People's Liberation War (Yugoslavia)
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World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...
began on 6 April 1941, when the country was invaded and swiftly conquered by
Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...
forces and partitioned among
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
,
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the USSR on 22 June 1941, the
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
-led republican
Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...
, on orders from
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, launched a
guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...
liberation war Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...
fighting against the Axis forces and their locally established puppet regimes, including the Axis-allied
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...
(NDH) and the
Government of National Salvation The Government of National Salvation (; , VNS), also referred to as Nedić's government or Nedić's regime, was the colloquial name of the second Serbian Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaborationist List of World War II ...
in the 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 A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
was waged between the Yugoslav communist Partisans, the Serbian royalist
Chetniks The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...
, the Axis-allied Croatian
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...
and
Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...
, Serbian Volunteer Corps and
State Guard In the United States, state defense forces (SDFs) are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government. State defense forces are authorized by state and federal law and are under the command of the governor of each st ...
,
Slovene Home Guard The Slovene Home Guard (, SD; ) was a Slovenes#World War II and aftermath, Slovene anti-Slovene Partisans, Partisan militia that was founded and supported by the Germans and fought alongside them against the Partisans. It operated during part of ...
, as well as Nazi-allied Russian Protective Corps troops. Both the Yugoslav Partisans and the Chetnik movement initially resisted the Axis invasion. However, after 1941, Chetniks extensively and systematically
collaborated Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The f ...
with the Italian occupation forces until the
Italian capitulation Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, and thereon also with
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and Ustaše forces. The Axis mounted a series of offensives intended to destroy the Partisans, coming close to doing so in the Battles of Neretva and Sutjeska in the spring and summer of 1943. Despite the setbacks, the Partisans remained a credible fighting force, with their organisation gaining recognition from the
Western Allies Western Allies was a political and geographic grouping among the Allied Powers of the Second World War. It primarily refers to the leading Anglo-American Allied powers, namely the United States and the United Kingdom, although the term has also be ...
at the
Tehran Conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of the Allies of World War II, held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was the first of the Allied World Wa ...
and laying the foundations for the post-war Yugoslav socialist state. With support in logistics and air power from the Western Allies, and Soviet ground troops in the Belgrade offensive, the Partisans eventually gained control of the entire country and of the border regions of
Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
and
Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...
. The victorious Partisans established the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
. The conflict in Yugoslavia had one of the highest death tolls by population in the war, and is usually estimated at around one million, about half of whom were civilians. Genocide and ethnic cleansing was carried out by the Axis forces (particularly the ''Wehrmacht'') and their collaborators (particularly the Ustaše and Chetniks), and reprisal actions from the Partisans became more frequent towards the end of the war, and continued after it.


Background

Prior to the outbreak of war, the government of
Milan Stojadinović Milan Stojadinović ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Стојадиновић; 4 August 1888 – 26 October 1961) was a Serbs, Serbian and Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav politician and economist who was the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 1935 to 1939. ...
(1935–1939) tried to navigate between the
Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...
and the imperial powers by seeking neutral status, signing a non-aggression treaty with
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
and extending its treaty of friendship with
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. At the same time, the country was destabilized by internal tensions, as Croatian leaders demanded a greater level of autonomy. Stojadinović was sacked by the regent Prince Paul in 1939 and replaced by
Dragiša Cvetković Dragiša Cvetković ( sr-cyr, Драгиша Цветковић; 15 January 1893 – 18 February 1969) was a Yugoslav politician active in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He served as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1939 to 1941 ...
, who negotiated a compromise with Croatian leader
Vladko Maček Vladimir Maček (20 June 1879 – 15 May 1964) was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political figure ...
in 1939, resulting in the formation of the
Banovina of Croatia The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=, Banovina Hrvatska, Бановина Хрватска) was an administrative subdivision ( banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1941. It was formed by a m ...
. However, rather than reducing tensions, the agreement only reinforced the crisis in the country's governance. Groups from both sides of the political spectrum were not satisfied: the pro-fascist
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...
sought an independent Croatia allied with the Axis; Serbian public and military circles preferred alliance with the Western European empires, while the then-banned
Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...
saw the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
as a natural ally. Following the
fall of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Net ...
in May 1940, Yugoslavia's Regent Prince Paul and his government saw no way of saving the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...
except through accommodation with the Axis powers. Although Germany's
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
was not particularly interested in creating another front in the
Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
, and Yugoslavia itself remained at peace during the first year of the war,
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
's Italy had invaded Albania in April 1939 and launched the rather unsuccessful
Italo-Greek War The Greco-Italian War (), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian campaign in Greece, Italian invasion of Greece, and War of '40 in Greece, took place between Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This conflict began the Balk ...
in October 1940. These events resulted in Yugoslavia's geographical isolation from potential Allied support. The government tried to negotiate with the Axis on cooperation with as few concessions as possible, while attempting secret negotiations with the Allies and the Soviet Union, but these moves failed to keep the country out of the war. A secret mission to the U.S., led by the influential Serbian-Jewish Captain David Albala, with the purpose of obtaining funding to buy arms for the expected invasion went nowhere, while the Soviet Union's
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
expelled Yugoslav ambassador
Milan Gavrilović Milan Gavrilović (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Гавриловић; 23 November 1882 – 1 January 1976) was a Serbian lawyer, diplomat, senator, and politician. He is one of the founders of the Agrarian Party and after 1939 was its leader. He ...
just one month after agreeing a treaty of friendship with Yugoslavia (prior to 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia adhered to the
non-aggression pact A non-aggression pact or neutrality pact is a treaty between two or more states/countries that includes a promise by the signatories not to engage in military action against each other. Such treaties may be described by other names, such as a t ...
the parties had signed in August 1939 and in the autumn 1940, Germany and the Soviet Union had been in talks on the USSR's potential accession to the
Tripartite Pact The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano, and Saburō Kurusu (in that order) and in the ...
).


1941

Having steadily fallen within the orbit of the Axis during 1940 after events such as the
Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all of Maramureș and part of Cri ...
, Yugoslavia followed
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
and formally joined the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941. Senior Serbian air force officers opposed to the move staged a coup d'état and took over in the following days.


Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia

On 6 April 1941 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was
invaded An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of co ...
from all sides – by Germany, Italy, and their ally Hungary. Belgrade was bombed by the German air force (''
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
''). The war, known in the post-Yugoslavia states as the ''April War'', lasted little more than ten days, ending with the unconditional surrender of the
Royal Yugoslav Army The Yugoslav Army ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslovenska vojska, JV, Југословенска војска, ЈВ), commonly the Royal Yugoslav Army, was the principal Army, ground force of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It existed from the establishment of ...
on 17 April. Not only hopelessly ill-equipped compared to the German Army ('' Heer''), the Yugoslav army attempted to defend all of its borders, thinly spreading its scarce resources. Additionally, much of the population refused to fight, instead welcoming the Germans as liberators from government oppression. As this meant that each individual ethnic group would turn to movements opposed to the unity promoted by the South Slavic state, two different concepts of anti-Axis resistance emerged: the royalist
Chetniks The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...
, and the
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
-led
Partisans Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Itali ...
. Two of the principal constituent national groups, Slovenes and Croats, were not prepared to fight in defense of a Yugoslav state with a continued Serb monarchy. The only effective opposition to the invasion was from units wholly from Serbia itself. The Serbian General Staff was united on the question of Yugoslavia as a "Greater Serbia" ruled, in one way or another, by Serbia. On the eve of the invasion, there were 165 generals on the Yugoslav active list. Of these, all but four were Serbs. The terms of the surrender were extremely severe, as the Axis proceeded to dismember Yugoslavia. Germany
annexed Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...
northern
Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
, while retaining direct occupation over a rump Serbian state. Germany also exercised considerable influence over the
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...
(NDH) proclaimed on 10 April, which extended over much of today's
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
and contained all of modern
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
, despite the fact that the
Treaties of Rome The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was signe ...
concluded between the NDH and Italy on 18 May envisioned the NDH becoming an effective protectorate of Italy. Mussolini's Italy gained the remainder of Slovenia,
Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
, coastal and inland areas of the
Croatian Littoral Croatian Littoral () is a historical name for the region of Croatia comprising mostly the coastal areas between traditional Dalmatia to the south, Mountainous Croatia to the north, Istria and the Kvarner Gulf of the Adriatic Sea to the west. T ...
and large chunks of the coastal
Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...
region (along with nearly all of the
Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
islands and the
Bay of Kotor The Bay of Kotor ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Boka kotorska, Бока которска, separator=" / ", ), also known as the Boka ( sh-Cyrl, Бока), is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea in southwestern Montenegro and the region of Montenegro concentrated a ...
). It also gained control over the
Italian governorate of Montenegro The Italian governorate of Montenegro () existed from October 1941 to September 1943 as an occupied territory under military government of Fascist Italy during World War II. Although the Italians had intended to establish a quasi-independent Mon ...
, and was granted the kingship in the Independent State of Croatia, though wielding little real power within it; although it did (alongside Germany) maintain a de facto zone of influence within the borders of the NDH.
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
dispatched the
Hungarian Third Army The Hungarian Third Army () was a field army in the Royal Hungarian Army that saw action during World War II. Commanders * Lieutenant General Elemér Gorondy-Novák from 1 March 1940 to 1 November 1941 * Lieutenant General Zoltán Decleva from 1 ...
to occupy Vojvodina in northern Serbia, and later forcibly annexed sections of Baranja, Bačka, Međimurje, and Prekmurje. The Bulgarian army moved in on 19 April 1941, occupying nearly all of modern-day
North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
and some districts of eastern Serbia which, with Greek western Thrace and eastern Macedonia (the Aegean Province), were annexed by Bulgaria on 14 May. The
government in exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovereign state or semi-sovereign state, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usu ...
was now only recognized by the Allied powers. The Axis had recognized the territorial acquisitions of their allied states.


Early resistance

From the start, the Yugoslav resistance forces consisted of two factions: the Partisans, a communist-led movement propagating pan-Yugoslav tolerance ("
brotherhood and unity Brotherhood and unity was a popular slogan of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia that was coined during the Yugoslav People's Liberation War (1941–45), and which evolved into a guiding principle of Yugoslavia's post-war inter-ethnic policy. ...
") and incorporating republican, left-wing and liberal elements of Yugoslav politics, on one hand, and the Chetniks, a conservative royalist and nationalist force, enjoying support almost exclusively from the
Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...
population in occupied Yugoslavia, on the other hand. From the start and until 1943, the Chetniks, who fought in the name of the London-based King Peter II's Yugoslav government-in-exile, enjoyed recognition and support from the Western Allies, while the Partisans were supported by the Soviet Union. At the very beginning, the Partisan forces were relatively small, poorly armed, and without any infrastructure. But they had two major advantages over other military and
paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
formations in former Yugoslavia: the first and most immediate advantage was a small but valuable cadre of Spanish Civil War veterans. Unlike some of the other military and paramilitary formations, these veterans had experience with a modern war fought in circumstances quite similar to those found in World War II Yugoslavia. In Slovenia, the Partisans likewise drew on the experienced
TIGR TIGR (an acronym of the place-names ''Trieste, Trst'', ''Istria, Istra'', ''Gorizia, Gorica'', and ''Rijeka, Reka''), fully the Revolutionary Organization of the Julian March T.I.G.R. (), was a Militant (word), militant Anti-fascism, anti-fascis ...
members to train troops. Their other major advantage, which became more apparent in the later stages of the War, was in the Partisans being founded on a communist ideology rather than
ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...
. Therefore, they won support that crossed national lines, meaning they could expect at least some levels of support in almost any corner of the country, unlike other paramilitary formations limited to territories with Croat or Serb majority. This allowed their units to be more mobile and fill their ranks with a larger pool of potential recruits. While the activity of the
Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Macedonia * Mac ...
and Slovene Partisans was part of the Yugoslav People's Liberation War, the specific conditions in Macedonia and Slovenia, due to the strong
autonomist Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose ...
tendencies of the local communists, led to the creation of separate sub-armies called the
People's Liberation Army of Macedonia The Macedonian Partisans, officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Macedonia, was a communist and anti-fascist resistance movement formed in occupied Yugoslavia which was active in the World War II in Yugoslav Macedon ...
, and the
Slovene Partisans The Slovene Partisans, formally the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Slovenia, were part of Europe's most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement Jeffreys-Jones, R. (2013): ''In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence ...
led by the
Liberation Front of the Slovene People The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation (), or simply Liberation Front (''Osvobodilna fronta'', OF), originally called the Anti-Imperialist Front (''Protiimperialistična fronta'', PIF), was a Slovene anti-fascist political party. The Anti-Imp ...
, respectively. The most numerous local force, apart from the four second-line German Wehrmacht infantry divisions assigned to occupation duties, was the Croatian Home Guard (''Hrvatsko domobranstvo'') founded in April 1941, a few days after the founding of the NDH. The force was formed with the authorisation of German authorities. The task of the new Croatian armed forces was to defend the new state against both foreign and domestic enemies. The Croatian Home Guard was originally limited to 16 infantry
battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...
s and 2 cavalry
squadrons Squadron(s) may refer to: Military * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 ...
– 16,000 men in total. The original 16 battalions were soon enlarged to 15 infantry regiments of two battalions each between May and June 1941, organised into five divisional commands, some 55,000 enlisted men. Support units included 35 light tanks supplied by Italy, 10 artillery battalions (equipped with captured Royal Yugoslav Army weapons of Czech origin), a cavalry regiment in
Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
and an independent cavalry battalion at
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...
. Two independent motorized infantry battalions were based at Zagreb and Sarajevo respectively. Several regiments of Ustaše militia were also formed at this time, which operated under a separate command structure to, and independently from, the Croatian Home Guard, until late 1944. The Home Guard crushed the Serb revolt in Eastern Herzegovina in June 1941, and in July they fought in Eastern and Western Bosnia. They fought in Eastern Herzegovina again, when Croatian-Dalmatian and Slavonian battalions reinforced local units. The Italian High Command assigned 24 divisions and three coastal brigades to occupation duties in Yugoslavia from 1941. These units were located from Slovenia, Croatia and Dalmatia through to Montenegro and Kosovo. From 1931 to 1939, the Soviet Union had prepared communists for a guerrilla war in Yugoslavia. On the eve of the war, hundreds of future prominent Yugoslav communist leaders completed special "partisan courses" organised by the Soviet military intelligence in the Soviet Union and Spain. On the day Germany attacked the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) received orders from Moscow-based
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
to come to the Soviet Union's aid. On the same day, Croatian communists set up the 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment, the first armed anti-fascist resistance unit formed by a resistance movement in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. The detachment began resistance activities the day after its creation; launching sabotage and diversionary attacks on nearby railway lines, destroying telegraph poles, attacking municipal buildings in surrounding villages, seizing arms and ammunition and creating a Communist propaganda network in Sisak and nearby villages. At the same time, the CPY's Provincial Committee for Serbia made its decision to launch an armed uprising in Serbia and put together its Supreme Staff of the National Liberation Partisan Units of Yugoslavia to be chaired by
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
. On 4 July, a formal order to begin the uprising was issued. On 7 July, the Bela Crkva incident happened, which would later be considered the beginning of the uprising in Serbia. On 10 August 1941 in Stanulović, a mountain village, the Partisans formed the Kopaonik Partisan Detachment Headquarters. Their liberated area, consisting of nearby villages and called the "Miners Republic", was the first in Yugoslavia, and lasted 42 days. The resistance fighters formally joined the ranks of the Partisans later on. The Chetnik movement (officially the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, JVUO) was organised following the surrender of the Royal Yugoslav Army by some of the remaining Yugoslav soldiers. This force was organised in the
Ravna Gora Ravna Gora (Slavic meaning "flat hill") may refer to several places: Serbia * Ravna Gora (highland), a highland in Serbia known for its relation with the Chetnik movement * Ravna Gora (Ivanjica), a village near Ivanjica * Ravna Gora (Vlasotince), ...
district of western Serbia under Colonel
Draža Mihailović Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгољуб "Дража" Михаиловић; 27 April 1893 – 17 July 1946) was a Yugoslavs, Yugoslav Serb general during World War II. He was the leader of the Chetniks, Chetnik Detachments ...
in mid-May 1941. However, unlike the Partisans, Mihailović's forces were almost entirely ethnic Serbs. The Partisans and Chetniks attempted to cooperate early during the conflict and Chetniks were active in the uprising in Serbia, but this fell apart thereafter. In September 1941, Partisans organised sabotage at the General Post Office in Zagreb. As the levels of resistance to its occupation grew, the Axis Powers responded with numerous minor offensives. There were also seven major Axis operations specifically aimed at eliminating all or most Yugoslav Partisan resistance. These major offensives were typically combined efforts by the German
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
and SS,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, Chetniks, the Independent State of Croatia, the Serbian collaborationist government, Bulgaria, and
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. The First Anti-Partisan Offensive was the attack conducted by the Axis in autumn of 1941 against the "
Republic of Užice The Republic of Užice ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Užička republika, Ужичка република) was a short-lived liberated Yugoslav territory and the first liberated territory in World War II Europe, organized as a military mini ...
", a liberated territory the Partisans established in western Serbia. In November 1941, German troops attacked and reoccupied this territory, with the majority of Partisan forces escaping towards
Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
. It was during this offensive that tenuous collaboration between the Partisans and the royalist Chetnik movement broke down and turned into open hostility. After fruitless negotiations, the Chetnik leader, General Mihailović, turned against the Partisans as his main enemy. According to him, the reason was humanitarian: the prevention of German reprisals against Serbs. This however, did not stop the activities of the Partisan resistance, and Chetnik units attacked the Partisans in November 1941, while increasingly receiving supplies and cooperating with the Germans and Italians in this. The British liaison to Mihailović advised London to stop supplying the Chetniks after the Užice attack (see First Anti-Partisan Offensive), but Britain continued to do so.LCWeb2.loc.gov
/ref> On 22 December 1941 the Partisans formed the 1st Proletarian Assault Brigade (''1. Proleterska Udarna Brigada'') – the first regular Partisan military unit capable of operating outside its local area. 22 December became the "Day of the
Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...
".


1942

On 15 January 1942, the Bulgarian 1st Army, with three infantry divisions, transferred to south-eastern Serbia. Headquartered at
Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...
, it replaced German divisions needed in Croatia and the Soviet Union. The Chetniks initially enjoyed the support of the Western Allies (up to the
Tehran Conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of the Allies of World War II, held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was the first of the Allied World Wa ...
in December 1943). In 1942, ''
Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...
'' featured an article which praised the "success" of Mihailović's Chetniks and heralded him as the sole defender of freedom in Nazi-occupied Europe. Tito's Partisans fought the Germans more actively during this time. Tito and Mihailović had a bounty of 100,000
Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...
s offered by Germans for their heads. While "officially" remaining mortal enemies of the Germans and the Ustaše, the Chetniks were known for making clandestine deals with the Italians. The
Second Enemy Offensive Operation Southeast Croatia () was a large-scale German-led counter-insurgency operation conducted in the southeastern parts of the Independent State of Croatia (, NDH; modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina) during World War II. It was the first o ...
was a coordinated Axis attack conducted in January 1942 against Partisan forces in eastern Bosnia. The Partisan troops once again avoided encirclement and were forced to retreat over the
Igman Igman ( sr-cyrl, Игман, ) is a mountain plateau in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. Geologically, Igman is part of the Dinaric Alps and formed largely of secondary and tertiary sedimentary rock, mostly Limestone. It is located southwest of S ...
mountain near Sarajevo. The
Third Enemy Offensive The Third Enemy Offensive forms part of the Seven Enemy Offensives framework in Yugoslav historiography. It consisted of two major counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of action ...
, an offensive against Partisan forces in eastern Bosnia,
Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...
,
Sandžak Sandžak (Serbian Cyrillic: ; ) is a historical and geo-political region in the Balkans, located in the southwestern part of Serbia and the eastern part of Montenegro. The Bosnian/ Serbian term ''Sandžak'' derives from the Sanjak of Novi Paza ...
and
Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...
which took place in the spring of 1942, was known as ''Operation TRIO'' by the Germans, and again ended with a timely Partisan escape. Over the course of the summer, they conducted the so-called
Partisan Long March The Partisan Long March was the redeployment of Josip Broz Tito's Partisan Supreme Headquarters and the major fighting elements of the Yugoslav Partisans across the Independent State of Croatia (, NDH), from south-eastern to north-western Bosnia ( ...
westwards through Bosnia and Herzegovina, while at the same time the Axis conducted the
Kozara Offensive The Kozara Offensive (), also known as Operation West Bosnia () was a large-scale German-led counter-insurgency operation against the Yugoslav Partisans in the Bosnian mountain region of Kozara in the Independent State of Croatia during World Wa ...
in northwestern Bosnia. The Partisans fought an increasingly successful guerrilla campaign against the Axis occupiers and their local collaborators, including the Chetniks (which they also considered collaborators). They enjoyed gradually increased levels of success and support of the general populace, and succeeded in controlling large chunks of Yugoslav territory.
People's committees People's, branded as ''People's ViennaLine'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt GmbH'', is an Austro-Swiss airline headquartered in Vienna, Austria. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly from its base at St. ...
were organised to act as civilian governments in areas of the country liberated by the Partisans. In places, even limited arms industries were set up. To gather
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...
, agents of the Western Allies were infiltrated into both the Partisans and the Chetniks. The intelligence gathered by liaisons to the resistance groups was crucial to the success of supply missions and was the primary influence on Allied strategy in the
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 ...
. The search for intelligence ultimately resulted in the decline of the Chetniks and their eclipse by Tito's Partisans. In 1942, though supplies were limited, token support was sent equally to each. In November 1942, Partisan detachments were officially merged into the People's Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia (''NOV i POJ'').


1943


Critical Axis offensives

In the first half of 1943 two Axis offensives came close to defeating the Partisans. They are known by their German code names Fall Weiss ''(Case White)'' and Fall Schwarz ''(Case Black)'', as the Battle of Neretva and the Battle of Sutjeska after the rivers in the areas they were fought, or the Fourth and Fifth Enemy Offensive, respectively, according to former Yugoslav historiography. On 7 January 1943, the Bulgarian 1st Army also occupied south-west Serbia. Savage pacification measures reduced Partisan activity appreciably. Bulgarian infantry divisions in the Fifth anti-Partisan Offensive blocked the Partisan escape-route from Montenegro into
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
and also participated in the
Sixth anti-Partisan Offensive Operation Kugelblitz () was a massive Counterinsurgency, counter-insurgency operation by the Nazi Germany, German 2nd Panzer Army conjunction with Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaborationist forces against the Yugoslav Par ...
in Eastern Bosnia. Negotiations between Germans and Partisans started on 11 March 1943 in
Gornji Vakuf Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje ( sr-cyrl, Горњи Вакуф-Ускопље) is a town and municipality located in Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Etymology Although settlements ...
, Bosnia. Tito's key officers
Vladimir Velebit Vladimir "Vlatko" Velebit, PhD (19 August 1907 – 29 August 2004) was a Yugoslav politician, diplomat and military leader who rose the rank of Major-General during World War II. A lawyer by profession, after the war he became a diplomat an ...
,
Koča Popović Konstantin "Koča" Popović ( sr-cyrl, Константин "Коча" Поповић; 14 March 1908 – 20 October 1992) was a Serbia, Serbian and Yugoslavs, Yugoslav politician and communist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, 1937–1939 and D ...
and
Milovan Đilas Milovan Djilas (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Милован Ђилас, Milovan Đilas, ; 12 June 1911 – 20 April 1995) was a Yugoslav communist politician, theorist and author. He was a key figure in the Partisan movement during World War II, as well ...
brought three proposals, first about an exchange of prisoners, second about the implementation of international law on treatment of prisoners and third about political questions. The delegation expressed concerns about Italian involvement in supplying the Chetnik army and stated that the National Liberation Movement was an independent movement, with no aid from the Soviet Union or the UK. Somewhat later, Đilas and Velebit were brought to Zagreb to continue the negotiations. In the Fourth Enemy Offensive, also known as the Battle of the Neretva or ''Fall Weiss'' (Case White), Axis forces pushed Partisan troops to retreat from western Bosnia to northern Herzegovina, culminating in the Partisan retreat over the
Neretva The Neretva (, sr-Cyrl, Неретва), also known as Narenta, is one of the largest rivers of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. Four Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power plants with Dam, large dams (higher than 15 metres) provide flood ...
river. This took place from January to April, 1943. The Fifth Enemy Offensive, also known as the Battle of the Sutjeska or ''Fall Schwarz'' (Case Black), immediately followed the Fourth Offensive and included a complete encirclement of Partisan forces in southeastern Bosnia and northern Montenegro in May and June 1943. The Croatian Home Guard reached its maximum size at the end of 1943, when it had 130,000 men. It also included an air force, the
Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia The Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia (; ZNDH), was the air force of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a puppet state established with the support of the Axis Powers on the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during World W ...
(''Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske'', or ZNDH), the backbone of which was provided by 500 former
Royal Yugoslav Air Force The Royal Yugoslav Air Force ( sh-Latn, Jugoslovensko kraljevsko ratno vazduhoplovstvo, JKRV; sh-Cyrl, Југословенско краљевско ратно ваздухопловство, ЈКРВ; (, JKVL); lit. "Yugoslav royal war aviatio ...
officers and 1,600 NCOs with 125 aircraft. By 1943 the ZNDH was 9,775 strong and equipped with 295 aircraft.


Italian capitulation and Allied support for the Partisans

On 8 September 1943, the Italians concluded an armistice with the Allies, leaving 17 divisions stranded in Yugoslavia. All divisional commanders refused to join the Germans. Two Italian infantry divisions joined the Montenegrin Partisans as complete units, while another joined the Albanian Partisans. Other units surrendered to the Germans to face imprisonment in Germany or
summary execution In civil and military jurisprudence, summary execution is the putting to death of a person accused of a crime without the benefit of a free and fair trial. The term results from the legal concept of summary justice to punish a summary offense, a ...
. Others surrendered themselves and their arms, ammunition and equipment to Croatian forces or to the Partisans, simply disintegrated, or reached Italy on foot via Trieste or by ship across the Adriatic. The Italian Governorship of Dalmatia was disestablished and the country's possessions were subsequently divided between Germany, which established its
Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral The Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (, OZAK; or colloquially: ''Operationszone Adria''; ; ; ) was a Nazi German district on the northern Adriatic coast created during World War II in 1943. It was formed out of territories that were pre ...
, and the Independent State of Croatia, which established the new district of Sidraga-Ravni Kotari. The former Italian kingdoms of Albania and of Montenegro were placed under German occupation. On 25 September 1943, the German High Command launched Operation ''"Istrien"'', and on October 21 the military operation ''"Wolkenbruch"'' with the aim of destroying Partisan units in the Slovene-populated lands,
Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...
and the Littoral. In that operation 2,500 Istrians were killed among whom were Partisans and civilians including women, children, and elderly. Partisan units which did not withdraw from Istria in time were completely destroyed. German troops, including the SS division "Prinz Eugen", on September 25 began to carry out a plan for the complete destruction of the Partisans in Primorska and Istria. Events in 1943 brought about a change in the attitude of the Allies. The Germans were executing Fall Schwarz (Battle of Sutjeska, the Fifth anti-Partisan offensive), one of a series of offensives aimed at the resistance fighters, when F.W.D. Deakin was sent by the British to gather information. His reports contained two important observations. The first was that the Partisans were courageous and aggressive in battling the German 1st Mountain and 104th Light Division, had suffered significant casualties, and required support. The second observation was that the entire German 1st Mountain Division had transited from the Soviet Union on rail lines through Chetnik-controlled territory. British intercepts (ULTRA) of German message traffic confirmed Chetnik timidity. Even though today many circumstances, facts, and motivations remain unclear, intelligence reports resulted in increased Allied interest in Yugoslavia air operations and shifted policy. The
Sixth Enemy Offensive Operation Kugelblitz () was a massive counter-insurgency operation by the German 2nd Panzer Army conjunction with collaborationist forces against the Yugoslav Partisans around the eastern Bosnian region of the Independent State of Croatia during ...
was a series of operations undertaken by the Wehrmacht and the Ustaše after the
capitulation of Italy The Armistice of Cassibile ( Italian: ''Armistizio di Cassibile'') was an armistice that was signed on 3 September 1943 by Italy and the Allies, marking the end of hostilities between Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was made public ...
in an attempt to secure the
Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
coast. It took place in the autumn and winter of 1943/1944. At this point the Partisans were able to win the moral, as well as limited material support of the Western Allies, who until then had supported Mihailović's Chetnik Forces, but were finally convinced of their collaboration by many intelligence-gathering missions dispatched to both sides during the course of the war. In September 1943, at Churchill's request, Brigadier General Fitzroy Maclean was parachuted to Tito's headquarters near
Drvar Drvar (, ) is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Drvar in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the road between Bosansko Grahovo an ...
to serve as a permanent, formal liaison to the Partisans. While the Chetniks were still occasionally supplied, the Partisans received the bulk of all future support. When the
AVNOJ The Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia,; ; commonly abbreviated as the AVNOJ, was a deliberative and legislative body that was established in Bihać, Yugoslavia, in November 1942. It was established by Josip Broz ...
(the Partisan wartime council in Yugoslavia) was eventually recognized by the Allies, by late 1943, the official recognition of the Partisan
Democratic Federal Yugoslavia Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, also known as Democratic Federative Yugoslavia (DF Yugoslavia or DFY), was a provisional state established during World War II on 29 November 1943 through the Second Session of the Anti-Fascist Council for the Natio ...
soon followed. The National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia was recognized by the major Allied powers at the Tehran Conference, when United States agreed to the position of other Allies. The newly recognized Yugoslav government, headed by Prime Minister Tito, was a joint body formed of AVNOJ members and the members of the former government-in-exile in London. The resolution of a fundamental question, whether the new state would remained a monarchy or become a republic, was postponed until the end of the war, as was the status of King Peter II. Subsequent to switching their support to the Partisans, the Allies set up the
RAF Balkan Air Force The Balkan Air Force (BAF) was an Allied air formation operating in the Balkans during World War II. Composed of units of the Royal Air Force and South African Air Force under the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces command, it was active from 7 Jun ...
(at the suggestion of Maclean) with the aim to provide increased supplies and tactical air support for Marshal Tito's Partisan forces.


1944


Last Axis offensive

In January 1944, Tito's forces unsuccessfully attacked
Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city in Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is the tr ...
. But, while Tito was forced to withdraw, Mihajlović and his forces were also noted by the Western press for their lack of activity. The Seventh Enemy Offensive was the final Axis attack in western Bosnia in the spring of 1944, which included ''Operation Rösselsprung'' (Knight's Leap), an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate Josip Broz Tito personally and annihilate the leadership of the Partisan movement.


Partisan growth to domination

Allied aircraft specifically started targeting ZNDH (Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia) and Luftwaffe bases and aircraft for the first time as a result of the
Seventh Offensive Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season epi ...
, including ''Operation Rösselsprung'' in late May 1944. Up until then Axis aircraft could fly inland almost at will, as long as they remained at low altitude. Partisan units on the ground frequently complained about enemy aircraft attacking them while hundreds of Allied aircraft flew above at higher altitude. This changed during ''Rösselsprung'' as Allied fighter-bombers went low en-masse for the first time, establishing full aerial superiority. Consequently, both the ZNDH and Luftwaffe were forced to limit their operations in clear weather to early morning and late afternoon hours. The Yugoslav Partisan movement grew to become the largest resistance force in occupied Europe, with 800,000 men organised in 4
field armies A field army (also known as numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps. It may be subordinate to an army group. Air armies are the equivalent formations in air forces, and fleets ...
. Eventually the Partisans prevailed against all of their opponents as the official army of the newly founded Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (later Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). In 1944, the Macedonian and Serbian commands made contact in southern Serbia and formed a joint command, which consequently placed the Macedonian Partisans under the direct command of Marshal Tito. The Slovene Partisans also merged with Tito's forces in 1944. On 16 June 1944, the Tito-Šubašić agreement between the Partisans and the Yugoslav Government in exile of Peter II was signed on the island of Vis. This agreement was an attempt to form a new Yugoslav government which would include both the communists and the
royalists A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gover ...
. It called for a merge of the Partisan Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia (''Antifašističko V(ij)eće Narodnog Oslobođenja Jugoslavije'', AVNOJ) and the Government in exile. The Tito-Šubašić agreement also called on all Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs to join the Partisans. The Partisans were recognized by the Royal Government as Yugoslavia's regular army. Mihajlović and many Chetniks refused to answer the call. The Chetniks were, however, praised for saving 500 downed Allied pilots in 1944; United States President Harry S. Truman posthumously awarded Mihailović the
Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...
for his contribution to the Allied victory.


Allied advances in Romania and Bulgaria

In August 1944 after the Jassy-Kishinev Offensive overwhelmed the front line of Germany's
Army Group South Ukraine Army Group South Ukraine (, ) was a joint German-Romanian group on the Eastern Front during World War II. Army Group South Ukraine was created on 5 April 1944 by renaming Army Group A. This army group saw action during the Jassy-Kishinev Operat ...
, King Michael I of Romania staged a coup, Romania quit the war, and the Romanian army was placed under the command of the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
. Romanian forces, fighting against Germany, participated in the Prague Offensive.
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
quit as well and, on 10 September, declared war on Germany and its remaining allies. The weak divisions sent by the Axis powers to invade Bulgaria were easily driven back. In Macedonia, the Germans swiftly disarmed the 1st Occupation Corps of 5 divisions and the 5th Army, despite short-lived resistance by the latter. Survivors fought their way back to the old borders of Bulgaria. After the occupation of Bulgaria by the Soviet army, negotiations between Tito and the Bulgarian communist leaders were organised which ultimately resulted in a military alliance between the two. In late September 1944, three Bulgarian armies, some 455,000 strong in total led by General Georgi Marinov Mandjev, entered Yugoslavia with the strategic task of blocking the German forces withdrawing from Greece. The new Bulgarian People's Army and the Red Army
3rd Ukrainian Front The 3rd Ukrainian Front () was a Front of the Soviet Red Army during World War II. It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southwestern Front. It included 1st Guards Army, 8th Gua ...
troops were concentrated at the old Bulgarian-Yugoslav border. At the dawn of October 8, they entered Yugoslavia from the south. The First and Fourth Bulgarian Armies invaded
Vardar Macedonia Vardar Macedonia (Macedonian language, Macedonian and ) is a historical term referring to the central part of the broader Macedonian region, roughly corresponding to present-day North Macedonia. The name derives from the Vardar, Vardar River and i ...
, and the Second Army south-eastern Serbia. The First Army then swung north with the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front, through eastern Yugoslavia and south-western Hungary, before linking up with the British 8th Army in Austria in May 1945.


Liberation of Belgrade and eastern Yugoslavia

Concurrently, with Allied air support and assistance from the Red Army, the Partisans turned their attention to
Central Serbia Central Serbia (), also referred to as Serbia proper (), is the region of Serbia lying outside the autonomous province of Vojvodina to the north and the disputed Kosovo region to the south. Central Serbia is a term of convenience, not an administ ...
. The chief objective was to disrupt railroad communications in the valleys of the Vardar and Morava rivers, and prevent Germans from withdrawing their 300,000+ forces from Greece. The Allied air forces sent 1,973 aircraft (mostly from the US 15th Air Force) over Yugoslavia, which discharged over 3,000 tons of bombs. On 17 August 1944, Tito offered an amnesty to all collaborators. On 12 September, Peter II broadcast a message from London, calling upon all Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to "join the National Liberation Army under the leadership of Marshal Tito". The message reportedly had a devastating effect on the morale of the Chetniks, many of which later defected to the Partisans. They were followed by a substantial number of former Croatian Home Guard and
Slovene Home Guard The Slovene Home Guard (, SD; ) was a Slovenes#World War II and aftermath, Slovene anti-Slovene Partisans, Partisan militia that was founded and supported by the Germans and fought alongside them against the Partisans. It operated during part of ...
troops. In September under the leadership of the new Bulgarian pro-Soviet government, four Bulgarian armies, 455,000 strong in total, were mobilized. By the end of September, the Red Army (3rd Ukrainian Front) troops were concentrated at the Bulgarian-Yugoslav border. In the early October 1944 three Bulgarian armies, consisting of around 340,000 men,''The Oxford companion to World War II'', Ian Dear, Michael Richard Daniell Foot, Oxford University Press, 2001,
p. 134
together with the Red Army, reentered occupied Yugoslavia and moved from Sofia to Niš,
Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...
and
Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...
to block the German forces withdrawing from Greece. The Red Army organised the Belgrade Offensive, and took the city on 20 October. The partisans meanwhile attempted to stem the German withdrawal as the German
Army Group E Army Group E () was a German Army Group active during World War II. Army Group E was created on 1 January 1943 from the 12th Army. Units from this Army Group were distributed throughout the Eastern Mediterranean area, including Albania, Greece ...
abandoned Greece and Albania via Yugoslavia and withdraw to defence lines further north. In September 1944, the allies launched Operation Ratweek, aiming to frustrate German movements through Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. The British also sent a powerful combat unit launching
Operation Floxo Operation Floxo was an intervention by the British Army during the Second World War, British army in World War II in Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia in October 1944, during the Second World War. The operation's main objective was to aid Yugoslav Partisan ...
(known as 'Floydforce') composing of artillery and engineers which the Partisans were lacking. The Partisans with British artillery were able to stem the Germans and liberated
Risan Risan ( Montenegrin: Рисан, ) is a town in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. It traces its origins to the ancient settlement of Rhizon, the oldest settlement in the Bay of Kotor. Lying in the innermost portion of the bay, the settlement was prot ...
and
Podgorica Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...
between October and December. By this time the Partisans effectively controlled the entire eastern half of YugoslaviaSerbia, Macedonia, Montenegroas well as most of the Dalmatian coast. The Wehrmacht and the forces of the Ustaše-controlled Independent State of Croatia fortified a front in Syrmia that held through the winter of 1944–45 in order to aid the evacuation of Army Group E from the Balkans. To raise the number of Partisan troops Tito again offered the amnesty on 21 November 1944. In November 1944, the units of the Ustaše militia and the Croatian Home Guard were reorganised and combined to form the Army of the Independent State of Croatia.


1945

The Germans continued their retreat. Having lost the easier withdrawal route through Serbia, they fought to hold the Syrmian front in order to secure the more difficult passage through Kosovo, Sandzak and Bosnia. They even scored a series of temporary successes against the People's Liberation Army. They left Mostar on 12 February 1945. They did not leave Sarajevo until 15 April. Sarajevo had assumed a last-moment strategic position as the only remaining withdrawal route and was held at substantial cost. In early March the Germans moved troops from southern Bosnia to support an unsuccessful counter-offensive in Hungary, which enabled the NOV to score some successes by attacking the Germans' weakened positions. Although strengthened by Allied aid, a secure rear and mass conscription in areas under their control, the one-time partisans found it difficult to switch to conventional warfare, particularly in the open country west of Belgrade, where the Germans held their own until mid-April in spite of all of the raw and untrained conscripts the NOV hurled in a bloody war of attrition against the Syrmian Front. On 8 March 1945, a coalition Yugoslav government was formed in Belgrade with Tito as Premier and
Ivan Šubašić Ivan Šubašić (7 May 1892 – 22 March 1955) was a Croat politician, best known as the last Ban of Croatia and Prime Minister of the royalist Yugoslav Government in exile during the Second World War. Early life Ivan Šubašić was born in ...
as foreign minister.


Partisan general offensive

On 20 March 1945, the Partisans launched a general offensive in the
Mostar Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...
-
Višegrad Višegrad ( sr-cyrl, Вишеград, ) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It rests at the confluence of the Drina and the Rzav (Drina), Rzav river. As of 2013, the municipality has a population of 10,668 in ...
-
Drina The Drina ( sr-Cyrl, Дрина, ) is a long river in the Balkans, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Al ...
sector. With large swaths of Bosnian, Croatian and Slovenian countryside already under Partisan guerrilla control, the final operations consisted in connecting these territories and capturing major cities and roads. For the general offensive Marshal Josip Broz Tito commanded a Partisan force of about 800,000 men organised into four armies: the *
1st Army First Army may refer to: China * New 1st Army, Republic of China * First Field Army, a Chinese Communist Party unit in the Chinese Civil War * 1st Group Army, People's Republic of China Germany * 1st Army (German Empire), a World War I field Army ...
commanded by
Peko Dapčević Peko Dapčević (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Пеко Дапчевић; 25 June 1913 – 10 February 1999) was a Yugoslav communist who fought as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, joined the Partisan uprising in Montenegro, and became com ...
, * 2nd Army commanded by
Koča Popović Konstantin "Koča" Popović ( sr-cyrl, Константин "Коча" Поповић; 14 March 1908 – 20 October 1992) was a Serbia, Serbian and Yugoslavs, Yugoslav politician and communist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, 1937–1939 and D ...
, * 3rd Army commanded by
Kosta Nađ Konstantin "Kosta" Nađ (; 13 May 1911 – 19 November 1986) was a Yugoslav Partisan army general who commanded Partisan units during World War II in Yugoslavia, primarily in and around the Vojvodina region. Biography Born on 13 May 1911 in Petr ...
, * 4th Army commanded by
Petar Drapšin Petar Drapšin ( sr-Cyrl, Петар Драпшин; 15 November 1914 – 2 November 1945) was a Serbian and Yugoslav Partisan commander. Early life and education Drapšin was born to a family of poor peasant farmers in the village of Turija ...
. In addition, the Yugoslav Partisans had eight independent army corps (the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and the 10th). Set against the Yugoslav Partisans was German General
Alexander Löhr Alexander Löhr (20 May 1885 – 26 February 1947) was an Austrian Air Force (1927–1938), Austrian Air Force commander during the 1930s and, after the Anschluss, annexation of Austria, he was a Luftwaffe commander. Löhr served in the Luftwaff ...
of Army Group E (''Heeresgruppe E''). This Army Group had seven army corps : * XV Mountain Corps, * XV Cossack Corps, * XXI Mountain Corps, * XXXIV Infantry Corps, * LXIX Infantry Corps, * LXXXXVII Infantry Corps. These corps included seventeen weakened divisions ( 1st Cossack, 2nd Cossack, 7th SS, 11th
Luftwaffe Field Division The ''Luftwaffe'' field divisions (German: ''Luftwaffen-Feld-Divisionen'') were the ground forces of the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. History The divisions were originally authorized in October 1942, following suggestions that the ...
, 22nd, 41st, 104th, 117th, 138th, 181st, 188th, 237th, 297th, 369th Croat, 373rd Croat, 392nd Croat and the 14th SS Ukrainian Division). In addition to the seven corps, the Axis had remnant naval and Luftwaffe forces, under constant attack by the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
,
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
and
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
. The army of the Independent State of Croatia was at the time composed of eighteen divisions: 13 infantry, two mountain, two assault and one replacement Croatian Divisions, each with its own
organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...
artillery and other support units. There were also several armoured units. From early 1945, the Croatian Divisions were allocated to various German corps and by March 1945 were holding the Southern Front. Securing the rear areas were some 32,000 men of the Croatian
gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...
(''Hrvatsko Oružništvo''), organised into 5 Police Volunteer Regiments plus 15 independent battalions, equipped with standard light infantry weapons, including mortars. The Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia (''Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske'', or ZNDH) and the units of the
Croatian Air Force Legion The Croatian Air Force Legion (), or HZL, was a unit of the Luftwaffe, composed entirely of volunteers drawn from the nazi puppet-state, the Independent State of Croatia. Many of them had previously served in the Royal Yugoslav Air Force in April ...
(''Hrvatska Zrakoplovna Legija'', or HZL), returned from service on the Eastern Front provided some level of air support (attack, fighter and transport) right up until May 1945, encountering and sometimes defeating opposing aircraft from the British Royal Air Force, United States Air Force and the
Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...
. Although 1944 had been a catastrophic year for the ZNDH, with aircraft losses amounting to 234, primarily on the ground, it entered 1945 with 196 machines. Further deliveries of new aircraft from Germany continued in the early months of 1945 to replace losses. By 10 March, the ZNDH had 23
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...
G&Ks, three Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, six Fiat G.50 Freccia, and two
Messerschmitt Bf 110 The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often known unofficially as the Me 110,Because it was built before ''Bayerische Flugzeugwerke'' became Messerschmitt AG in July 1938, the Bf 110 was never officially given the designation Me 110. is a twin-engined (de ...
G fighters. The final deliveries of up-to-date German Messerschmitt Bf 109 G and K fighter aircraft were still taking place in March 1945. and the ZNDH still had 176 aircraft on its strength in April 1945. Between 30 March and 8 April 1945, General Mihailović's Chetniks mounted a final attempt to establish themselves as a credible force fighting the Axis in Yugoslavia. The Chetniks under Lieutenant Colonel
Pavle Đurišić Pavle Đurišić ( sh-Cyrl, Павле Ђуришић, ; 9 July 1909 – 21 April 1945) was a Montenegrin Serb regular officer of the Royal Yugoslav Army who became a Chetnik commander ('' vojvoda'') and led a significant proportion of the Che ...
fought a combination of Ustaša and Croatian Home Guard forces in the
Battle on Lijevča field A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...
. In late March 1945 elite NDH Army units were withdrawn from the Syrmian front to destroy Djurisic's Chetniks trying to make their way across the northern NDH. The battle was fought near Banja Luka in what was then the Independent State of Croatia and ended in a decisive victory for the Independent State of Croatia forces. Serbian units included the remnants of the
Serbian State Guard The Serbian State Guard (, SDS; sr-Cyrl, Српска државна стража; ), also known as the Nedićevci, was a collaborationist paramilitary force used to impose law and order within the German occupied territory of Serbia during ...
and the Serbian Volunteer Corps from the Serbian Military Administration. There were even some units of the Slovene Home Guard (''Slovensko domobranstvo'', SD) still intact in Slovenia. By the end of March, 1945, it was obvious to the Croatian Army Command that, although the front remained intact, they would eventually be defeated by sheer lack of ammunition. For this reason, the decision was made to retreat into Austria, in order to surrender to the British forces advancing north from Italy. The German Army was in the process of disintegration and the supply system lay in ruins.
Bihać Bihać is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una (Sava), Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in th ...
was liberated by the Partisans the same day that the general offensive was launched. The 4th Army, under the command of
Petar Drapšin Petar Drapšin ( sr-Cyrl, Петар Драпшин; 15 November 1914 – 2 November 1945) was a Serbian and Yugoslav Partisan commander. Early life and education Drapšin was born to a family of poor peasant farmers in the village of Turija ...
, broke through the defences of the
XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps The XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps was a World War II cavalry corps of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the German Nazi Party, primarily recruited from Cossacks. It was originally known as the XIV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps from September 1944, after ...
. By 20 April, Drapšin liberated
Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...
and the Croatian Littoral, including the islands, and reached the old Yugoslav border with Italy. On 1 May, after capturing the Italian territories of
Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...
and Istria from the German LXXXXVII Corps, the Yugoslav 4th Army beat the western Allies to
Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
by one day. The Yugoslav 2nd Army, under the command of Koča Popović, forced a crossing of the
Bosna River The Bosna ( sr-Cyrl, Босна, ) is the third longest river in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is considered one of the country's three major internal rivers, along with the Neretva and the Vrbas. The other three major rivers of Bosnia and Herzeg ...
on 5 April, capturing
Doboj Doboj ( sr-Cyrl, Добој, ) is a city in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of the Bosna (river), Bosna river, in the northern region of Republika Srpska. As of 2013, it has a population of 71,441 inhabita ...
, and reached the Una River. On 6 April, the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Corps of the Yugoslav Partisans took Sarajevo from the German XXI Corps. On 12 April, the Yugoslav 3rd Army, under the command of
Kosta Nađ Konstantin "Kosta" Nađ (; 13 May 1911 – 19 November 1986) was a Yugoslav Partisan army general who commanded Partisan units during World War II in Yugoslavia, primarily in and around the Vojvodina region. Biography Born on 13 May 1911 in Petr ...
, forced a crossing of the
Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.
river. The 3rd Army then fanned out through
Podravina ''Podravina'' (in Croatian) or ''Podravje'' (in Slovenian) are Slavic names for the Drava river basin in northern Croatia and Slovenia. Both names combine the hydronym with the South Slavic prefix "''po''-", meaning "alongside" or "after". Hist ...
, reached a point north of Zagreb, and crossed the old Austrian border with Yugoslavia in the
Dravograd Dravograd (; ) is a small town in northern Slovenia, close to the border with Austria. It is the seat of the Municipality of Dravograd. It lies on the Drava River at the confluence with the Meža and the Mislinja. It is part of the traditional ...
sector. The 3rd Army closed the ring around the enemy forces when its advanced motorized detachments linked up with detachments of the 4th Army in
Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...
. Also, on 12 April, the Yugoslav 1st Army, under the command of
Peko Dapčević Peko Dapčević (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Пеко Дапчевић; 25 June 1913 – 10 February 1999) was a Yugoslav communist who fought as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, joined the Partisan uprising in Montenegro, and became com ...
penetrated the fortified front of the German XXXIV Corps in Syrmia. By 22 April, the 1st Army had smashed the fortifications and was advancing towards Zagreb. The long-drawn out liberation of western Yugoslavia caused more victims among the population. The breakthrough of the Syrmian front on 12 April was, in Milovan Đilas's words, "the greatest and bloodiest battle our army had ever fought", and it would not have been possible had it not been for Soviet instructors and arms. By the time Dapčević's NOV units had reached Zagreb, on 9 May 1945, they had perhaps lost as many as 36,000 dead. There were by then over 400,000 refugees in Zagreb. After entering Zagreb with the Yugoslav 2nd Army, both armies advanced in Slovenia.


Final operations

On 2 May, the German capital city, Berlin, fell to the Red Army. On 8 May 1945, the Germans surrendered unconditionally and the war in Europe officially ended. The Italians had quit the war in 1943, the Bulgarians in 1944, and the Hungarians earlier in 1945. Despite the German capitulation, however, sporadic fighting still took place in Yugoslavia. On 7 May, Zagreb was evacuated, on 9 May,
Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...
and
Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...
were captured by the Partisans, and Löhr, Commander-in-Chief of Army Group E was forced to sign the total surrender of the forces under his command at Topolšica, near
Velenje Velenje (; ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 4: ''Štajersko''. 1904. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 272.) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, sixth-largest city of Slovenia, and t ...
, Slovenia, on Wednesday 9 May 1945. Only the Croatian and other anti-Partisan forces remained. From 10 to 15 May, the Yugoslav Partisans continued to face resistance from Croatian, and other anti-Partisan forces throughout the rest of Croatia and Slovenia. The
Battle of Poljana The Battle of Poljana took place outside of Poljana, near the town of Prevalje in Yugoslavia (modern-day Slovenia) between the Yugoslav Army and a column of 30,000 retreating Axis soldiers, which consisted of the German Wehrmacht, the Croatian ...
started on 14 May, ending on 15 May 1945 at Poljana, near
Prevalje Prevalje (; German language, German: ''Prävali'') is a town in northern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Prevalje. It lies in the traditional Slovenian province of Carinthia, Slovenia, Carinthia. Prevalje lies in a valley where th ...
in Slovenia. It was the culmination and last of a series of battles between Yugoslav Partisans and a large (in excess of 30,000) mixed column of German Army soldiers together with Croatian Ustaše, Croatian Home Guard, Slovenian Home Guard, and other anti-Partisan forces who were attempting to retreat to Austria.
Battle of Odžak The Battle of Odžak was the last battle of World War II in Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean ...
was the last World War II battle in Europe. The battle began on 19 April 1945 and lasted until 25 May 1945, 17 days after the end of the war in Europe.


Aftermath

On 5 May, in the town of
Palmanova Palmanova () is a town and (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Udine in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northeast Italy. The town is an example of a star fort of the late Renaissance, built up by the Venetian Republic in 1593. Th ...
(50 km northwest of Trieste), between 2,400 and 2,800 members of the Serbian Volunteer Corps surrendered to the British. On 12 May, about 2,500 additional Serbian Volunteer Corps members surrendered to the British at Unterbergen on the Drava River. On 11 and 12 May, British troops in Klagenfurt, Austria, were harassed by arriving forces of the Yugoslav Partisans. In Belgrade, the British ambassador to the Yugoslav coalition government handed Tito a note demanding that the Yugoslav troops withdraw from Austria. On 15 May 1945 a large column of the Croatian Home Guard, the Ustaše, the XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps and the remnants of the Serbian State Guard, and the Serbian Volunteer Corps, arrived at the southern Austrian border near the town of
Bleiburg Bleiburg () is a small town in the south Austrian state of Carinthia (''Koroška''), south-east of Klagenfurt, in the district of Völkermarkt, some four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the border with Slovenia. The municipality consists of the twel ...
. The representatives of the Independent State of Croatia attempted to negotiate a surrender to the British under the terms of the
Geneva Convention upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...
that they had joined in 1943, and were recognised by it as a "belligerent", but were ignored. Most of the people in the column were turned over to the Yugoslav government as part of what is sometimes referred to as
Operation Keelhaul Operation Keelhaul was a forced repatriation of Soviet citizens and members of the Soviet Army in the West to the Soviet Union (although it often included former soldiers of the Russian Empire or Russian Republic, who did not have Soviet citizens ...
. Following the repatriations, the Partisans proceeded to brutalize the POWs. The Partisans' actions were partly done for revenge as well as to suppress the potential continuation of armed struggle within Yugoslavia. On 15 May, Tito had placed Partisan forces in Austria under Allied control. A few days later he agreed to withdraw them. By 20 May, Yugoslav troops in Austria had begun to withdraw. On 8 June, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia agreed on the control of Trieste. On 11 November,
parliamentary elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
were held in Yugoslavia. In these elections the communists had an important advantage because they controlled the police, judiciary and media. For that reason the opposition did not want to participate in the elections. On 29 November, in accordance with election result, Peter II was deposed by communist dominated Yugoslavia's Constituent Assembly. On the same day, the
Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
was established as a
socialist state A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. This article is about states that refer to themselves as socialist states, and not specifically ...
during the first meeting of the Yugoslav Parliament in Belgrade. Tito was appointed prime minister. The autonomist wing in the Communist Party of Macedonia, which dominated during World War II, was finally pushed aside in 1945 after the Second Assembly of the
ASNOM The Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (, ''Antifašističko sobranie za narodno osloboduvanje na Makedonija''; Serbo-Croatian: ''Antifašističko sobranje narodnog oslobođenja Makedonije''; abbr. ASNOM) was the supr ...
. On 13 March 1946, Mihailović was captured by agents of the Yugoslav Department of National Security (''Odsjek Zaštite Naroda'' or OZNA). From 10 June to 15 July of the same year, he was tried for
high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...
and
war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
. On 15 July, he was found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad. On 16 July, a clemency appeal was rejected by the Presidium of the National Assembly. During the early hours of 18 July, Mihailović, together with nine other Chetnik and Nedić's officers, were executed in
Lisičji Potok Lisičji Potok ( sr-cyr, Лисичји Поток, Fox Creek) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Savski Venac. Location Lisičji Potok is located in the eastern section ...
. This execution essentially ended the World War II-era civil war between the communist Partisans and the royalist Chetniks.


War crimes and atrocities

War crimes and atrocities against the civilian population were prevalent. Non-combat victims included the majority of the country's
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
population, many of whom perished in
concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...
and
extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...
s (e.g. Jasenovac,
Stara Gradiška Stara Gradiška (, ) is a village and a municipality in Slavonia, in the Brod-Posavina County of Croatia. It is located on the left bank of the river Sava, across from Gradiška in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Etymology The first word in the name mea ...
,
Banjica Banjica (, ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It's divided between Belgrade's municipalities of Savski Venac (western half) and Voždovac (eastern half). Location Banjica is located 5–6 kilometers south of the ce ...
, Sajmište, etc.) run by the client regimes or occupying forces themselves. The Ustaše regime in
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
(mostly Croats, but also
Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
and others) committed genocide against Serbs,
Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
,
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...
and
anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
Croats. The Chetniks (mostly Serbs, but also
Montenegrins Montenegrins (, or ) are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common ancestry, culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Montenegrins are mostly Orthodox Christians; however, the population also includes ...
and others) pursued
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
against Muslims, Croats and pro-Partisan Serbs, and the Italian occupation authorities instigated
ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...
(
Italianization Italianization ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is the spread of Italian culture, language and identity by way of integration or assimilation. It is also known for a process organized by the Kingdom of Italy to force cultural and ethnic assimilation of the nati ...
) against Slovenes and Croats. The Wehrmacht carried out mass executions of civilians in retaliation for resistance activity (e.g. the
Kragujevac massacre The Kragujevac massacre was the mass murder of between 2,778 and 2,794 mostly Serb men and boys in Kragujevac, by German soldiers on 21 October 1941. It occurred in the German-occupied territory of Serbia during World War II, and came as a ...
and the
Kraljevo massacre The Kraljevo massacre was the World War II mass murder of approximately 2,000 residents of the city of Kraljevo in the German-occupied territory of Serbia between 15 and 20 October 1941 by the German Army (1935–1945), German Army. The massacre ...
). SS Division "Prinz Eugen" massacred large numbers of civilians and prisoners of war. Hungarian occupation troops massacred civilians (mostly Serbs and Jews) during a major raid in southern Bačka, under the pretext of suppressing resistance activities. During and after the final stages of the war, Yugoslav communist authorities and Partisan troops carried out reprisals against those associated with the Axis.


Ustashas

The Ustashas, a Croatian ultranationalist and fascist movement which operated from 1929 to 1945 and was led 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 was dictator of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fasc ...
, gained control of the newly formed Independent State of Croatia (NDH) that was set up by the Germans after the invasion of Yugoslavia. The Ustashas sought an ethnically pure Croatian state by exterminating
Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...
,
Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
and
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...
from its territory. Their main focus were Serbs, who numbered about two million. The strategy to achieve their goal was purportedly to kill one-third of Serbs, expel one-third and forcibly convert the remaining one-third. The first massacre of Serbs took place on 28 April 1941 in the village of
Gudovac Gudovac is a rural suburb of the city of Bjelovar, it lies approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the city centre and about east of the Croatian capital of Zagreb. History Gudovac was first settled during the Middle Ages and had an ethnically ...
where nearly 200 Serbs were rounded up and executed. The event initiated the wave of Ustasha violence targeting Serbs that came in the following weeks and months, as massacres occurred in villages throughout the NDH, particularly in
Banija Banovina or Banija is a geographical region in central Croatia, between the Sava, Una, Kupa and Glina rivers. The main towns in the region include Petrinja, Glina, Kostajnica, and Dvor. There is no clear geographical border of the region tow ...
,
Kordun The Kordun () region is a part of central Croatia from the bottom of the Petrova Gora (Peter's mountain) mountain range, which extends along the rivers Korana and Slunjčica, and forms part of the border region to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Within ...
, Lika, northwest Bosnia and eastern Herzegovina. Serbs in villages in the countryside were hacked to death with various tools, thrown alive into pits and ravines or in some cases locked in churches that were afterwards set on fire. Ustasha Militia units razed whole villages, often torturing the men and raping the women. Approximately every sixth Serb living in the NDH was the victim of a massacre, meaning that almost every Serb from this region had a family member that was killed in the war, mostly by the Ustashas. The Ustashas also set up camps throughout the NDH. Some of them were used to detain political opponents and those regarded as enemies of the state, some were transit and resettlement camps for the deportation and transfers of populations while others were used for the purpose of mass murder. The largest camp was the Jasenovac concentration camp, which was a complex of five subcamps, located some 100 km southeast of Zagreb. The camp was notorious for its barbaric and cruel practices of murder as described by testimonies of witnesses. By the end of 1941, along with Serbs and Roma, NDH authorities incarcerated the majority of the country's Jews in camps including Jadovno, Kruščica, Loborgrad,
Đakovo Đakovo (; , , sr-Cyrl, Ђаково) is a town in the region of Slavonia, Croatia. Đakovo is the centre of the fertile and rich Đakovo region ( ). Etymology The etymology of the name is the (diákos) in Slavic form đak (pupil). The Hungar ...
,
Tenja Tenja ( sr-Cyrl, Тења, , ) is a village in eastern Slavonia, Croatia, located just southeast of Osijek. The population is 7,376. History Croatian War of Independence During the Croatian War of Independence, Tenja was under the control of Se ...
and Jasenovac. Nearly the entire Romani population of the NDH was also killed by the Ustashas.


Chetniks

The Chetniks, a Serb royalist and nationalist movement which initially resisted the Axis but progressively entered into
collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The ...
with Italian, German and parts of the Ustasha forces, sought the creation of a
Greater Serbia The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia () describes the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology of the creation of a Serb state which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group, inclu ...
by cleansing non-Serbs, mainly Muslims and Croats from territories that would be incorporated into their post-war state. The Chetniks systemically massacred Muslims in villages that they captured. These occurred primarily in eastern Bosnia, in towns and municipalities like
Goražde Goražde ( sr-cyrl, Горажде, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Bosnian-Podrinje Canton Goražde of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of the Drina rive ...
,
Foča Foča ( sr-Cyrl, Фоча, ) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the south-east on the banks of Drina river. As of 2013, the town has a population of 12,234 inhabitants, while the municipality has 1 ...
,
Srebrenica Srebrenica ( sr-cyrl, Сребреница, ) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a small mountain town, with its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War in 1995, Srebr ...
and Višegrad. Later, "cleansing actions" against Muslims took place in counties in Sandžak. Actions against Croats were smaller in scale but similar in action. Croats were killed in Bosnia, Herzegovina, northern Dalmatia, and Lika.


German forces

In Serbia, in order to squelch resistance, retaliate against their opposition and terrorize the population, the Germans devised a formula where 100 hostages would be shot for every German soldier killed and 50 hostages would be shot for every wounded German soldier. Those primarily targeted for execution were
Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
and Serbian communists. The most notable examples were the massacres in the villages of Kraljevo and Kragujevac in October 1941. Germans also set up concentration camps and were aided in their persecution of Jews by
Milan Nedić Milan Nedić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Недић; 2 September 1878 – 4 February 1946) was a Yugoslav and Serbian army general and politician who served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army and minister of war in the ...
's
puppet government A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...
and other collaborationist forces.


Italian forces

In April 1941, Italy invaded Yugoslavia, annexing or occupying large portions of Slovenia, Croatia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia, while directly annexing to Italy the
Province of Ljubljana The Province of Ljubljana (, , ) was the central-southern area of Slovenia. In 1941, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Italy, and after 1943 occupied by Nazi Germany. Created on May 3, 1941, it was abolished on May 9, 1945, when the Slovene Parti ...
,
Gorski Kotar Gorski Kotar () is the mountainous region in Croatia between Karlovac and Rijeka. Because 63% of its surface is forested it is popularly called ''the green lungs of Croatia'' or ''Croatian Switzerland''. The European route E65, which connects B ...
and the
Governorate of Dalmatia The Governorate of Dalmatia (; ) was an administrative division of the Kingdom of Italy that existed during two periods, first from 1918 to 1920 and then from 1941 to 1943. The first Governorate of Dalmatia was established following the end of Wo ...
, along with most Croatian islands. To suppress the mounting resistance led by the Slovenian and Croatian Partisans, the Italians adopted tactics of "summary executions, hostage-taking, reprisals, internments and the burning of houses and villages." This was particularly the case in the Province of Ljubljana, where Italian authorities terrorized the Slovene civilian population and deported them to
concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...
with the goal of Italianizing the area.


Hungarian forces

Thousands of Serbs and Jews were massacred by Hungarian forces in the region of
Bačka Bačka ( sr-Cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska (), is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary. ...
, the territory occupied and annexed by Hungary since 1941. Several high-ranking military officials were complicit in the atrocities.


Partisans

The Partisans engaged in the massacres of civilians during and after the war. A number of Partisan units, and the local population in some areas, engaged in mass murder in the immediate postwar period against POWs and other perceived Axis sympathizers, collaborators, and/or fascists along with their relatives. There were forced marches and execution of tens of thousands of captured soldiers and civilians (predominantly Croats associated with the NDH, but also Slovenes and others) fleeing their advance, in the
Bleiburg repatriations The Bleiburg repatriations ( see terminology) were a series of forced repatriations from Allied-occupied Austria of Axis-affiliated individuals to Yugoslavia in May 1945 after the end of World War II in Europe. During World War II, Yugoslav terr ...
. Atrocities also included the Kočevski Rog massacre, atrocities against the Istrian Italians, Italian population in Istria (the foibe massacres) and purges against Serbs, Hungarians and Germans associated with the axis forces during the Communist purges in Serbia in 1944–45. Also with the Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)#Yugoslavia, expulsions of the German population which took place after the war.


Casualties


Yugoslav casualties

The Yugoslav government estimated the number of casualties to be at 1,704,000 and submitted the figure to the International Reparations Commission in 1946 without any documentation. An estimate of 1.7 million war related deaths was later submitted to the Allied Reparations Committee in 1948, despite it being an estimate of total demographic loss that covered the expected population if war did not break out, the number of unborn children, and losses from emigration and disease. After Germany requested verifiable data the Yugoslav Federal Bureau of Statistics created a nationwide survey in 1964. The total number of those killed was found to be 597,323. The list stayed a state secret until 1989 when it was published for the first time. The U.S. Bureau of the Census published a report in 1954 that concluded that Yugoslav war related deaths were 1,067,000. The U.S. Bureau of the Census noted that the official Yugoslav government figure of 1.7 million war dead was overstated because it "was released soon after the war and was estimated without the benefit of a postwar census". A study by Vladimir Žerjavić estimates total war related deaths at 1,027,000. Military losses are estimated at 237,000 Yugoslav partisans and 209,000 collaborators, while civilian losses at 581,000, including 57,000 Jews. Losses of the Yugoslav Republics were Bosnia 316,000; Serbia 273,000; Croatia 271,000; Slovenia 33,000; Montenegro 27,000; Macedonia 17,000; and killed abroad 80,000. Statistician Bogoljub Kočović calculated that the actual war losses were 1,014,000. The late Jozo Tomasevich, Professor Emeritus of Economics at San Francisco State University, believes that the calculations of Kočović and Žerjavić "seem to be free of bias, we can accept them as reliable". Stjepan Meštrović estimated that about 850,000 people were killed in the war. Vego cites figures from 900,000 to 1,000,000 dead. Stephen R. A'Barrow estimates that the war caused 446,000 dead soldiers and 514,000 dead civilians, or 960,000 dead in total from the Yugoslav population out of 15 million. Kočović's research into human losses in Yugoslavia during World War Two was considered to be the first objective examination of the issue. Shortly after Kočović published his findings in ''Žrtve drugog svetskog rata u Jugoslaviji'', Vladeta Vučković, a U.S. based college professor, claimed in a London-based émigré magazine that he had participated in the calculation of the number of victims in Yugoslavia in 1947. Vučković claimed that the figure of 1,700,000 originated with him, explaining that as an employee of the Yugoslav Federal Statistical Office, he was ordered to estimate the number of casualties suffered by Yugoslavia during the war, using appropriate statistical tools. He came up with an estimated demographic (not real) population loss of 1.7 million. He did not intend for his estimate to be used as a calculation of actual losses. However, Foreign Minister Edvard Kardelj took this figure as the real loss in his negotiations with the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency. This figure had also already been used by Marshal Tito in May 1945, and the figure of 1,685,000 was used by Mitar Bakić, secretary general of the Presidium of the Yugoslav government in an address to foreign correspondents in August 1945. The Yugoslav Reparations Commission had also already communicated the figure of 1,706,000 to the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency in Paris in late 1945. Tito's figure of 1.7 million was aimed at both maximizing war compensation from Germany and demonstrating to the world that the heroism and suffering of Yugoslavs during the Second World War surpassed that of all other peoples save only those of the USSR, and, perhaps, Poland. The reasons for the high human toll in Yugoslavia were as follows: # Military operations of five main armies (Germans, Italians,
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...
, Yugoslav partisans and
Chetniks The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...
). # German forces, under express orders from Hitler, fought with a special vengeance against the Serbs, who were considered Untermensch. One of the worst massacres during the German military occupation of Serbia was the
Kragujevac massacre The Kragujevac massacre was the mass murder of between 2,778 and 2,794 mostly Serb men and boys in Kragujevac, by German soldiers on 21 October 1941. It occurred in the German-occupied territory of Serbia during World War II, and came as a ...
. # Deliberate acts of reprisal against target populations were perpetrated by all combatants. All sides practiced the shooting of hostages on a large scale. At the end of the war, many Ustaše collaborators were killed in the Bleiburg death marches. # The systematic extermination of large numbers of people for political, religious or racial reasons. The most numerous victims were Serbs killed by the Ustaše. Croats and Muslims were also killed by the Chetniks. # The reduced food supply caused famine and disease. # Allied bombing of German supply lines caused civilian casualties. The hardest hit localities were
Podgorica Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...
, Leskovac, Zadar and Belgrade. # The demographic losses due to a 335,000 reduction in the number of births and emigration of about 660,000 are not included with war casualties.


Slovenia

In Slovenia, the Institute for Contemporary History, Ljubljana launched a comprehensive research on the exact number of victims of World War II in Slovenia in 1995. After more than a decade of research, the final report was published in 2005, which included a list of names. The number of victims was set at 89,404. The figure also includes the victims of Extrajudicial killing, summary killings by the Communist regime immediately after the war (around 13,500 people). The results of the research came as a shock for the public, since the actual figures were more than 30% higher than the highest estimates during the Yugoslav period. Even counting only the number of deaths up to May 1945 (thus excluding the military prisoners killed by the Yugoslav Army between May and July 1945), the number remains considerably higher than the highest previous estimates (around 75,000 deaths versus a previous estimate of 60,000). There are several reasons for such a difference. The new comprehensive research also included Slovenes killed by the Partisan resistance, both in battle (members of collaborationist and anti-Communist units), and civilians (around 4,000 between 1941 and 1945). Furthermore, the new estimates includes all the Slovenians from Nazi-annexed Slovenia who were drafted in the Wehrmacht and died either in battle or in prisoner camps during the war. The figure also includes the Slovenes from the Julian March who died in the Italian Army (1940–43), those from Prekmurje who died in the Hungarian Army, and those who fought and died in various Allied (mostly British) units. The figure does not include victims from Venetian Slovenia (except of those who joined the Slovenian Partisan units), nor does it include the victims among Carinthian Slovenes (again with the exception of those fighting in the Partisan units) and Hungarian Slovenes. 47% percent of casualties during the war were partisans, 33% were civilians (of which 82% were killed by Axis powers or Slovene home guard), and 20% were members of the Slovene home guard.


Territory of the NDH

According to Žerjavić's research on the losses of the Serbs in the NDH, 82,000 died as members of the Yugoslav Partisans, and 23,000 as Chetniks and Axis collaborators. Of the civilian casualties, 78,000 were killed by the Ustaše in direct terror and in camps, 45,000 by German forces, 15,000 by Italian forces, 34,000 in battles between the Ustaše, the Chetniks, and the Partisans, and 25,000 died of typhoid. A further 20,000 died in the Sajmište concentration camp. According to Ivo Goldstein, on NDH territory 45,000 of Croats are killed as Partisans while 19,000 perishing in prisons or camps. Žerjavić estimated the structure of the actual war and post-war losses of Croats and Bosniaks. According to his research, 69–71,000 Croats died as members of the NDH armed forces, 43–46,000 as members of the Yugoslav Partisans, and 60–64,000 as civilians, in direct terror and in camps. Outside of the NDH, a further 14,000 Croats died abroad; 4,000 as Partisans and 10,000 civilian victims of terror or in camps. Regarding Bosniaks, including Islam in Croatia, Muslims of Croatia, he estimated that 29,000 died as members of the NDH armed forces, 11,000 as members of the Yugoslav Partisans, while 37,000 were civilians and a further 3,000 Bosniaks were killed abroad; 1,000 Partisans and 2,000 civilians. Of the total Croat and Bosniak civilian casualties in the NDH, his research showed that 41,000 civilian deaths (18,000+ Croats and 20,000+ Bosniaks) were caused by the Chetniks, 24,000 by the Ustaše (17,000 Croats and 7,000 Bosniaks), 16,000 by the Partisans (14,000 Croats and 2,000 Bosniaks), 11,000 by German forces (7,000 Croats and 4,000 Bosniaks), 8,000 by Italian forces (5,000 Croats and 3,000 Bosniaks), while 12,000 died abroad (10,000 Croats and 2,000 Bosniaks). Individual researchers who assert the inevitability of using identification of casualties and fatalities by individual names have raised serious objections to Žerjavić's calculations/estimates of human losses by using standard statistical methods and consolidation of data from various sources, pointing out that such an approach is insufficient and unreliable in determining the number and character of casualties and fatalities, as well as the affiliation of the perpetrators of the crimes. In Croatia, the Commission for the Identification of War and Post-War Victims of the Second World War was active from 1991 until the Seventh Government of the republic, under Prime Minister Ivica Račan ended the commission in 2002. In the 2000s, concealed mass grave commissions were established in both Commission on Concealed Mass Graves in Slovenia, Slovenia and Serbia to document and excavate mass graves from the Second World War.


German casualties

According to German casualty lists quoted by The Times for 30 July 1945, from documents found amongst the personal effects of General Hermann Reinecke, head of the Public Relations Department of the German High Command, total German casualties in the Balkans amounted to 24,000 killed and 12,000 missing, no figure being mentioned for wounded. A majority of these casualties suffered in the Balkans were inflicted in Yugoslavia. According to German researcher Rüdiger Overmans, German losses in the Balkans were more than three times higher – 103,693 during the course of the war, and some 11,000 who died as Yugoslav prisoners of war.


Italian casualties

The Italians incurred 30,531 casualties during their occupation of Yugoslavia (9,065 killed, 15,160 wounded, 6,306 missing). The ratio of dead/missing men to wounded men was uncommonly high, as Yugoslav partisans would often murder prisoners. Their highest losses were in Bosnia and Herzegovina: 12,394. In Croatia the total was 10,472 and in Montenegro 4,999. Dalmatia was less bellicose: 1,773. The quietest area was Slovenia, where the Italians incurred 893 casualties.''The South Slav Journal''. Vol. 6. 1983. p. 117 An additional Military history of Italy during World War II#Casualties, 10,090 Italians died post-armistice, either killed during Operation Achse or after joining Yugoslav partisans.


See also

* Adriatic Campaign of World War II * Allied bombing of Yugoslavia in World War II * Museum of 4 July * Liberation Front of the Slovenian People * Uprising in Serbia (1941) * Seven anti-Partisan offensives * Air warfare on the Yugoslav Front * Yugoslavia and the Allies * National Liberation War of Macedonia * Slovene Lands in World War II * Beisfjord massacre, a prisoner transfer from Yugoslavia that led to Norway's largest massacre * Russian Protective Corps, a Wehrmacht unit composed of White Russian émigrés from Serbia * Yugoslav World War II monuments and memorials


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Tošić-Malešević, N., 2015. Operacije Narodnooslobodilačke partizanske i Dobrovoljačke vojske Jugoslavije i delovanje Komunističke partije Jugoslavije u 1942. godini /Operations of the National Liberation Partisan and Volunteer Army of Yugoslavia and the actions of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1942. Vojno delo, 67(4), pp. 334–358. * * * {{Yugoslavia topics, state=collapsed Conflicts in 1941 Conflicts in 1942 Conflicts in 1943 Conflicts in 1944 Conflicts in 1945 Civil wars involving the states and peoples of Europe Civil wars of the 20th century Communist revolutions Independent State of Croatia Yugoslavia in World War II, World War II occupied territories, Yugoslavia Wars involving the Balkans