approach of the other NDH authorities such as the Home Guard, who were aware of the potential danger created by Ustaše methods. In early June, the NDH authorities began operations to confiscate weapons from the population, meeting with immediate resistance. On 1 June, the residents of the village of Donji Drežanj, near Nevesinje, refused to co-operate with weapons collectors. In response, the Ustaše killed a number of Serbs and burned their homes. On 3 June, there were several incidents in which armed villagers spontaneously retaliated against the local authorities. That afternoon, 20 Ustaše were entering Donji Drežanj to confiscate firearms when they were attacked by a group of armed villagers. The villagers withdrew after a short firefight, with one of their number being captured. Reinforcements from the Home Guard and gendarmerie soon arrived, along with more Ustaše who burned another 20 houses and shot a woman. On the night of 4/5 June, a group under the control of the Ustaše commissioner for the Gacko district, Herman Tonogal, killed 140 Serbs in the village of Korita, near Bileća, and threw their bodies into a nearby sinkhole. Another 27 Serbs from the village were killed between this massacre and 9 June, and over 5,000 head of livestock were stolen and distributed to Muslim villages in the Gacko area for the exclusive use of the Ustaše. The estimated number of Serbs killed at Korita vary from 133 to 180. In the immediate aftermath, Serbs and Montenegrins from the local area attacked villages, and Adriatic Command sent the 2nd Company of the 7th Battalion from Bileća to reinforce the Ustaše. After a brief clash near Korita, during which the Ustaše and gendarmerie lost one killed and several wounded, the rebels withdrew across the nearby border into Montenegro. The 2nd Company of the 7th Battalion spent the night in the village of Stepen before establishing itself as the Avtovac garrison the following day. Due to its exposure to fire from rebels overlooking their location, the gendarmes were unable to re-occupy their post in Stepen, which meant that the Stepen–Korita road was no longer secure. On 8 June, the district office in Gacko reported to Adriatic Command that they had taken 200 Serbs as hostages and issued a proclamation to the population to cease fighting and surrender their weapons. As this proclamation met with no response, on 10 June the Ustaše Commissioner for Bosnia and Herzegovina,