Original Item: Only One Available. The Belgrade Special Police was a Serbian collaborationist police organization directed and controlled by the German Gestapo in the German-occupied territory of Serbia from 1941 to 1944 during World War II. It grew out of the Belgrade General Police of the interwar period, which had a significant role in the suppression of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia after that organization was banned in 1920. Eighty per cent of work of the SP UGB related to suspected communists. It initially had a responsibility to investigate other groups, such as the Chetniks of Draža Mihailović, but ended up cooperating with Mihailović's Chetnik movement instead. The SP UGB had significant autonomy in who it arrested, tortured and interrogated, and who it sent to the Banjica concentration camp, but did not have the power to release prisoners from the camp, a power which was retained by the Gestapo. The SP UGB exchanged information with a number of different agencies, including the German military intelligence service, the Abwehr, and other collaborationist organizations such as the Serbian Volunteer Corps.

This dagger is a lovely early example with bronze fittings; stylized crossguard, no scratches or major imperfection; pommel in fine condition; grip constructed of pumpkin colored synthetic material on a wood base, wrapped with twisted wire. Unfortunately there is cracking in the celluloid type grip with pieces missing. The blade is still straight with some staining present but the etching is still noticeable. The blade features a lovely Yugoslav crest towards the center of the blade.

The blade ricasso is marked with the firm's trademark scales logo, with the firm's initials ACS interspersed. This type of trademark was one of several used on Police and other dress bayonets during the Weimar republic and up into the beginning of the NSDAP era, up until around 1942, per J. Anthony Carter's work GERMAN SWORD AND KNIFE MAKERS.

Alexander Coppel & Co. KG, Stahlwarenfabrik, located in Solingen, the legendary German "City of Blades." The company was a major manufacturer of edged weapons and tools from the end of the 19th century up until the WWII period. Unfortunately, as NSDAP-control increased, brothers Carl Gustav and Dr. Alexander Coppel, the Jewish owners of the firm, were forced out. In 1936 the firm had been "Aryanized", and started using the name ALCOSO to hide the Jewish family name. By the end of 1936 the brothers were ejected from their Solingen offices, and by 1940 the brand trademark initials ACS were changed to AWS to reflect the change in ownership and name: Alexander Coppel Solingen to Alcoso-Werk Solingen. Carl Gustav Coppel committed suicide in Solingen in 1941, and Dr. Alexander Coppel was arrested in 1942 and sent to Theresienstadt Prison camp, where he died August 5th 1942.

The accompanying scabbard is in brass, the body bearing a series of ornate patterns throughout, the obverse with the Royal Yugoslavia coat-of-arms affixed between the bands, both bands bearing an interlocking rope design and incorporating a brass ring, the chape with a snub-nosed design, the throat secured in place by flathead screws. The scabbard is still straight and has no denting or bends present.

A lovely example of a dagger that is growing increasingly difficult to find. Comes more than ready for display.

Specifications:
Blade Length: 10 1/8"
Blade Style: Double Edged Dagger
Overall length: 14 5/8”
Crossguard: 2 7/8”
Scabbard Length: 11 3/8”

Yugoslavia in WW2: Military operations in World War II in Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and client regimes. Subsequently, a guerrilla liberation war was fought against the Axis occupying forces and their locally established puppet regimes, including the fascist Independent State of Croatia and the Government of National Salvation in the German-occupied territory of Serbia, by the Communist-led republican Yugoslav Partisans. Simultaneously, a multi-side civil war was waged between the Partisans, the Serbian chauvinist Chetniks, the Croatian Ustashe and Home Guard, Serbian Volunteer Corps and State Guard, as well as Slovene Home Guard troops.

Both the Yugoslav Partisans and the Chetnik movement initially resisted the occupation. However, after 1941, Chetniks extensively and systematically collaborated with the Italian occupation forces until the Italian capitulation, and thereon also with German and Ustashe forces. The Axis mounted a series of offensives intended to destroy the Partisans, coming close to doing so in the Battle of Neretva and Battle of Sutjeska in the spring and summer of 1943.

Despite the setbacks, the Partisans remained a credible fighting force, with their organization gaining recognition from the Western Allies at the Tehran Conference and laying the foundations for the post-war Yugoslav state. With support in logistics and air power from the Western Allies, and Soviet ground troops in the Belgrade Offensive, the Partisans eventually gained control of the entire country and of the border regions of Trieste and Carinthia.

The human cost of the war was enormous. The number of war victims is still in dispute, but is generally agreed to have been at least one million. Non-combat victims included the majority of the country's Jewish population, many of whom perished in contingent and extermination camps (e.g. Jasenovac, Banjica) run by the client regimes.

The Ustashe regime (mostly Croats, but also Muslims and others) committed genocide against Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-Fascist Croats. The Chetniks (mostly Serbs, but also Montenegrins and others) pursued genocide against Muslims, Croats and Pro-Partisan Serbs, and the Italian occupation authorities pursued violence and ethnic cleansing (Italianization) against Slovenes and Croats. The Wehrmacht carried out mass executions of civilians in retaliation for resistance activity e.g., the Kragujevac massacre. SS Division "Prinz Eugen" massacred large number of civilians and prisoners of war. Hungarian occupation troops massacred civilians (mostly Serbs and Jews) during the a major raid in southern Bačka, under the pretext of suppressing resistance activities.

Finally, during and after the final stages of the war, Yugoslav authorities and Partisan troops carried out reprisals, including the deportation of the Danube Swabian population, forced marches and executions of thousands of captured soldiers and civilians (predominantly Croats associated with the NDH, but also Slovenes and others) fleeing their advance (the Bleiburg repatriations), atrocities against the Italian population in Istria (the Foibe massacres) and purges against Serbs, Hungarians and Germans associated with the fascist forces.