Content note: Wartime Yugoslav Army leaflet that addresses Croatian fighters as 'Ustasha villains' and threatens to deal with them 'mercilessly', shown as printed. This object is shown as it was published. Why

Yugoslav People's Army leaflet 'Ustaški zlikovci!', 1991 Yugoslavia leaflet: Typewritten-style leaflet in dark type on cream

Yugoslav People's Army leaflet 'Ustaški zlikovci!' calling on Croatian forces to surrender (Dubrovnik area, 1991)

Typewritten-style leaflet in dark type on cream paper, headed 'USTAŠKI ZLIKOVCI!' (Ustasha villains). It says the readers have done enough evil to both the Serb and the Croat people and deserve to be dealt with without mercy, offers a 'last chance' to save their lives by surrendering to JNA units, and states that those who do not surrender will be regarded as criminals and tried. The tells are the opening label, which applies a 1941 to 1945 regime's name to the readers, and the two-way offer: surrender and live, or be treated as criminals.

Propaganda techniques used in this leaflet

Name-calling Fear appeal

Date: 1991
Period: Cold War
Made by: Command of an operational group of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), Dubrovnik area

Full record

Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Theme, Event, Source, Rights

Region: Eastern Europe and Eurasia
Country: Yugoslavia
Medium: Leaflet
Issuer type: Military
Regime: Sfry Federal Government
Leader: Veljko Kadijevic
Audience: Enemy forces
Purpose: Mobilize or secure compliance
Theme: War and the military
Event: Croatian War of Independence
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: Wikimedia Commons (photograph by Bracodbk), retrieved October 12, 2026
Rights: CC BY-SA 3.0 (photograph, Bracodbk, via Commons); leaflet is an anonymous 1991 Yugoslav Army handbill
Photograph: Bracodbk, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (File:Letak1.JPG). Leaflet: Yugoslav People's Army operational group command, 1991.

Text on the object

Original (Serbian) · read from the image, not independently checked

USTAŠKI ZLIKOVCI!

Dosta ste zla učinili i srpskom i hrvatskom narodu, zbog čega ste zaslužili da se sa vama nemilosrdno obračunamo.

Da bi se izbegle dalje žrtve i materijalna razaranja, dajemo vam poslednju šansu da sačuvate vaše živote i da se predate jedinicama JNA.

U tom slučaju spasićete vaše živote!

Ukoliko se ne predate smatraćemo vas zločincima i tako će vam se suditi.

Komandant
Operativne grupe

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

USTASHA VILLAINS!

You have done enough evil to both the Serb and the Croat people, for which you have deserved that we deal with you mercilessly.

To avoid further casualties and material destruction, we give you a last chance to save your lives and to surrender to JNA units.

In that case you will save your lives!

If you do not surrender we will regard you as criminals and you will be tried accordingly.

Commander
of the Operational Group

(Literal translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader.)

Read from a 543 px photograph; the page continues below the frame after 'Operativne grupe' (name and date not visible). Line-end hyphenation removed.