Edgar Angeli (11 May 1892 – 17 June 1945) was a Croatian rear admiral who served as the commander of the

Navy of the Independent State of Croatia The Navy of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, Ratna Mornarica Nezavisne Države Hrvatske, RMNDH), was the navy of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, links=no, NDH), an Axis puppet state controlled by the fas ...

between 1943 and 1944.

Biography

Angeli was born in 1892 in Karlovac,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, Angeli attended the Naval Academy of Austrian-Hungarian. As a naval officer, he participated in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

serving in the fleet based in Rijeka. In 1919 he was assigned to War Navy of

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

, holding the rank of lieutenant commander. He later rose to the rank of Captain while commanding a river fleet, and witnessed the capitulation of

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

. Because of his connections with Croatian officers who supported the

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Move ...

and

Slavko Kvaternik Slavko Kvaternik (25 August 1878 – 7 June 1947) was a Croatian Ustaše military general and politician who was one of the founders of the Ustaše movement. Kvaternik was military commander and Minister of '' Domobranstvo'' (''Armed Forces''). O ...

, he became an officer of the newly formed

becoming its deputy commander from 10 April 1941 – 14 April 1943. For these actions, the Yugoslav Government in exile declared him a traitor and deprived him of his former Naval rank. In the Croatian Navy, he continued to command a river fleet and also commanded a coastal port gendarmerie. He participated in the creation of the

Croatian Naval Legion The Croatian Naval Legion ( hr, Hrvatska pomorska legija) was a contingent of volunteers from the Independent State of Croatia that served with Nazi Germany's navy '' Kriegsmarine'', on the Black Sea and Adriatic Sea during World War II. Formati ...

which served with the Kriegsmarine on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

and Azov Sea. He also broke the Treaty of Rome, signed by

Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and served as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, l ...

and Benito Mussolini, forbidding Croatia from building any sort of naval fleet. For his merits and war records he was decorated with the

Order of the Crown of King Zvonimir The Order of the Crown of King Zvonimir ( hr, Red krune kralja Zvonimira) was an order awarded by the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). It was established as a "visible sign of decoration for merits done, in peace or in war, for Croatian people ...

3rd Class, on 13 June 1942 from

Poglavnik () was the title used by Ante Pavelić, leader of the World War II Croatian movement Ustaše and of the Independent State of Croatia between 1941 and 1945. Etymology and usage The word was first recorded in a 16th-century dictionary compiled ...

. On 17 September 1943, he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral, becoming a commander of the Croatian Navy. By 21 April 1944, he requested that he be allowed to retire his commission due to a prolonged illness. In May 1945 he was taken by the British Army to Bleiburg, the town where most of the early Yugoslavian War Crimes trials were held, mainly against

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод� ...

. He was subsequently imprisoned by the Partisans and put on trial. He died at some point in 1945.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Angeli, Edgar 1892 births 1945 deaths People from Karlovac Croatian people of Jewish descent People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Austro-Hungarian Navy officers Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Royal Yugoslav Navy personnel of World War II Croatian collaborators with Nazi Germany Croatian admirals Croatian Home Guard personnel Executed Yugoslav collaborators with Nazi Germany Executed Croatian people Croatian Austro-Hungarians Recipients of the Order of the Crown of King Zvonimir