Formation
On 24 September 1943, the SD was formed by order of SS General Rösener. Rösener awarded service and combat medals to the members of the SD. An individual member of the SD was a Domobranec, the plural of which was Domobranci. In its aims and ideology, the SD was anti-Partisan and anti-communist.
The Slovene Home Guard (SD) functioned like most collaborationist forces in Axis-occupied Europe during World War II, but had limited autonomy, and at first functioning as an auxiliary police force that assisted the Germans in anti-Partisan actions. Later, it gained more autonomy and conducted most of the anti-Partisan operations in Slovenia, while still having German officers in command . The SD supported their military actions by publishing a regular newspaper and pamphlets.
The majority of the SD forces were infantry, although they also possessed artillery units, which were, however, seldom used. The SD had no armoured units (except for a few armoured trains), even though several tank crews were sent to Germany for training. The SD used Italian equipment (confiscated when Italy dropped out of the war in September 1943), and weapons, uniforms and equipment supplied by the Germans, especially later in the war.
Almost all SD members fled Slovenia and took refuge in the Southern Austrian province of Carinthia at the end of the war (May 1945). Most were returned to Yugoslavia by the British military administration, and many were executed by the new communist authorities. The total number of Domobranci summarily executed in mass executions by the authorities exceeds 11,400.
The Slovenian Government created the Commission on Concealed Mass Graves in Slovenia and documented the mass grave sites of the POWs. They were investigated between November 2005 and October 2009. The POWs units that were not executed were placed in Yugoslav concentration camps.
In what became known as the "Zaliv Affair", in 1975 the summary executions were publicly condemned by the Slovene poet Edvard Kocbek, resulting in a campaign by the Belgrade government against Kocbek's works.
Read more about this topic: Slovene Home Guard
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