by H.L. deZeng IV

In mid-July 1941, orders were issued in Zagreb creating the Military Frontier Command (Zapov. Vojna Krajina - abbreviated Vokra) with headquarters in Sarajevo to take over responsibility for protecting the Drina River border between the Independent State of Croatia and neighboring Serbia and Montenegro. The Military Frontier Command, although it had strong ties to the Croatian Gendarmerie, came directly under the Ministry of Defense (MINDOM). Five Military Frontier Battalions were created by re-designating five of the Expeditionary Battalions (2d, 3d, 4th, 5th and 7th). In addition, all Gendarmerie units, police and Finance Guards located in the military frontier area were operationally subordinated to the Military Frontier Command. At the end of July, each of the five battalions was reinforced with the addition of a platoon of 65mm mountain guns. (1)

On 2 May 1942, the Military Frontier Command was ordered disbanded by Marshal Slavko Kvaternik in his capacity as Minister of Defense. The Command headquarters was transformed into a military engineering office in Sarajevo to plan and supervise the construction of fortifications along the Drina River frontier, and the five frontier battalions were disbanded and their assets absorbed into Croatian II and III Corps.

Commanders

Gend. Pukovnik Stjepan Jakovljević (? - ?) Dec 1941

Footnotes

1. Arhiv VII, kut. 134a, reg.br. 4/1; Colić, Mladen - Takozvana Nezavisna Država Hrvatska 1941 (Belgrade: Delta-pres, 1973), pp.224-26; Colić, Mladen - Oružane snage NDH u Bosni i Hercegovini 1942-1943, in: AVNOJ i narodnooslobodilačka borba u Bosni i Hercegovini 1942-1943 (Belgrade, 1974), pp.346-47; [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Zbornik dokumenata i podataka o narodnooslobodilačkom ratu jugoslovenskih naroda. Tom IV/5, p.355.

Reference material on this unit

- None known at this time -