1942: Yugoslavia

As the result of German aggression in April 1941 Yugoslavia has been temporarily divided up among its neighbors. Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary each took a part of Yugoslavia, while the remaining portions of the kingdom formed two puppet states, one Croatia (see CROATIA), an outright Fascist state, collaborating closely with Germany and Italy, the other Serbia, administered by a government under Gen. Milan Neditch, each occupied and supervised by Italian and German troops. Of the three racially and linguistically closely related peoples, the Serbs, the Croats and the Slovenes, the worst fate befell the Serbs and the Slovenes. The territory of the Slovenes was divided between Germany and Italy and annexed by these two nations. The deeply Catholic, peaceful people of Slovenia were driven out of their villages and when they resisted their enslavement, cruelly persecuted and many hundreds of them executed. Yugoslavia presents probably the most unhappy land in Europe, because it was not only divided among the conquerors — or rather it was divided up by the German conquerors between three nations, Italian, Bulgarian and Hungarian, who had contributed nothing to the conquest and only afterwards had tried to get their share of the flesh of the helpless victim — but it is also torn by internal dissensions between Democrats and Fascists, between Serbs and Croats.

To the terror and cruelty of the occupying armies of Germans, Italians, Hungarians and Bulgarians must be added the bitterness of civil war. Thus the number of Yugoslavs killed by the invaders or in internal warfare has been estimated for the last 18 months at no less than 500,000, among them many women and children. In many instances whole villages were destroyed and all the inhabitants killed.

Armed Resistance.

In the mountains of central Serbia the remnants of the Yugoslav regular army resisted the German and Italian attempts to destroy them. They were under the command of Gen. Dragoljub Mihailovich, who succeeded in building up an army which was believed at one time to number as many as 150,000 men. Though this army suffered from lack of equipment, it carried on a most successful guerrilla warfare against the Axis conquerors. At various times it has gained control of large parts of Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro. It was helped everywhere by patriots and by the dissatisfied peasantry. It succeeded in raiding Axis garrisons and utilizing their supply stores, exterminating smaller Axis posts and even fighting some real battles with fully equipped enemy divisions. Besides regular soldiers many Chetniks or volunteers are fighting under General Mihailovich. The puppet governments of Serbia and Croatia have taken most energetic measures to annihilate and suppress the Chetnik movement, but they seem to have failed, in spite of the fact that the supplies of General Mihailovich ran low and that a dangerous split occurred in the ranks of the forces fighting the Axis. In any case, Yugoslavia is the only one of the occupied nations who maintained a real armed force in the field and did not confine itself to underground activity. It was helped in this by the mountainous and rugged character of the country and the fierce spirit of independence of its population.

In the second half of 1942 groups of partisans separated from General Mihailovich's army and opposed Mihailovich, though carrying on the fight against the Axis with great determination. It was reported that frequent clashes between the patriot army of General Mihailovich and the partisans occurred, in any case mutual recrimination and suspicions were voiced. The partisans who called themselves the 'people's army,' seemed to be under Communist leadership, though they included sincere patriots and some rather doubtful elements who were driven by despair to pillage and lawlessness. The people's army was apparently supported by the Soviet Union and Communist sources accused Mihailovich of connivance with the Fascists. Yet it seemed probable that Mihailovich wished only to maintain some army discipline and to preserve his forces until the day when the United Nations would be able to launch a Balkan offensive. In any case the Yugoslav fighters forced the Axis to maintain large forces in Yugoslavia.

Yugoslav Government.

The Yugoslav government in London continued its confidence in General Mihailovich. It named him Minister of War and Chief of Staff and gave him full military and administrative powers. The Yugoslav government was reconstituted on Jan. 12 when Slobodan Jovanovitch, a former professor of the University of Belgrade and well known for his liberal views, became Prime Minister.

The importance of Yugoslavia and her continuous resistance was recognized by the fact that the United States raised the Yugoslav legation to the rank of an embassy. The Yugoslav government tried also to prepare the way for a better peace in the Balkan peninsula after the war by concluding in January 1942 a treaty of confederation with the Greek government. This treaty anticipated the cooperation of the two nations in the field of foreign policy, of military defense and of economic matters. Special organizations were to be created to determine the details of the cooperation in these three fields and the confederation was to be regarded as the nucleus of a future Balkan union.