declaration of independence and the suppression of the resulting uprising, Biroli was appointed governor of the territory, which was known as the Governorate of Montenegro () Biroli and his successor Count Curio Barbasetti di Prun were in full control of all military and civil matters in the territory. For purposes of civil administration, the existing districts and municipalities of the Yugoslav system were retained "to avert administrative chaos", with Italians replacing authority at the Banovina level. Districts The administration consisted of the following districts, which retained the pre-existing Yugoslav civil service . (Note: italics indicates only part of the old Yugoslav district was within the governate) Antivari (Bar) Andrijevica Berane Bijelopolje Cattaro (Kotor) Cetinje Danilovgrad Kolašin Mileševa Nikšić Novavaroš Plevje (Pljevja) Podgorizza (Podgorica) Priboj Šavnik Sjenica Štavica Italian Governors in Montenegro Count Serafino Mazzolini (28 April 1941 – 23 July 1941) General Alessandro Pirzio Biroli (23 July 1941 – 13 July 1943) General Curio Barbasetti di Prun (13 July 1943 – 10 September 1943) Heads of National Administrative Committees Heads of various National collaborationist Administrative Committees within Italian governorate of Montenegro. Sekula Drljević (12 July 1941 – 3 October 1941, de jure) Blažo Đukanović (24 July 1942 – 19 October 1943) Occupation forces The 13 July – 12 August uprising was suppressed by Luigi Mentasti's XIV Corps, consisting of the 19th Infantry Division "Venezia", 18th Infantry Division Messina, 5th Alpine Division Pusteria, 48th Infantry Division Taro and 22nd Infantry Division Cacciatori delle Alpi. The Cacciatori delle Alpi division was re-deployed to the NDH in September 1941, but the rest remained as a strengthened occupation force until December 1941, during which they fought off local attacks. From 1 December 1941 to 15 May 1943, XIV Corps was designated Montenegro Command, and was headquartered in Podgorica. In October 1942, Montenegro Command controlled over 75,000 troops. These included the garrison of the Bay of Kotor, which was formally part of the 2nd Army, but was under the operational control of Montenegro Command. On 15 May 1943, Montenegro Command was combined with the 9th Army and the 2nd Army's VI Corps to form Army Group East, but the deployment of the occupying forces did not change significantly for the remainder of the Italian occupation. The uprising and later developments showed that the Italians were not able to effectively impose their rule outside of the larger cities. The occupation was a significant drain on the