by H.L. deZeng IV

These were the first armed units of the Ustasha Militia (U.V.) and initially were named after the place where they were formed (i.e., “Zagrebačka satnija”). By the beginning of August 1941, the companies were assigned numbers running from 1 to at least 49 as efforts were made to organize the Ustasha Militia along more formal military lines. When the U.V. began the formation of battalions in fall 1941 using these companies as cadre, most of them gradually disappeared into the ranks of the new battalions but a few retained their independent identity to spring 1942, with at least one of them still in existence in July 1942. The companies were used to secure the territory of the Independent State of Croatia after the Pavelić regime assumed power on 10 April 1941, suppress all political and armed opposition, round up, incarcerate and eliminate political enemies and others designated by the regime as undesirable. Only some 34 of these companies have been identified after an exhaustive search through virtually all of the surviving documentation, and these are listed below. (1)

1st Ustasha Assault Company (1. jurišna ustaša satnija)
Possible the same as the 1st Ustasha Co. It was reportedly from Glina and on 16 July 1942 it was located in Široka Kula near Gospić. No additional information has been found.

1st Ustasha Company (1. ustaša satnija)
Located in Slunj on 3 August 1941 under a tactical group commanded by Ust. Bojnik Tomislav Rolf. No additional information has been found.

2d Ustasha Company
Located in Vojnić on 3 August 1941 under a tactical group commanded by Ust. Bojnik Tomislav Rolf. No additional information has been found.

3d Ustasha Company
Located in Vrgin Most on 3 August 1941 under a tactical group commanded by Ust. Bojnik Tomislav Rolf. No additional information has been found.

4th Ustasha Company
Located in Topusko on 3 August 1941 under a tactical group commanded by Ust. Bojnik Tomislav Rolf. No additional information has been found.

5th Ustasha Company
Located in Glina on 3 August 1941 under a tactical group commanded by Ust. Bojnik Tomislav Rolf. It was still in existence on 18 Feb 42. No additional information has been found.

6th Ustasha Company
Located in Glina on 3 August 1941 under a tactical group commanded by Ust. Bojnik Tomislav Rolf. In Oct 41 in was operating in the Kordun as 6th Co./PTB. On 19 Jan 42 it was ambushed by Partisans while rounding up livestock and other food in the village of Lješljani near Bos. Novi, but the results of the ambush were not stated. No additional information has been found.

7th Ustasha Company
Located in Glina on 3 August 1941 under a tactical group commanded by Ust. Bojnik Tomislav Rolf. In Oct 41 in was operating in the Kordun. No additional information has been found.

8th Ustasha Company
Located in Cazin, Kladuša, Vrnograč and Bužim on 3 August 1941 under a tactical group commanded by Ust. Bojnik Tomislav Rolf. By Oct 41 it was being referred to as belonging to the PTB and on 18 Feb 42 as 8th Motorized Co. (8. motorizirane satnije). It participated as an independent company in Phase III of Petrova gora offensive from 9 to 15 May 42 under the Utinjski Brigade, and was not part of the PTB at that time. No additional information has been found.

9th Ustasha Company
In formation in Petrinja on 3 August 1941 under a tactical group commanded by Ust. Bojnik Tomislav Rolf. Still in existence on 18 Feb 42. No additional information has been found.

10th Ustasha Company
In formation in Bos. Kostajnica on 3 August 1941 under a tactical group commanded by Ust. Bojnik Tomislav Rolf. On 22 Jan 42 it was being referred to as the 10th Ustasha Assault Co. (10. jurišna ustaša satnija) and was stationed in Kostajnica. No additional information has been found.

11th Ustasha Company
Operating in the Dobrljin area near Bos. Novi on 7 Dec 41. No additional information has been found.

12th Ustasha Company
Mentioned in documents on 18 Feb 42. No additional information has been found.

13th Ustasha Company
Metioned in documents on 10 Oct 41. No additional information has been found.

14th Ustasha Company
Transferred in Oct-Nov 41 from the Pakrac – Lipik area in Slavonia to Jasenovac where it became part of the camp guard force. No additional information has been found.

15th Ustasha Company
Involved in combat with Chetniks in the Sinj area on 14 Aug 41. No additional information has been found.

16th Ustasha Company
The Company arrested some 200 Pravoslavni (“Serbs” of the Eastern Orthodox faith living in Croatian) in Jajce on 16 Sep 41, and then a day or two later allegedly killed 158 of them on a nearby bridge over the Vrbas River. On 23 Dec 41 it was operating in the Dvor – Bos. Novi area along the Una River searching abandoned Pravoslavni homes for food and loot. The Co. was honorably cited by Poglavnik Ante Pavelić on 7 Mar 42 for demonstrating extraordinary “courage before the enemy” at Gvozdansko and Zrin, two small villages in the Šamarica to the southeast of Glina and Petrinja. No additional information has been found.

17th Ustasha Company
Formed in the Lika region and used to guard the Jadovno camp near Velebit until approximately Oct 41. It was then transferred to Jasenovac to become part of the guard force there. Identified at Jasenovac on 24 Feb 42. No additional information has been found.

18th Ustasha Company
(no information)

19th Ustasha Company
Operating in the Jajce area on 1 Oct 41. No additional information has been found.

20th Ustasha Company
(no information)

21st Ustasha Company
Identified in documents dated 18 Feb 42 and described as the 21st Ustasha Assault Co. No additional information has been found.

22d Ustasha Company
Used to guard some of the early camps and then transferred to Jasenovac in Oct 41. Identified at Jasenovac on 24 Feb 42. No additional information has been found.

23d Ustasha Company
Formed in the Lika region and used to guard the Jadovno camp near Velebit until approximately Oct 41. It was then transferred to Jasenovac to become part of the guard force there. No additional information has been found.

24th Ustasha Company
Fought a brief skirmish on 23 Dec 41 with elements of the Banija NOP Detachment in the village of Grmuša located between Bos. Novi and Bos. Krupa. No additional information has been found.

25th Ustasha Company
Mentioned in Dec 41 and may have belonged to the PTB at that time. No additional information has been found.

26th Ustasha Company
(no information)

27th Ustasha Company
(no information)

28th Ustasha Company
Stationed in Virovitica on 4 Oct 41 and still there on 21 Nov 41. No additional information has been found.

29th Ustasha Company
On 22 Feb 42 the Company was being used to guard the railway tracks along the section between Blagaj – Bos. Novi – Sunja in West Bosnia. No additional information has been found.

30th Ustasha Company
Identified in early 1942. No additional information has been found.

31st Ustasha Company
Transferred from Bos. Kostajnica to Dvor on 28 Dec 41. No additional information has been found.

32d Ustasha Company
(no information)

33d Ustasha Company
(no information)

34th Ustasha Company
(no information)

35th Ustasha Company
(no information)

36th Ustasha Company
(no information)

37th Ustasha Company
(no information)

38th Ustasha Company
Identified on 8 Feb 42 as belonging to the 1st Ustasha Regiment (the “Black Legion”) in the Sarajevo area. No additional information has been found.

39th Ustasha Company
(no information)

40th Ustasha Company
Cleansing villages along the railway line between Blatna and Rudice to the southwest of Bos. Novi on 5 Dec 41. Still in existence on 18 Feb 42. No additional information has been found.

41st Ustasha Company
(no information)

42d Ustasha Company
Identified on 18 Feb 42. No additional information has been found.

43d Ustasha Company
Identified on 8 Sep 41. In Apr 42 it was located in the Gospić area in the Lika. No additional information has been found.

44th Ustasha Company
(no information)

45th Ustasha Company
(no information)

46th Ustasha Company
(no information)

47th Ustasha Company
(no information)

48th Ustasha Company
Located in the Bos. Dubica area on 24 Feb 42 and was a component of the Obrana command that operated Jasenovac and the other concentration camps in Croatia. No additional information has been found.

49th Ustasha Company
Located in Jasenovac on 24 Feb 42. No additional information has been found.

Footnotes

1. [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Zbornik dokumenata i podataka o narodnooslobodilačkom ratu jugoslovenskih naroda. Tom V/1, p.338; V/2, p.443; V/3, p.477; V/5, p.387; V/32, pp.186, 187 and 189; [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Hronologija oslobodilačke borbe naroda jugoslavije 1941-1945 (Belgrade, 1964), p.101; Colić, Mladen - Takozvana Nezavisna Država Hrvatska 1941 (Belgrade: Delta-pres, 1973), p.274; Lazić, Dusan – “Organizacija policijsko-obaveštajne službe ‘Nezavisne Države Hrvatske’”, in: Zbornik za istoriju (Matica Srpska, 1972-75); Hrvatski narod national newspaper (various issues); NARA WashDC: RG 242 (T-315 roll 2268).