of Kolašin, Andrijevica and Berane, and released from captivity 879 Italian soldiers and officers. In the middle of August on the part of the front toward Rožaje commanded by Pavle Đurišić and toward Čakor commanded by Đorđije Lašić the rebel representatives and Italian forces organized negotiations. The delegation of rebels was headed by Milutin Jelić. The peace with Italian forces was agreed. Initially the rebel requests were the following: The rebels would organize new uprising in case of an attempt of Italian government to proclaim Montenegro as independent state The Albanians and Albanian military will be banned from entering the territory under rebel control and urgent stop of torching the Serb villages. In return the rebels would release prisoners they took during the uprising Italian occupying forces will be considered as enemy troops until the end of war. The Italian side accepted parts of the rebel demands by agreeing to stop torching villages and by retreating Albanian forces, while rebels obliged themselves to allow Italians to re-occupy towns captured by rebels during the uprising. Italian troops regained control over all towns and communication routes within six weeks. Biroli issued the orders to crush the revolt, but directed his forces to avoid "acts of revenge and useless cruelty". Nevertheless, in crushing the revolt, dozens of villages were burned, hundreds were killed and between 10,000 and 20,000 residents were interned. For a while, the Muslim and Albanian irregulars were permitted to pillage and torch villages. After the counteroffensive Italians did not rebuild their posts in the villages because they were afraid they could again be an easy prey of the insurgents. As a result, most of the rural areas of Montenegro were not reoccupied. This allowed insurgents to obtain easier communication, supply and other activities. Leftist errors After the initial success of the uprising, communists took charge of the situation. Their bloody rule antagonized many people in Montenegro. Đilas and Partisans conducted a brief reign of terror and soon realized that such policy made it harder for them to find supplies and safe hideouts and to recruit new forces. The Partisans pursued the policy of mass terror not only against their soldiers who deserted them after the Battle of Pljevlja, but also against their families, against Chetniks and their families, against wealthier traders, peasants and any professionals they perceived as their potential class enemies. This policy is referred to as the "leftist