Otočac on 12 January 1941, he escaped to Germany to avoid arrest. World War II Commissioner for Bosnia and Herzegovina After the establishment of the NDH on 10 April 1941, Francetić was appointed as the chief Ustaša delegate in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the role of strengthening the Ustaša regime there. He arrived in Sarajevo on 24 April 1941 with Marshal Slavko Kvaternik, around 800 Ustaša militia, and 300 Ustaša police to establish formal control. Francetić effectively became the most powerful political leader in Sarajevo, and established a reputation for ruthlessness in dealing with Serbs and Jews. Francetić's Ustashe took control over the local administration by dismissing all civil servants and teachers belonging to the category of "Srbijanci" (Serbs), as well as Jews. Killings, arrests, and deportation of Serbs and Jews was a regular duty of Francetić's henchmen—based and justified by the official Ustashe policy which demanded the total extermination of Jews and the murder (1/3) and/or expulsion (1/3) and/or forced conversion to Roman Catholicism by Orthodox Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1/3). "On 23 July 1941 the headquarters of the NDH Ustasha police sent an order to the heads of all regions, including Francetić, to begin with the arrest and transportation of Jews, Serbs and communists to the Gospić concentration camp. In September 1942, Francetić was removed from his role as the chief government delegate in Bosnia, probably to address the concerns of the Muslims of Bosnia about the atrocities perpetrated by the Ustaše over the last eighteen months. Black Legion In August 1941, Ustaša militia under (then Major) Francetić's command were deployed to eastern Herzegovina in order to counter the uprising there. The 1st Ustaša Regiment () was raised by Francetić and Ante Vokić in Sarajevo in September 1941. When the original commander of the regiment was killed, Francetić took over command, and the regiment grew quickly and gained a reputation for fanaticism and violence. Raised for service in eastern Bosnia, by December it had been dubbed the Black Legion () after adopting a black uniform. It was feared for its fanatical morale and fighting qualities, but also for the atrocities it committed against the Bosnian Serb population. It soon grew to a strength of between 1000–1500 men. In the winter of 1941–1942, the Black Legion carried out massacres in both Prijedor in the north-west of Bosnia and also in the Romanija mountains north-east of Sarajevo. In the