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Biography
Blažo Đukanović (26 November 1883 in Lukovo, Nikšić, Principality of Montenegro – 21 October 1943 in Ostrog monastery, Italian governorate of Montenegro) was a Montenegrin Serb Chetnik brigadier general and political leader in World War II Montenegro.
Đukanović completed gymnasium (high school) and his university education in Russia. Since 1939 he served as a judge at the High Military Court of Yugoslavia. He became the Ban of the Zeta Banovina in 1941, right up until the dissolution of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1941 he was elected the commander of all Chetnik forces in Montenegro, and local general Bajo Stanišić acknowledged him as an official spokesman of the Montenegrin Chetniks.
As the leader of the Montenegrin Chetniks, on 24 July 1942 he signed a deal with the Italian army represented by General Pirzio Biroli whereby he became the head of the Central Nationalist Committee, which also included Zelenaši forces. This post made him de facto leader of Montenegro and he held it until 19 October 1943, near the date of his death. Several days earlier, he had been ambushed by Yugoslav Partisans at the Ostrog Monastery. Eventually he was captured and shot along with Jovan Tošković at the walls of lower Ostrog.
