Velimir Terzić

In August 1983, Terzić made the exaggerated claim that a million Serbs were killed at the Jasenovac concentration camp.

In 1963, Terzić's Jugoslavija u aprìlskom ratu 1941 was published, a monograph which explored the reasons behind Yugoslavia's defeat in the April war. In it Terzić lists a Croatian fifth column as an important factor in the Yugoslav army's fall. He singles out Croatian Peasant Party leader Vladko Maček as having collaborated with the Ustaše and negotiating with the Axis powers, which led to a sedition among Croatian forces resulting in the collapse of the whole army. According to Terzić, many Croats abandoned Yugoslavia in favor of an independent Croatian state and enthusiastically welcomed German troops into Zagreb.

During the 1960s, Yugoslav WWII historiography shifted from a "brotherhood and unity" narrative to debates between Serbian and Croatian nationalists about each group's role in the war, leading Josip Broz Tito and his Communist Party to repeatedly denounce "bourgeois nationalist tendencies" in historiography. Terzić's book exacerbated tensions. His work prompted another former Partisan general-turned historian, and future President of Croatia Franjo Tudjman to publish his own thesis in which he highlighted the impact of "Great Serbian hegemonism" of the Yugoslav Kingdom. The 1983 expanded edition of the book once again received sharp rebuke in Croatia, and contributed to the growth of Serbian nationalism. The historian Kenneth Morrison writes that it is an "exceptionally detailed analysis of the events that led to the dismemberment and occupation of Yugoslavia."

After the war, he remained in the Yugoslav People's Army and had many roles, including chief inspector and head of the Military Academy. He retired from the army in 1955 and became head of the Military History Institute (Vojno-istorijski institut) in Belgrade.

After Yugoslavia's defeat in the April War, he joined the Montenegrin partisans and took part in the 13 July Uprising. He commanded the Bijelo Polje unit. By the summer of 1942, he became the deputy of general Arso Jovanović, chief of partisan Supreme HQ. Terzić also commanded the main staff of Montenegro, was deputy commander of the 5th Montenegrin Proletarian brigade, chief of staff of the fifth operative zone and the main staff of Croatia. In April 1944, along with Milovan Djilas, he headed a Yugoslav military mission to the Soviet Union.

Velimir Terzić (Serbian: Велимир Терзић; 26 May 1908 – 13 December 1983) was a Yugoslav People's Army captain, partisan general, and historian.

Terzić was born on 26 May 1908 in Golubovci, near Podgorica, Montenegro. Prior to World War II, he was captain of the Royal Yugoslav Army.