Borivoje Mirković ( sr-Cyrl, Боривоје Мирковић; 23 September 1884 – 21 August 1969) was a
brigadier general in the
Royal Yugoslav Air Force.
Early life
Borivoje Mirković was born to Jovan and Smiljana Mirković on 23 September 1884 in
Valjevo,
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...
. He entered the
Serbian Army in 1907. In 1930, he married a woman named Mira. She died in 1937.
World War II
Mirković led and organised the
Yugoslav coup d'état of 27 March 1941 that deposed the regency of
Prince Paul, Dr.
Radenko Stanković and Dr.
Ivo Perović, as well as the government of Prime Minister
Dragiša Cvetković. Mirković and his fellow plotters declared the 17-year-old
Prince Peter to be of age and brought to power a government of national unity led by Air Force General
Dušan Simović. The coup was carried out at British instigation and involved British intelligence operatives. Mirković and the other plotters were all funded by the British. The coup resulted in the
German-led
invasion of Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941 during which the armed forces of
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
were defeated within 11 days. On 14 April 1941, Mirković handed command of the air force to Colonel Petar Vukčević, the commander of the 4th Bomber Brigade. On 16 April, he was fleeing the country by air when the aircraft he was travelling in was hit by Greek anti-aircraft fire near Preveza, and crashed. Mirković was seriously injured. He was based in Cairo for a period, where he was involved with a faction of the Yugoslav government-in-exile that was supported by British intelligence in Egypt. He died in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
on 21 August 1969.
Footnotes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirkovic, Borivoje
1884 births
1969 deaths
Military personnel from Valjevo
People from the Kingdom of Serbia
Royal Yugoslav Air Force personnel
Serbian soldiers