[4] The operation was inspired by Heinrich Himmler who believed that the annihilation of Draža Mihailović and his forces was a basis for a success in Serbia and South East Europe.

The Yugoslav forces targeted in Operation Kopaonik consisted of Rasina Corps of Chetniks of Draža Mihailović under command of Dragutin Keserović.

During this operation Axis forces committed mass murder of hundreds of Serb civilians in the targeted region.

[6] The Military Commander in Serbia prepared a list of 24 Chetnik officers to be arrested by SS Prinz Eugen Division, one of them being Keserović.

[10] The operation was in fact a punitive expedition aimed against Mihailović's Chetniks who were the chief target of the German command who wanted to secure its control of Serbia before important battles in North Africa.

[16] The attacked Yugoslav rebel forces of Draža Mihailović were organized into Rasina Corps under command of Major Dragutin Keserović.

[18] The Axis forces were informed that the headquarters of this Chetnik unit was in village Kriva Reka and that a British military mission was with them.

[25] After the operation was finished, on 18 October Himmler arrived to Kraljevo[26] and celebrated birthday of Prince Eugene of Savoy together with members of SS Division that bore his name.

[34] Because of the conduct during Operation Kopaonik which included the mass murder of civilians in Kriva Reka, the commander of the 1st battalion Richard Kaaserer was dismissed from the SS, though he was quickly assigned to another German unit and swiftly promoted.

He was extradited to Yugoslavia, tried for war crimes, including those in Kriva Reka, sentenced to death and hanged in Belgrade in January 1947.

[38] The tragedy of Kriva Reka inspired author Dobrica Ćosić to describe the terrible deaths of imprisoned villagers in their church in his book Deobe.