Artur Phleps, V SS Mountain Corps commander, in his war journal in 1944 assessed as a serious opponent, very well managed and well trained, who fights like a regular troop.

[1] It was formed by Josip Broz Tito and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia on 22 December 1941 in the village of Rudo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Initially comprising 1,200 of the best Serb and Montenegrin Partisans under the command of the Spanish Civil War veteran Koča Popović, it began to take on a more multi-ethnic character from March 1942 when 15 Bosniaks from Sarajevo joined the brigade.

This innovation allowed the Partisans to more easily concentrate fighting power at a particular point to achieve a decision, and permitted withdrawal when faced by a superior enemy force.

[6] The brigade then fought in many battles against the Italians, Germans, and their Chetnik auxiliaries, as well as the forces of the Axis puppet Independent State of Croatia from its creation until the end of the war.