 The allegiance between the Chetniks and Italians was crucial in protecting Serbs in the Lika and Dalmatian region from ongoing attacks from the Ustaše.Italian forces provided Serb civilians with weapons to protect their villages and accommodated thousands of Serb civilians escaping the ongoing Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia.Djujić used these events as a way of justifying the allegiance and when ordered by Mihailović in February 1943 to break this allegiance, Djujić refused and stated that a break in a truce would mean certain death to tens of thousands of Serb civilians.