Country Macedonia (region) | Anniversaries August 18
October 11 | |
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Active 1941 – 1943 (Partisan detachments)
1943 – 1945 Allegiance Yugoslav Partisans
(Allies of World War II) Size 1,000 (1941) – 66,000 (late 1944, after mobilization) Engagements National Liberation War of Macedonia
(part of World War II in Yugoslavia) Engagement World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia Notable commanders Mirče Acev, Mihailo Apostolski, Metodija Andonov-Čento, Svetozar Vukmanović | ||
The People's Liberation Army of Macedonia (Macedonian: Народноослободителна Војска на Македонија, transliterated: Narodnoosloboditelna Vojska na Makedonija, NOV), often referred to as the Macedonian People's Liberation Army and the National Liberation Army of Macedonia, was a Communist resistance army formed in present-day Republic of Macedonia during the People's Liberation War of Macedonia in the Second World War. The term is also used to denote the participation of Macedonians in the Yugoslav Partisans as well as other Communist resistance organisations operating in Macedonia during the Second World War. The movement's full official name was People's Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia, (NOV i POЈ) (Serbo-Croatian: Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odredi Jugoslavije; Slovene: Narodnoosvobodilna vojska in partizanski odredi Jugoslavije; Macedonian: Народноослободителна војска и партизански одреди на Југославија).
Contents
History
The anti-Axis resistance started on 11 October 1941, with the emergence of the Macedonian Partisan military units which, during the course of the war, grew into the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia. The date of the creation of its major unit, the Mirče Acev battalion, on August 18, 1943 on Mount Slavej between Ohrid, Lake Ohrid and Kičevo (is officially celebrated in the Republic of Macedonia as the Day of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia).
On 11 November 1943, the 1st Macedonian Kosovo Shock Brigade was formed in western Macedonia by merging two Vardar Macedonian and one Kosovo battalion. The second — larger ethnic Macedonian military unit was the 2nd Macedonian Shock Brigade, formed on 22 December 1943 just across the border in Greek Macedonia. On 26 February 1944 in the village of Zegljane, near Kumanovo, the 3rd Macedonian Shock Brigade was formed. These three brigades were the nucleus of the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia, which after constant battles became stronger in numbers. From 7,000 partisans in the late 1943, until the final military operations in the Yugoslav National Liberation War in April 1945, the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia had increased to three Corps, seven divisions and thirty brigades, all with a total of 100,000 regular soldiers.
The Army was led by the Main Headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army and the Partisan Units of Macedonia, headed by Mihajlo Apostolski.
Commanders
Orders of battle
Units of the Macedonian National Liberation Army were organised within the framework of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia.