Trieste Operation
The Race for Trieste, was a battle during the Second World War that took place during early May 1945. It led to a joint allied victory for the Yugoslav Partisans and 2nd New Zealand Division and a joint occupation of Trieste, but relations soon deteriorated and led to a nine-year dispute over the territory of Trieste. This battle is also considered the last battle in which a considerable force of Chetniks fought, as 13,000 of the irregular troops under Momčilo Đujić surrendered to the New Zealand forces under Lieutenant General Sir Bernard Freyberg as the battle progressed. Prelude Yugoslav Front The Yugoslavs achieved a breakthrough after a series of hard-fought encounters along the Syrmian Front in late 1944 and early 1945. Present at the pivotal Battle of Knin, the Yugoslav 4th Army then spent most of spring and early summer advancing north through Dalmatia with the intent of taking Trieste without help from Western Allies, thereby justifying a claim to the de jure Italian ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World War II In Yugoslavia
World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the USSR on 22 June 1941, the communist-led republican Yugoslav Partisans, on orders from Moscow, launched a guerrilla liberation war fighting against the Axis forces and their locally established Puppet state, puppet regimes, including the Axis-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and the Government of National Salvation in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia, German-occupied territory of Serbia. This was dubbed the National Liberation War and Socialist Revolution in post-war Yugoslav communist historiography. Simultaneously, a multi-side civil war was waged between the Yugoslav communist Partisans, the Serbian royalist Chetniks, the Axis-allied Croatian Ustaše and Croatian Home Guard (World War II), Home Guard, Serbian Volun ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Petar Drapšin
Petar Drapšin ( sr-Cyrl, Петар Драпшин; 15 November 1914 – 2 November 1945) was a Yugoslav Partisan commander. Early life and education Drapšin was born to a family of poor peasant farmers in the village of Turija near Srbobran (Szenttamás), Austria-Hungary a few months into World War I. By the time he reached school age, the war ended, resulting in the Austro-Hungarian defeat and disintegration along with formation of a new state Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He completed primary school in his village before going to nearby Srbobran for lower gymnasium studies. He then moved to the country's capital Belgrade, apprenticing for a tradesman position. After completing his trade term, he enrolled in the streamlined technical high school where he first got introduced to the workers' movement ideas under the auspices of the Communist Party (KPJ), a political organization banned in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Active in the school's literary section that acti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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De Jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally recognized. Examples Between 1805 and 1914, the ruling dynasty of Egypt were subject to the rulers of the Ottoman Empire, but acted as de facto independent rulers who maintained a polite fiction of Ottoman suzerainty. However, starting from around 1882, the rulers had only de jure rule over Egypt, as it had by then become a British puppet state. Thus, by Ottoman law, Egypt was de jure a province of the Ottoman Empire, but de facto was part of the British Empire. In U.S. law, particularly after ''Brown v. Board of Education'' (1954), the difference between de facto segregation (segregation that existed because of the voluntary associations and neighborhoods) and de jure segregation (segregation that existed because of local laws that m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Allies (World War II)
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. Its principal members by 1941 were the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China. Membership in the Allies varied during the course of the war. When the conflict broke out on 1 September 1939, the Allied coalition consisted of the United Kingdom, France, and Poland, as well as their respective dependencies, such as British India. They were soon joined by the independent dominions of the British Commonwealth: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Consequently, the initial alliance resembled that of the First World War. As Axis forces began invading northern Europe and the Balkans, the Allies added the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Greece, and Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union, which initially had a nonaggression pact ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, stretching from the island of Rab in the north to the Bay of Kotor in the south. The Dalmatian Hinterland ranges in width from fifty kilometres in the north, to just a few kilometres in the south; it is mostly covered by the rugged Dinaric Alps. List of islands of Croatia, Seventy-nine islands (and about 500 islets) run parallel to the coast, the largest (in Dalmatia) being Brač, Pag (island), Pag, and Hvar. The largest city is Split, Croatia, Split, followed by Zadar and Šibenik. The name of the region stems from an Illyrians, Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, who lived in the area in classical antiquity. Later it became a Dalmatia (Roman province), Roman province, and as result a Romance languages, Romance culture ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Knin
The battle of Knin ( sh, Kninska operacija) was a major Yugoslav Partisan operation during World War II in Yugoslavia launched by the 8th Dalmatian Corps from 7 November to 9 December 1944 with the purpose of destroying German, Ustaše and Chetnik formations in North Dalmatia and the city of Knin, then part of the Independent State of Croatia. It was the final part of the 8th Corps offensive for the liberation of Dalmatia which began on 12 September 1944. The Knin operation had three phases: Initial battles on approaches to Knin from 7 November to 25 November, main battle and liberation of Knin from 26 November to 4 December, and final battles and pursuit of retreating Axis forces to Otrić in Lika from 5 December to 9 December. Background Following the liberation of Šibenik and Drniš, the forces of the 26th Division pursued the Germans towards Knin, but met fierce resistance south of the city. Soon the Command of the 8th Corps started grouping its forces for the attack on Kni ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Syrmian Front
The Syrmian Front ( sh, Srijemski front/Sremski front) was an Axis line of defense during World War II. It was established as part of the Eastern Front in late October 1944 in Syrmia and east Slavonia, northwest of Belgrade. After the Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army expelled the Germans from Belgrade in the Belgrade Offensive, the retreating Wehrmacht and the Croatian Armed Forces used fortifications to protect the withdrawal of German Army Group E from the Balkans. With help from their Soviet allies, the Partisans (by then recognized as the Yugoslav army), joined by Bulgarian and Italian forces, fought a difficult winter campaign and finally broke through the front on 12 April 1945. After the Syrmian front was broken, occupied Yugoslavia was liberated. Operative background and significance After the September advance through Romania and Bulgaria in October 1944, The Red Army, together with Yugoslav forces, took Belgrade (central communication node of the Balkans) in t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a captain general. In modern armies, lieutenant general normally ranks immediately below general and above major general; it is equivalent to the navy rank of vice admiral, and in air forces with a separate rank structure, it is equivalent to air marshal. A lieutenant general commands an army corps, made up of typically three army divisions, and consisting of around 60 000 to 70 000 soldiers (U.S.). The seeming incongruity that a lieutenant general outranks a major general (whereas a major outranks a lieutenant) is due to the derivation of major general from sergeant major general, which was a rank subordinate to lieutenant general (as a lieutenant outranks a sergeant major). In contrast, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Geoffrey Cox (journalist)
Sir Geoffrey Sandford Cox (7 April 1910 – 2 April 2008) was a New Zealand-born newspaper and television journalist. He was a former editor and chief executive of ITN and a founder of '' News at Ten''. Early life Cox was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand, the son of Charles William Sandford Cox, a bank manager, and Mary Cox, daughter of Duncan MacGregor. He was educated at Southland Boys' High School, followed by the University of Otago and then a Rhodes scholarship to Oriel College, Oxford, from 1932 to 1935. Career His career in journalism began in 1935 when he joined the ''News Chronicle''. He covered the Spanish Civil War from Madrid, then went to Vienna and Paris for the ''Daily Express'' in which he broke the news in 1939 that British troops had arrived in France. He then covered the Winter War from Finland. He was critical of the Soviet attack on Finland but foresaw that the Red Army would defeat the Germans. He enlisted in the New Zealand Army, serving in Cr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Momčilo Đujić
Momčilo Đujić ( sh-Cyrl, Момчилo Ђујић, ; 27 February 1907 – 11 September 1999) was a Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox priest and Chetnik . He led a significant proportion of the Chetniks within the northern Dalmatia and western Bosnia (region), Bosnia regions of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a German-occupied Europe, fascist puppet state created from parts of the occupied Kingdom of Yugoslavia during World War II. In this role he Collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II, collaborated extensively with the Italian and then the German occupying forces against the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, communist-led Yugoslav Partisans, Partisan insurgency. Đujić was ordained as a priest in 1933 and gained a reputation as something of a firebrand in the pulpit. After the assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia, King Alexander of Yugoslavia in 1934, he joined the Chetniks in the interwar period, Chetnik Association of Kosta Pećana ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Giovanni Esposito (general)
Giovanni Esposito (Loreto Aprutino, May 18, 1882 – Rome, June 3, 1958) was an Italian general during World War II and a recipient of the Gold Medal of Military Valor. He commanded the 5th Alpine Division "Pusteria" in 1941–1942, and the territorial defense of Trieste from 1943 to 1945, joining the Italian Social Republic. Biography Early years Esposito was born in Loreto Aprutino on May 18, 1882, the son of Giovanni Esposito di Zopito and Apollonia Acerbo. He enlisted in the Royal Italian Army as a trainee sergeant assigned to the 36th Infantry Regiment. On October 31, 1904 he entered the Royal Military Academy of Modena and on September 14, 1906 he was appointed second lieutenant, assigned to the 5th Alpini Regiment, where he was promoted to lieutenant in September 1909. After the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish war, on December 16, 1911 he landed in Derna with the "Edolo" Alpini Battalion, leading a bayonet charge. During a battle on December 27, while marching ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |