Jovan Deroko

The Siege of Kraljevo took place in the first few days of October and lasted almost a month. The commander of the Chetnik forces was major Radoslav Đurić while Deroko still held the function of chief executive and commander of the artillery unit located at the Ibar river. During the siege, Deroko managed to take out a German airport near Kraljevo and to cut off German communication between Kraljevo and Belgrade. The failed siege of Kraljevo also marked the beginning of the civil war between Partisans and Chetniks. After the Chetnik attack on Užice on 1 November 1941 (known as the Battle of Trešnjica), Deroko gained new functions. After the beginning of the first serious battles between Chetniks and Partizans, Deroko represented the Chetnik delegation at the talks of stopping the battles. The first meeting was held in the Drakčići village near Kraljevo. At the meeting, present were Deroko and major Đurić from the Chetnik side and Sredoje Urošević from the Partisan side. The talks however didn't have any result. During the talks, Deroko ordered that the Partisan delegation be apprehended as a retaliation to the Partisan attack on the Chetnik formation in Čačak. After tiresome negotiations, Deroko freed the Partisan delegations but the Partisans had already surrounded the village. This led to an armed confrontation which lasted until Deroko and his group were kicked out of the village.

Deroko then attacked a new area of Ljubić with his cannons with the aim of bombing Čačak which was held by Partisans. The Partisan patrol found out where Deroko was in Ljubić so as a preventative measure, the Jelica Partisan unit was sent in to thwart Deroko. The battle began in the evening hours of 6 November 1941 in Ljubić. The Partisans wanted to destroy the two cannons Deroko was using. Deroko took control of the area on the surrounding hills beside a small lake from which he had a good view of the situation. In trying to stop the Partisan unit which was advancing upon the hill however, Deroko was killed beside his cannons when struck in the head. After that, the Partisans took the two cannons and used them in their units. The second version of his death states that Deroko was lightly wounded and went down to the lake to take care of his wound where he was spotted by a Partisan platoon which executed him on the spot.

Jovan Deroko (Serbian Cyrillic: Јован Дероко; 7 April 1912 – 6 November 1941) was a Serbian military commander holding the rank of captain during World War II.

Jovan Deroko was born in the French city of Le Creusot on 20 April [O.S. 7 April] 1912 to Vladislav and Natalija Deroko (née Đorđević). His maternal grandfather was the politician Vladan Đorđević, who had served as the Prime Minister of Serbia and the mayor of Belgrade during his long career and who was of partial Aromanian descent from the region of Macedonia. One of Jovan Deroko's great-grandfathers was a Venetian by the name of Marco de Rocco, who moved to Dubrovnik and married a local woman. The surname de Rocco was later phoneticized to Deroko. Deroko's first cousin was well-known Serbian architect Aleksandar Deroko.