Until the spring of 1944, Keiper's area command was subordinated to a succession of higher headquarters; first the German General in Albania, then the V SS Mountain Corps, and then 2nd Panzer Army.

The council quickly overreached in attempting to bargain with Keiper regarding their powers, and were sharply reprimanded and advised that they were only an instrument of his occupation regime.

[2] The Germans enlisted the assistance of the local gendarmerie, militia and some Chetniks attempt to control the occupied territory, but they proved inadequate to the challenge posed by the Partisans.

He and his corps were intercepted by superior forces of the fascist Independent State of Croatia in northwest Bosnia, and Đurišić was captured and executed.

Drljević also created the Montenegrin National Army, a military force set up by him and the Croatian fascist leader Ante Pavelić.