What Was the Serbian State Guard in WWII? #OOTF #shorts

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]What was the Serbian State Guard? The Serbian State Guard, the SDS, was the collaborationist Jan Darmmarie of General Milan Nidage, a government of national salvation in German occupied Serbia. Created in early 1942 from the pre-war Jean Darmie. It was subordinated to the German higher SS and police leader and used for law and order, antipartisan sweeps, and border duties.

[00:00:25]At its peak, it fielded roughly 25 to 35,000 men. The SDS helped guard Belgrade's Banjitsa concentration camp and participated in arrests, shootings, and reprisals alongside German security forces. Politically, it leans royalist.

[00:00:42]Many officers sympathized with Raja Mihovich Cetnik, prompting periodic German purges. A Thread Army neared Belgrade in October 1944. Elements of the SDS were nominally transferred to Mialovich but disintegrated during the westward retreat. A small remnant was rounded up near the Italian Yuguslav border in 1945. In short, the SDS functioned as the occupier Serbian Police Army, central to collaboration and repression in occupied Serbia.