. For two whole days neither side seemed to prevail, until it grew apparent that the overqualified Italians' casualties seemed so inconsequential in comparison to Partisans' own, resulting in the need of Lala's men to retreat north towards Novegradi to make their stand. Roatta, enraged at the utter disobedience of the Yugoslavs, decided on a measure that would make his name live in infamy on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea for as long as the tortured souls and their descendants lived on.
The men inside the villages of Nadino (
Nadin) and Scabergne that did not retreat with the communists were all rounded up, and whilst most were deported to Zara and later Melada, few were chosen to stay back with women and children, ranging from merely six months to seventy five years of age, according to some sources. Then the Carabinieri randomly chose from the male population, lead those unfortunate enough to end up being pointed at with accusatory Italian index fingers in front of a large pile of rocks and promptly executing them one by one in gruesome ways, and without a single bullet fired. It is even said that as the screams echoed throughout the Mediterranean village, Roatta himself attended the proceedings, only nodding in approval at the things he was observing with quiet support in his incinerated eyes.
From then on, the merciless generale became known as the
White Bear (
Bili medvjed in Chakavian dialect), because as long as Farinacci remained in charge, Roatta would continue to act like a faithful extended hand of the fascists in Rome, and the reign of terror between the end of the
Third Enemy Offensive (
Treća neprijateljska ofenziva) and the
abolition of the Governorate would form something that was never before seen on the Croatian-populated coast. Instead of Babaroga
[13] and various other boogeymen to keep the children from misbehaving, the Shoresmen, in hushed whispers, ever since then spoke of a
large, sinister White Bear with gnashing bloody fangs that would sweep the kids away if they disobeyed their elders.
The next major engagement came from the southern sector, within one of the most symbolically important locations within the Novigrad Republic. Jutting from atop a hill just above
Ostrovizza del Gologuòs (
Ostrovica) was the famous Ostrovica Fortress, a medieval ashlar fortification of tremendous strategic that had once controlled the important trade routes going from north to south (between Siscia and Salona during the Roman Empire) and east to west (between Zadar and Knin during medieval times), but in modern times, the castle still remained among the most valuable remains of the famous Šubić noble family who had shaped medieval Croatia with their influence and wealth, and the Partisans widely celebrated the retaking of the fortress seeing as they deemed themselves the
liberators of the oppressed peoples of Dalmatia.
Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin planned to encircle the Reds under Vicko Krstulović, who already intended to retreat after the disaster at Scabergne and Roatta's rapid advance to the capital of the uncrecognized republic. Esposito managed to drill his troops hard enough to successfully make them faster, managing to catch Krstulović by surprise from the north, forcing his withdrawal to the historic village with heavy losses, but instead of finding safe refuge, Birčanin smashed right through the communist secretary's lines, demoralizing the remainder of Tito's men who promptly deserted the battlefield (ones that evaded being riddled with bullets, that is), leaving the unfortunate Krstulović to bear the brunt of what was to come, and indeed, the last message Tito had received only a day before retribution showed a much more somber image of the situation than it was only a few weeks earlier.
„These fouls beasts have left such footprints that not even the harshest winds of justice would be able to wipe them from pages of history, such folly too, for I have failed to protect this ground that I have cherished my whole life.“
The
Battle for Historical Legacy (
Bitka za povijesnu ostavštinu) was an utter defeat for the communists –
Vicko Krstulović was lying
dead on a pile of unidentifiable bodies, likely from his own pistol rather than the enemy's, and one fourth of available manpower the rebels had at their disposal was completely destroyed, leaving
Pavle Pap and
Mirko Kovačević to gather whatever men were left in Novegradi and await Roatta's arrival by sufficiently preparing the troops for what was about to come.
The remains of the hilltop castle were covered with dynamite that was detonated a day after the battle, leading to the complete disappearance of the historic site from the map, a move that was deemed
a cultural atrocity by the Croatian public in the Kingdom. The key to the city of Zadar would, from then on, become among the most notable buildings destroyed by totalitarian regimes and a frequent textbook example of such. One hundred and forty two prisoners of war were executed just after they had witnessed the incredibly large explosion that some say rang even within the confines of Zara.
Roatta then linked up with Esposito at the abandoned town of Bencovazzo while Birčanin was left behind to take care of the possible remaining guerrillas in the retaken areas. The once-sprawling bastion of South Slavic culture was reduced to nothing, peasants were slaughtered indiscriminately by everyone who arrived to those territories and all monuments celebrating Croatian history were torn down and repurposed for brand new, Italian ones that later came to replace them. The White Bear shook hands with Esposito and immediately headed north to bring the rebellion down once and for all. Seemingly, the inhabitants of the entire territory vanished into nothing, and Regio Esercito encountered absolutely zero resistance all the way to the Novegradi Sea.
The small port city, though, despite enduring a month-long blockade from the sea, had about fifteen hundred defenders ready to perish for the enigmatic man known as Tito and everything he stood for. With outdated equipment and almost nonexistent heavy artillery, Pap and Kovačević knew well that street combat and fighting for each and every house were the only options that were there to choose. Without any contact with the high command likely hiding somewhere in the Bosnian highlands, a desperate defense of the city was set up in a way that would allow as many civilians as possible to run away from what they thought would become just a pile of ash once it is finally taken.
The tactic certainly found its success during the first fourteen days of the siege, but once Roatta noticed the steady stream of refugees being led down a small rocky path on the eastern end of the town. Regio Esercito's late reaction allowed Kovačević to convince Pap to desert the battle with the rest of the civilians, telling him that
as a member of the Central Committee of the KPJ, Pap would be a likely successor to Krstulović as leader of the Dalmatian branch of the KPJ. It took a lot of convincing, but just half a day before the discovery of the secret pathway, Pap left the ruins of Novegradi with a frown on his face having been denied an honorable death he desired, but nonetheless he crossed the border over the Zermagna (
Zrmanja) into Croatia, and left for the mountains in the east under a veil of anonimity.
Once the last chance at running away was violently cut off, with about twenty unfortunate old people, women and children shot and thrown into a ditch just a few kilometers before salvation, Kovačević knew that it was only a matter of time before all of his comrades are going to be torn apart by the vicious beast sitting behind, watching the brutal battle from the safety of his tent. With a dozen of his advisors and trusted friends, he found a wooden cottage in the northwestern part of the town, close to a small pine forest that seemed as good as any to make his last stand. After a fierce firefight, an OTO Mod. 42 incendiary grenade was thrown into the house, killing everyone within it and setting the pine foundation on fire.
With the battle thought over, the Italians had only themselves to observe and bring conclusions to. With just over a thousand casualties, Mario Roatta knew that he had to stay in Zara and bring order to the weak and ineffective troops that had festered in Dalmatia since his departure. Esposito was recalled to his old position in the Lubiana Province, whilst Birčanin returned to Sebenico where he would die of a sudden heart attack on New Years' Eve 1942
[14] and Đujić remained in Zara, acting as Roatta's
errand boy (in the words of Draža Mihailović in one of his letters to Miroslav Trifunović in early 1943).
Without any protectors to guard them, the Croatian population of the Governorate had nowhere to run, and were subjected to repression of never before seen levels. Such was the case, that a short utterance had been coined during those troubled times. Bad or negative things that are destined to happen at one point or the other became known as a „short stroll along Molat“ (
kratka šetnja Molatom), no doubt referencing one of the most horrific death camps run by the Axis during the entirety of World War II and the fact that over half a million people had to witness the innumerable crimes against humanity committed in the large facility.
South Slavic culture as it was crumbled completely within Italian-occupied Dalmatia. All Croatian works of art, from paintings to books and sculptures were completely banned or destroyed upon discovery, and only works of Italian artists were promoted, thorough Italianization becoming a norm set in stone that would take years to finally wipe away if it were to be liberated again.
The legacy left behind by Farinacci would remain a long lasting one, even to this day. The nightmares and terrors from the days of suffering would root themselves into the consciousness of the people unfortunate enough to call the Littoral their home, a trauma not even the waves of history will be able to wipe away cleanly. Such is the tale of totalitarian states – a tale of woes, suffering, needless cruelty and blind following leading off a ravine into the bottomless pit of what once could have been called humanity.
*****
[1] Just like IOTL, this hardliner is Governor of Dalmatia and enforces the policies of forceful Italianization in all matters of public and private life, as well as advising the resentful Croats to emigrate, but ITTL he feels even more at home with Farinacci who enables him much more than Mussolini ever did, leading to the total extinction of the Croatian Jews in territories occupied by Italy.
[2] Among the most influential fascists until his untimely death from tuberculosis in 1930 as well as the most prominent leader of the so-called leftist syndicalist wing within the National Fascist Party.
[3] Due to Farinacci's indiscriminate killings of political opponents both real and imagined, the resentment within the general Italian population is much larger than it was with Mussolini of OTL.
[4] Much more a bay than a sea, despite what its name might lead you to believe.
[5] Commander of the 1st Split Partisan Detachment IOTL, while ITTL he joins his fellow illegals in the Governorate in order to bring down the fascist regime in the area.
[6] Among the most famous Croatian composers of all time, with works such as Little Floramye (
Mala Floramye), Marshal Marmont's Order (
Zapovijed maršala Marmonta) and The Split Aquarelle (
Spli'ski akvarel). IOTL joined the antifascists to counter Italy's pretensions on his own home town of Split, but ITTL, unhappy with the completely stoic policy of the royal government toward his own people's (Shoresmen's) suffering, he heads the cultural revival led by the resistance movement during the Rebellion in Dalmatia.
[7] Due to the general instability of the times, regional identities have begun to slowly develop across Croatia, with Croats and Serbs of Littoral Croatia being referred to as the
Shoresmen (Primorci).
[8] Motto of the Kingdom of Italy. Nobody is quite sure what the acronym stands for, though, and several theories have been put forward, such as:
- Foedere et Religione Tenemur (Latin: We are bound by treaty and by religion)
- Fortitudo Eius Rhodum Tenuit (Latin: His strength conquered Rhodes or By his bravery he held [or occupied] Rhodes), referring to the victory of Amadeus V, Count of Savoy (1249–1323) over the Saracens at the 1315 siege of Rhodes
- Fortitudo Eius Rempublicam Tenet (Latin: His bravery [or strength] preserves [or defends] the state)
- Fides Est Regni Tutela (Latin: Faith is the protector of [our] Kingdom)
- Latin word Fert (third-person singular present active indicative of ferre), meaning [he/she/it] suffers/bears, possibly referring to Jesus bearing the sins of the world)
[9] IOTL, at this time, Zara had about 70% Italian population, while the rest identified as Croats. ITTL, with a genocidal Farinacci at the helm, much of OTL's South Slavic population is either suffering in Molat or is already six feet under.
[10] Commander of the 57th Infantry Division Lombardia, stationed in Pola (Pula) just like OTL.
[11] An Italian propaganda term denoting the Balkan coast of the Adriatic (from Dalmatia to Albania) meant for colonization in the future. The First Shore is the coast of Italy proper on the Adriatic, the Second along the Tyrrhenian Sea, while the Fourth Shore is Libya.
[12] Roatta had done the exact same things IOTL, as a matter of fact, even commanding the construction of the Rab concentration camp, ITTL butterflied into the Biševo concentration camp that would claim circa ten thousand victims, who died from abuse, outright executions or various ilnesses during Italy's stranglehold over the area.
[13] A supernatural being from South Slavic folklore (localized version of Baba Yaga, essentially) in the form of a deformed woman wielding a pestle whilst flying in a mortar.
[14] Had been in poor health for quite some time before his death on February 3, 1943 IOTL. With the additional stresses of having to lead men into fierce battle ITTL, he dies a little earlier.
Infobox stuff: All Italian generals (aside from Roatta and Esposito) are completely fictional, since there is not much information about the Italian troops in Dalmatia of OTL. The Chetniks, on the other hand, are all real (as are the Partisans), and found by utilizing the technique described in Chapter II.I. All place names are Italian exonyms of South Slavic names with the exception of the Novigrad Republic (makes sense, considering the Croat-majority communists led it).
They are, after all, two Axis-backed governments at each others' throats, kind of like that meme with two Spidermen, but if the Commies play their cards right, the Kingdom might actually have a decent shot at killing Pavelić's little land of nightmares at a later date.
