On April 6 1941 the Axis powers invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and toppled the state within
12 days... did you know that before the invasion Yugoslavia actually signed a pact, and became part
of the Tripartite Pact, with the Axis powers but... you know, then something happened and they withdrew
from it. This here is the story of how Yugoslavia joined the Axis... and did not. Sort of.
By the eve of WW2 Yugoslavia was far from a stable state: it was created after
WW1 under its initial name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. That was till 1929
because then King Alexander I abolished the constitution in the country thus became a
royal dictatorship; this was in response to the assassination of politician Stjepan Radić in
parliament. Alexander himself was assassinated in 1934 when visiting France. His son Peter was
too young to rule and thus Alexander's first cousin Paul became the Regent of Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia was in a precarious situation when 1941 came around as middle Europe was dominated
by the Axis powers. Britain and the US urged Yugoslavia not to sign any deal with the Axis
powers, but looking at the position of the south Slav Kingdom the state had not many options. Looking
at Yugoslavia's domestic policy during the interwar period things were far from stable:
most noteworthy was the Croatian Question where the Croats demanded more autonomy within the
kingdom. This was somewhat settled in August 1939 with the so-called Sporazum, also known as
the Cvetković–Maček Agreement, where an autonomous Croatian province named the Banovina Croatia was
established. It was autonomous in internal affairs. One extreme party that was against this was the
ustasha: the Croatian ultranationalists that were led by Ante Pavelic and had been formed
abroad. This movement was together with the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization responsible for the assassination of Alexander I. In reaction to the Sporazum the
ustashas wrote: "To this Maček, all Serbs, all Slovenes, all Jews, all Communists, all Russians, all
Freemasons, and all capitalists are closer than Dr. Pavelic and the Croatian nationalists, because since he has been sitting in the Belgrade government, the pressure on the Croatian nationalists
—the Ustashas—not only has not stopped but has increased." There was also a Serbian extreme party known as Zbor. Due to the
horrific losses of the Serbs during WW1 they were not too keen on joining Nazi Germany
since Germany had been one of the Central Powers. They did have anti-semitic and anti-democratic
ideas; they were led by Dimitrije Ljotić who had been influenced by French right-wing nationalist ideas:
“[A]n integral Yugoslavist movement, Zbor had in the late ‘thirties began to look more Serbian Orthodox, adding anti-Semitism to anti-parliamentarianism, with a certain following in intellectual youth
and church circles. It had come out against the Sporazum and had attacked Prince Paul and the government for policies that allegedly led to communism.”
In November 1940 the movement was
banned and most of his members were prosecuted. Speaking of communism the Yugoslav Communist
Party (KPJ) was prohibited from 1921 after this it had become independent on the Communist
International–the Comintern–which, having called for the dissolution of Yugoslavia, they advocated
a struggle against the Serbian bourgeoisie and its nationalist views on Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav
Communists were very divided until Josip Broz, known as Tito, appeared at the 11th hour to give
the party some cohesion: “It had been turned into a Bolshevik-type party devoted to the Soviet Union,
living in the expectation of the revolution and the dream world of the communist society of the future. Special emphasis was placed on youth; the communists were actually more successful among students than on shopfloors or in villages.”
All these parties would play a role during
the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia. Speaking of which let's discuss Yugoslavia's foreign policy.
I said before after 1934 when King Alexander I was assassinated Regent Prince Paul gained
power. The German takeover of the Czech lands, as well as the Italian takeover of Albania, came as
a shock wave to their country, especially since Czechoslovakia used to deliver arms to Yugoslavia.
In August 1939 the Nazi Soviet non-aggression pact - Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact - was signed. When
Germany invaded Poland on the 1st of September Yugoslavia declared its neutrality. When France
fell in 1940 there was another shock wave, see France had backed the so-called Little Entente,
which consisted of Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Now France had fallen; Czechoslovakia
was dismembered; Romania became one of the Axis powers and that left Yugoslavia in a precarious
situation. And another Axis power, I'm talking about Italy, had its eye on Yugoslavia. Italy wanted
territory from the country and Yugoslavia was not at all prepared for war. “It lacked financial means
and technical knowledge. It no longer had even the illusion of any real outside support, and many Serb generals doubted whether Croats had the will to fight.”
But so far Germany was happy with
Yugoslavia's neutrality and Hitler restrained Mussolini from claiming parts of Yugoslavia;
especially because he did not want to provoke Stalin and on top of all that it is estimated
that before the Axis invasion of the country 100 000 Yugoslavs performed labor in Germany. And
Germany had economic interests as the country could provide raw materials for the Axis powers.
As a result there was a sharp rise of costs of living in Yugoslavia and when in October in 1940
the Italians invaded Greece from occupied Albania the Yugoslavs fear they might reach Yugoslavia's
lifeline: the Greek city of Salonika... but that never happened because the Italians were driven
back into Albania by the Greek army. Germany was out for the raw materials of Yugoslavia and
started a diplomatic offensive. When Prince Paul visited Berlin in June 1939 with propaganda
and the display of its military strength Hitler wanted to impress Paul. In November 1940 Yugoslav
foreign minister Aleksandar Cincar-Marković visited Germany. Hitler promised him protection
from Italy and Salonika. Since Salonika was no longer under threat by the Italians the Yugoslav
played for time... they had picked up on the rumors that Hitler wanted to invade the USSR. In December
1940 the Yugoslav signed a ‘pact of lasting peace and eternal friendship’ with Hungary
ending animosity with the Magyars. Now the Allies they urged Yugoslavia not to join an alliance with
the Axis powers, especially among the Serbs the Axis were highly unpopular but looking
at Yugoslavia's geographical position things were not looking favorably. The Yugoslavs held top secret
talks with the British and spoke about a possible invasion of Italian-held Albania so the Italians
could be defeated there. Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact in September 1940.
Romaniam Hungarym and Slovakia followed in November 1940. And early March 1941 Bulgaria joined the
pact. And the British they landed in Greece. Hitler wanted to know where Yugoslavia stood. He offered
the country territorial integrity and would not ask the country for military cooperation. In the second
half of March Hitler made a firm demand that Yugoslavia should join the Tripartite Pact. When
Prince Paul visited Hitler in secret he was given a five-hour lecture by the Führer. Hitler repeated
all gis arguments and concluded that Yugoslavia had no option. The German military attache in
Belgrade told an Italian journalist the following: ‘There will not remain a single stone of Belgrade if the Serbs do not accept the pact’.
Upon returning Paul accepted that Yugoslavia had to join the Pact
and on the 25th of March 1941 Cvetković and Cincar-Marković signed the protocol of adherence
in Vienna. The text had been prepared in advance and notes were already signed by Ribbentrop and
Ciano. Where this all came down to was that the Yugoslavs had to accept the new European order,
where Germany and Italy were in charge of Europe. Hitler observed the Yugoslav delegation as they
were on a funeral... now for the Serbian opposition in Belgrade this was the final straw and what
happened was a coup d'etat; as Regent Paul returned from Vienna and went off to rest in Slovenia on
the 27th of March a bloodless military coup took place. The Serbian military ring leaders denounced
Paul and put the almost of age Peter II on the throne. So Regent Paul was gone and King Peter II
was here: widespread demonstrations occurred within the country. The British were supporting the coup...
they were not necessarily the driving force behind it and especially because the regime of
Regent Paul was already highly unpopular they were more or less pushing an open door:
“The coup was the result of a pent-up dislike of Prince Paul’s régime and of its overall policy, more a spontaneous reaction than a prepared conspiracy,
carried out against a weak and insecure government by officers who wanted to ‘save the honour’, not only of Serbia but of Yugoslavia as they perceived it.”
As a Serbian undertaking the Croats and the Slovenes were dismayed by what just happened: they
saw this as an unnecessary provocation of Hitler. Prince Paul accepted what happened; he returned to
Belgrade where he officially resigned and left for Greece. The new Yugoslav government assured
Germany that the conditions of the Tripartite impact would remain the same... they said the coup
was just a domestic affair. When Hitler heard about this he flew into a rage and he vowed to destroy
Yugoslavia; he could not care less on the position of the new government and he wanted to punish
Serbs who were behind this and who Hitler held in low regard. The operation plan to attack Belgrade
via the air was known as Unternehmen Strafgericht or Ooperation Retribution. Yugoslavia's latest defense plan anticipated
defense on all borders and an offensive in Italian -held Albania to link up with the Greek forces.
Yugoslav troops from the north would gradually be withdrawn towards Greece. There was a plan to
abandon 90 percent of the national territory and retreat into the mountains around Sarajovo
but there was not much enthusiasm for that. The Yugoslav Army wasn't an insignificant force with
17 active and 12 reserve infantry divisions plus three cavalry divisions and a number of brigades.
When the Axis powers invaded the country the Yugoslav Army was still preparing... on the 6th of
April, Orthodox Eastern Sunday, Operation 25 (known as Operation Punishment or Retribution) was launched.
It started with a merciles bombing campaign of the capital of Belgrade: large sections of the
city were destroyed and thousands of lives, both military and civilian, were lost. This disrupted
communications and threw the Yugoslav Army into chaos. As historian Citino puts it: “It is no exaggeration to say
that Operation Punishment had won the Yugoslav campaign in the first twenty minutes”.
From different directions the German forces invaded the country; in the following
days pitched battle occured as the Yugoslav Army was in full retreat and disintegrated quickly.
Many deserted. An armistice was signed on the 17th of April. The campaign had lasted 12 Days;
a German officer who witnessed the whole thing called it more of a military parade rather than
a campaign.