Jovan Stojković (; 25 December 1878 – 17 February 1920), known as Jovan Babunski (), was a Serbian Chetnik commander (Serbian: vojvoda / ) during the Macedonian Struggle, Balkan Wars and World War I. Following the murder of his brother and nephew by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), he joined a Chetnik band and took command of Chetnik units on the Vardar River, where he and his men often engaged Bulgarian and Ottoman forces.
With the outbreak of the First Balkan War he joined the Serbian Army and was wounded while fighting in the village of Strevica. During the Second Balkan War, he joined a Serbian volunteer detachment and fought at the Battle of Bregalnica. During World War I, Babunski and his Chetnik detachment fought Austro-Hungarian forces in the summer of 1914 and later fought on the Salonika front, where Babunski was ordained by French General Louis Franchet d'Espèrey after he and his men captured two German midget submarines and their crews. After the war, Babunski and his 250-strong force helped Serb authorities suppress Bulgarian resistance in the Macedonian towns of Bitola and Tikveš, committing several atrocities in the process. Considered one of the most famous Chetnik commanders of his time, Babunski died in Veles in February 1920.
Early life
Jovan Stojković was born in the village of Martolci in central North Macedonia, at the foot of Mount Babuna, near Veles, on 25 December 1878. In his youth, he was nicknamed "Babunski", by which he was referred to for the rest of his life. He began attending Bulgarian primary school at the age of 10 as Ivan Stoykov. Later Babunski's father took his son to the Serbian consulate in Skopje and requested that he be transferred to a primary school in Belgrade. Babunski's primary and secondary education took place in Belgrade, Valjevo and Niš. In his twenties, he worked as a School teacher in Tetovo and Veles.
Guerrilla activities
In 1905, Babunski's brother and nephew were killed by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (; VMRO). Seeking revenge, he joined the Chetnik band of Gligor Sokolović and Temeljko Barjaktarević. That year, he became a Chetnik vojvoda. Afterwards, he defended the right bank of the Vardar River against Bulgarian insurgents and protected persecuted Serb villages against Bulgarian and Ottoman attacks. This prompted the VMRO to place a bounty of 20,000 leva on his head. Through these actions, Babunski became one of the five leading Serbian guerrilla chiefs in Macedonia. Babunski's participation in the struggle against the Ottomans and Bulgarians came at a great personal cost; his wife was tortured in order to disclose his whereabouts and one of his children was killed. With the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Ottomans declared a ceasefire between their forces and those of the Chetniks. Babunski left the Chetniks' ranks and returned to civilian life. He was later arrested by the Ottoman authorities, but quickly escaped from prison. That year, he returned to the Serbia.
Babunski fought with the Royal Serbian Army during the First Balkan War and was wounded in a skirmish with Ottoman Turkish forces in the village of Strevica while serving under commander Vojin Popović. During the Second Balkan War, he fought with a Serbian volunteer detachment at the Battle of Bregalnica.