1941: Yugoslavia

Relations with the Axis Powers.

The year 1941 in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was marked by an heroic fight and climaxed by national disaster. Yugoslavia had been constituted at the end of the First World War by the union of three closely related Slav peoples, the Kingdom of Serbia, and the Croats and Slovenes who had formed part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. After the assassination of King Alexander I by Croat terrorists, the Ustashi, at Marseilles in October 1934, his eleven year old son Peter II became king under a regency council headed by Prince Paul. For several years Yugoslavia had followed, especially under the pro-Nazi premier Stoyadinovitch, a policy friendly to Italy and Germany. The cabinet of Premier Cvetkovitch which was in power by the beginning of 1941, followed on the whole a cautiously balanced policy, but did not believe in the possibility of resistance to Germany and therefore tried by all means to arrive at an agreement with Chancellor Hitler. At the same time, the government had to take into account the fierce determination of the Serb people to maintain full national independence and honor and to fight any attempt of forcing them into the Fascist order. On the other hand, Chancellor Hitler wished to come to the help of his Italian ally who had been decisively defeated by the small Greek army. Therefore, with the failure of the German army and Luftwaffe to overpower Great Britain by the end of 1940, the German government intended to deal a blow at the British position in the eastern Mediterranean. It wished to use Bulgaria and Yugoslavia for that purpose, bringing them under its influence and occupying them with German troops ready to advance from these bases against Greece and Turkey. While Bulgaria submitted completely to Germany and accepted National Socialist domination, popular resistance in Yugoslavia was much too strong to allow such a course. Throughout March violent demonstrations occurred. In spite of this expression of popular sentiment, the Yugoslav Cabinet decided to sign a treaty of friendship with Germany, when faced by a German ultimatum. It had formerly rejected German inducements to become a full member of the Axis, receiving in exchange Greek Macedonia with the important port of Thessaloniki and part of northern Albania. Even now the Yugoslav government refused to adhere completely to the 'New Order' and to allow the passage of German troops through Yugoslavia to Greece. But on March 25 it signed a pact of friendship in Vienna which prohibited any anti-German propaganda or manifestations in the country and granted Germany the right to send war materials and wounded soldiers through Yugoslav territory.

Coup d'Etat of General Simovitch.

In the early morning hours of March 27, a military coup d'état under the leadership of the commander of the air force, General Dushan Simovitch, overthrew the Yugoslav government, forced Prince Paul to flee, and placed the young King Peter II in full power. A new cabinet was formed with General Simovitch as prime minister. The whole Serb people enthusiastically greeted this change of government and rejoiced in the determination to maintain national honor and independence. The Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Yugoslavia, surrounded by nineteen bishops of the Church, addressed the people: 'The Church is ready to protect the honor and glory of our country. You should rally around the new king and be prepared for what comes. The Church is always with you.' Mobilization was speeded, and the general jubilation embraced all classes and all ages of the population. The revolution had been carried out with clocklike perfection, without any resistance, and with the unanimous approval of the Serb people.

However, the Croats and Slovenes were less enthusiastic. Less warriorlike than the Serbs and less accustomed to fighting for their independence, they lived in the exposed northwestern plains without any natural defenses against a German lightning attack. At the same time a numerically very small, but very active, part of the Croatian people had determined upon Croation independence. They had organized in a group of Fascist terrorist gangs under the leadership of Dr. Ante Pavelitch, who lived in Italy under Signor Mussolini's protection, and waited for the opportunity to strike.

The joyous demonstrations in Belgrade over the turn of events included expressions of warm friendship for Great Britain and the United States. Huge crowds shouted about preferring death to Axis domination. In a speech on March 27, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, declared to the House of Commons: 'Early this morning the Yugoslav nation found its soul. A revolution has taken place in Belgrade and ministers who yesterday signed away the honor and freedom of their country are reported to be under arrest. This patriotic movement arises from the wrath of a valiant and war-like race at their country being betrayed by the weakness of its rulers and foul intrigues of the Axis powers.'

Preparation for War.

Meanwhile Premier Simovitch tried to organize the country for resistance. Many days were spent in an attempt to gain the full cooperation of the Croats and of the leader of the largest Croat party, Dr. Vladimir Matchek, the head of the Croatian Peasant Party. Germany, faced by the refusal of the Serb people to submit to the 'New Order,' decided to attack the Yugoslavs before they could finish their military preparations for resistance. Through the occupation of Hungary, Rumania and now Bulgaria by German troops, the Germans had practically surrounded Yugoslavia from three sides and thus made the strategic position of the Yugoslav army most difficult, especially in view of the fact that the country had no heavy armament and few airplanes, and that the former government had neglected to prepare the country sufficiently for a war against a far superior German war machine. The great personal courage of the Serb soldiers and generals could not compensate for the inferiority in material and strategy.

German Invasion.

The German army marched into Yugoslavia on Sunday, April 6, 1941, simultaneously from Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria, followed by the Hungarian and Bulgarian armies. The German army had an immense air superiority from the beginning and was aided by Croatian terrorists, who with the help of the arriving German army, proclaimed the independence of Croatia. The Yugoslav capital of Belgrade was subjected, from the first surprise attack on, to merciless bombing which disorganized the Yugoslav government. Under these conditions the Yugoslav army tried to establish a new temporary capital at Sarajevo. In a manifesto to the nation it stated that 'despite the quick attack by Germany which permitted the concentration of troops at pre-elected strategic points, the bulk of the Yugoslav army has succeeded in escaping the steel trap that Germany vainly attempted to throw around it. Yugoslavia fighting for her honor and independence against unjustified aggression, will by her heroic resistance once again astonish the world. In accordance with the sacred tradition of our ancestors, we preferred to expose ourselves to attack rather than collaborate in the burial of Balkan independence. Our government did not want this war. Nobody in Yugoslavia had any illusions as to the result of the eventual war with Germany. With a 1,860-mile frontier line and with the whole northern part of our country open in the region of the immense plains, Yugoslavia, despite her heroism, did not for a moment imagine that she would be able to hold out for a long time against the entire German army, to which must be added the Italian and Hungarian armies and the collaboration of Bulgaria. All that Yugoslavia wants at this moment is to offer honorable resistance and mark before history her position of honor and independence.' The Yugoslav general staff also explained that they had not entered into consultations with the British and Greek general staffs about coordinating plans of defense against the Axis because of Yugoslavia's desire for peace and neutrality. Thus Yugoslavia found herself exposed to Germany's attack without any sufficient preparation or without any allies.

The swiftness of the German attack may be seen from the fact that the important city of Skoplje in the southern part of the country had fallen by the evening of April 7, while Serbian army leaders had hoped to be able to hold out for many weeks. The Yugoslavs were so unprepared that not even sufficient tank traps had been placed to close the few roads leading into the heart of the mountainous district. Thus German mechanized forces penetrated the country's last stronghold. With that victory the fate of Yugoslavia was sealed; her communications with Greece were cut, and it was only a question of days before the Yugoslav army had to surrender. But with this surrender, though it meant the temporary end of the country as an organized unit, resistance in no way came to an end. King Peter II and his cabinet under General Simovitch carried on from London. Dr. Nintchich who had presided over the League of Nations Assembly in 1926 when Germany was admitted, joined the cabinet as foreign minister.

Guerrilla Warfare of the Chetniks.

In Belgrade, meanwhile, the German administration set up a puppet government under General Milan Neditch. But his frequent appeals for order and peace did not prevail. The Serbian patriots fought on with indomitable courage, grouped around the Chetniks, a secret organization which had carried on for years in former times guerrilla warfare for independence against the Turks. These guerrilla warriors engaged the German and Italian troops often in open battle and were able to occupy a number of Yugoslav towns and to get ammunition and provisions. The most severe reprisals on the part of the Germans, Bulgarians and Hungarians who matched each other in indiscriminate executions, did not discourage the Serb patriots. Thousands of old men and young girls went bravely to their death. Whole Serb towns and villages were ruthlessly destroyed by the invaders and their inhabitants decimated. Former army officers like Colonel Draga Mihailovitch were at the head of this people's struggle. From time to time, these patriot Serb armies controlled large parts of Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro.

Partition of Yugoslavia.

While the fight in Serbia proper went on, the territories which had been united with Serbia as a result of the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 and of the First World War, were incorporated into countries hostile to Yugoslavia. Bulgaria occupied militarily and annexed southern Serbia with the important cities of Skoplje and Bitolj. Hungary annexed the fertile plains of the Voivodina, while the eastern part of the Banat went to Rumania. In the territories annexed by Bulgaria and Hungary, the Serb population was subject to ruthless persecution. Many of them were expelled or executed. The extreme northwestern parts of former Yugoslavia, which were inhabited by the Slovenes, were divided up between Germany and Italy. Germany annexed the northern part with the important city of Maribor, while the greater part of Slovenia was annexed by Italy as a new province called Ljubliana after the capital of Slovenia. This province was entirely inhabited by Slovenes and, though it was promised a certain cultural autonomy and the right to use the Slovene language besides the Italian, the Slovenes were afraid that they would be subject to the same ruthless process of Italianization and deprivation of their national and civic rights as the Slovenes who had lived in Italy under the Fascist régime before 1939.

Italy made the greatest gains by putting under her control, in addition to Slovenia, Dalmatia, Montenegro and Croatia. Croatia came only indirectly under Italian rule. It was constituted as an 'independent' kingdom which joined the Axis and introduced a completely Fascist régime. But economically and militarily it came entirely under Italian control. On the other hand, the greater part of Dalmatia was annexed outright by Italy, though with the exception of a few thousands of Italians in a few coastal towns the population of Dalmatia is entirely Slav and has for a long time hated and fought the Italians. It will be remembered that at the peace conference at Paris in 1919 President Wilson had steadfastly refused to grant the Italian demands for an annexation of Dalmatia which the Italians claimed for historic and for strategic reasons. The coast of Dalmatia contains some of the best natural naval bases like Cattaro and Spalato. The control of the Dalmatian coast and of the Dalmatian islands strengthened the Italian military position in the Adriatic Sea. While all the important coastal towns and regions of Dalmatia were annexed by Italy, Croatia received as its outlet to the Sea a small part of Dalmatia with the historic city of Ragusa. But later on, Italian armed forces were declared in occupation of the whole Dalmatian coast and hinterland from Fiume to Montenegro, so that Croatia and Dalmatia, like Slovenia, were entirely under Italian control. Thus Italy, thwarted for the time being in her aspirations in Africa and in France, seemed to find some compensation in the acquisition of Yugoslav territory. Germany acquiesced to it, probably because she hoped thus to divert the hatred of the Croats and Slovenes from Germany to Italy. Italy also gained control of the last remaining part of Yugoslavia, the former kingdom of Montenegro, which had joined Serbia in 1918. These freedom-loving inhabitants had never submitted to the Turks, and it is doubtful whether the Italians will be able to maintain there an unchallenged domination. By the end of 1941 nothing was yet known of a definite organization of Montenegro. It seemed to be destined to enter into a similar relation with Italy as Albania. A so-called constituent national assembly which met in Cettinje, the capital of Montenegro, asked the King of Italy to appoint a regent for Montenegro. Thus the year 1941 ended with Yugoslavia having entered for seven months the 'New Order,' but still remaining in a state of chaos, confusion, bloodshed and misery. See also CROATIA; GERMANY; ITALY; WORLD WAR II.