Association. In the first few months, most had little or no contact with the Chetnik leadership in Ravna Gora and acted independently. They advocated a struggle for Greater Serbia through exterminating, assimilating, or expelling non-Serbs, and were ready to conclude cooperation agreements with Italy. All Croats and Muslims were viewed as guilty for the crimes of the Ustashe regime. The rebels captured large parts of Lika, northern Dalmatia, and southwestern Bosnia. Areas under their control were ethnically cleansed of Croats and Muslims, and many massacres were committed. On 28 June 1941, the village of Avtovac in eastern Herzegovina was captured by the rebels. The village was then looted and burned, and dozens of Muslim civilians were killed. During the Drvar uprising, on 27 July, 350 Croats were killed after the capture of Drvar by the rebels. On the same day, more than 200 Croatian pilgrims were killed in the Trubar massacre near Drvar, including their priest, Waldemar Maximilian Nestor. Over 90 Croats were killed in the Bosansko Grahovo massacre. The rebels tortured a Catholic priest, Juraj Gospodnetić, and burned him alive in front of his mother. Houses in Bosansko Grahovo and in the surrounding villages of Obljaj, Korita, Luka, Ugarci, and Crni Lug were burned and over 250 Croat civilians were killed in these attacks. Some of the leaders of the Drvar uprising later had an important role in the Chetnik movement. On 28 July, in the village of Brotnja in the municipality of Srb, 37 civilians (including 24 members of the Ivezić family) were massacred and their houses were looted and destroyed by the insurgents. Croats from Donji Lapac were forced to flee to the village of Boričevac, and from there most of them moved to Kulen Vakuf, in total more than 2,000 people. On 2 August, the rebels looted and burned Boričevac and killed all 55 civilians that remained in the village, mostly women and elderly. Croatian historian, Slavko Goldstein, mentioned that Chetniks killed as many as 179 civilians in Boričevac during the uprising. Massacres at the end of July continued into August and September. In the Krnjeuša massacre in early August, at least 240 Croat civilians were killed by the rebels, mostly women, children, and elderly, and their houses were looted and burned. The local Catholic priest was tortured and burned alive. 70 Croat civilians were massacred in the neighboring village of Vrtoče, where civilians were decapitated