World War II in Yugoslavia
World War II in Yugoslavia | ||||||||
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Part of the European theatre of World War II | ||||||||
Clockwise from top left: Ante Pavelić visits Adolf Hitler at the Berghof; Stjepan Filipović hanged by the occupation forces; Draža Mihailović confers with his troops; a group of Chetniks with German soldiers in a village in Serbia; Josip Broz Tito with members of the British mission | ||||||||
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Belligerents | ||||||||
April 1941: Germany Italy Hungary |
April 1941: Yugoslavia | |||||||
1941 – September 1943: | 1941–43: |
1941–43:
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September 1943–1945:
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1943–45:
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Strength | ||||||||
300,000 (1944)[2] 321,000 (1943)[3] 170,000 (1943)[4] 130,000 (1945)[5] 70,000 (1943)[6][7] 60,000 (1944)[8] 12,000 (1944)[9] |
700,000 (1941) (400,000 ill-prepared)[10] 93,000 (1943)[11][12] |
100,000 (1943)[13] 800,000 (1945)[14] 580,000 (1944) | ||||||
Casualties and losses | ||||||||
Germany:[15]c 19,235-103,693 killed 14,805 missing;[16] Italy:d 9,065 killed 15,160 wounded 6,306 missing; Independent State of Croatia:[17] 99,000 killed |
Partisans:[18] 245,549 killed 399,880 wounded 31,200 died from wounds 28,925 missing | |||||||
Total Yugoslav casualties: ≈850,000[21]–1,200,000 a |
Both the Yugoslav Partisans and the Chetnik movement initially resisted the Axis invasion. However, after 1941, Chetniks extensively and systematically
Despite the setbacks, the Partisans remained a credible fighting force, with their organisation gaining recognition from the Western Allies at the Tehran Conference 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 and Carinthia. The victorious Partisans established the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
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
However, rather than reducing tensions, the agreement only reinforced the crisis in the country's governance.
Following the
1941
Having steadily fallen within the orbit of the Axis during 1940 after events such as the Second Vienna Award, Yugoslavia followed Bulgaria 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
Two of the principal constituent national groups, Slovenes and Croats, were not prepared to fight in defense of a Yugoslav state with a continued
The terms of the surrender were extremely severe, as the Axis proceeded to dismember Yugoslavia. Germany
The government in exile was now only recognized by the Allied powers.[37] The Axis had recognized the territorial acquisitions of their allied states.[38][39]
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") 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 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 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 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. 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
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.[41] The Croatian Home Guard was originally limited to 16 infantry battalions and 2 cavalry squadrons – 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.[42] Support units included 35 light tanks supplied by Italy,[43] 10 artillery battalions (equipped with captured Royal Yugoslav Army weapons of Czech origin), a cavalry regiment in Zagreb and an independent cavalry battalion at Sarajevo. Two independent motorized infantry battalions were based at Zagreb and Sarajevo respectively.[44] 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.[45] 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.[44]
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.[46]
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.[47]
On the day Germany attacked the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) received orders from Moscow-based
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
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
The First Anti-Partisan Offensive was the attack conducted by the Axis in autumn of 1941 against the "Republic of Užice", 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. 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.
On 22 December 1941 the Partisans formed the
1942
This section relies largely or entirely on a single source. (December 2015) |
On 15 January 1942, the Bulgarian 1st Army, with three infantry divisions, transferred to south-eastern Serbia. Headquartered at Niš, it replaced German divisions needed in Croatia and the Soviet Union.[53]
The Chetniks initially enjoyed the support of the Western Allies (up to the
Tito's Partisans fought the Germans more actively during this time. Tito and Mihailović had a bounty of 100,000
The Third Enemy Offensive, an offensive against Partisan forces in eastern Bosnia, Montenegro, Sandžak and Herzegovina 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 westwards through Bosnia and Herzegovina, while at the same time the Axis conducted the Kozara Offensive 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 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, 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. 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
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 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.
In that August of my arrival [1943] there were over 30 enemy divisions on the territory of Jugoslavia, as well as a large number of satellite and police formations of Ustashe and Domobrani (military formations of the puppet Croat State), German Sicherheitsdienst, chetniks, Neditch militia, Ljotitch militia, and others. The partisan movement may have counted up to 150,000 fighting men and women (perhaps five per cent women) in close and inextricable co-operation with several million peasants, the people of the country. Partisan numbers were liable to increase rapidly.[57]
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 (Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske, or ZNDH), the backbone of which was provided by 500 former Royal Yugoslav Air Force officers and 1,600 NCOs with 125 aircraft.[58] By 1943 the ZNDH was 9,775 strong and equipped with 295 aircraft.[45]
Italian capitulation and Allied support for the Partisans
On 8 September 1943, the Italians concluded
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 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.[59][unreliable source?]
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
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 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.[60]
When the
Subsequent to switching their support to the Partisans, the Allies set up the
1944
Last Axis offensive
In January 1944, Tito's forces unsuccessfully attacked Banja Luka. But, while Tito was forced to withdraw, Mihajlović and his forces were also noted by the Western press for their lack of activity.[62]
The
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, 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.[63]
The Yugoslav Partisan movement grew to become the largest resistance force in occupied Europe, with 800,000 men organised in 4 field armies. 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.[64] The Slovene Partisans also merged with Tito's forces in 1944.[65][66]
On 16 June 1944, the
Allied advances in Romania and Bulgaria
In August 1944 after the
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 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, 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.[68]
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. 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 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 partisans meanwhile attempted to stem the German withdrawal as the German Army Group E 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 (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 and Podgorica between October and December. By this time the Partisans effectively controlled the entire eastern half of Yugoslavia—Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro—as 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.[45]
1945
"Every German unit which could safely evacuate from Yugoslavia might count itself lucky."[72]
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.[73]
On 8 March 1945, a coalition Yugoslav government was formed in Belgrade with Tito as Premier and Ivan Šubašić as Foreign Minister.
Partisan general offensive
On 20 March 1945, the Partisans launched a general offensive in the
- 1st Army commanded by Peko Dapčević,
- 2nd Army commanded by Koča Popović,
- 3rd Army commanded by Kosta Nađ,
- 4th Army commanded by Petar Drapšin.
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 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 (
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
The Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia (Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske, or ZNDH) and the units of the
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
Serbian units included the remnants of the
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.[80] The German Army was in the process of disintegration and the supply system lay in ruins.[81]
The Yugoslav 2nd Army, under the command of Koča Popović, forced a crossing of the
Also, on 12 April, the Yugoslav 1st Army, under the command of Peko Dapčević 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.[82] 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.[83] 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 and Ljubljana 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, 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 started on 14 May, ending on 15 May 1945 at Poljana, near Prevalje 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 was the last World War II battle in Europe.[84] The battle began on 19 April 1945 and lasted until 25 May 1945,[85] 17 days after the end of the war in Europe.
Aftermath
On 5 May, in the town of Palmanova (50 km northwest of Trieste), between 2,400 and 2,800 members of the Serbian Volunteer Corps surrendered to the British.[86] On 12 May, about 2,500 additional Serbian Volunteer Corps members surrendered to the British at Unterbergen on the Drava River.[86] On 11 and 12 May, British troops in Klagenfurt, Austria, were harassed by arriving forces of the Yugoslav Partisans.[why?] 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
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,
On 13 March 1946, Mihailović was captured by agents of the
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.[94] This execution essentially ended the World War II-era civil war between the communist Partisans and the royalist Chetniks.[95]
War crimes and atrocities
War crimes and atrocities against the civilian population were prevalent. Non-combat victims included the majority of the country's
, etc.) run by the client regimes or occupying forces themselves.The Ustaše regime in
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
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.[106] The camp was notorious for its barbaric and cruel practices of murder as described by testimonies of witnesses.[108] 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, Tenja and Jasenovac. Nearly the entire Romani population of the NDH was also killed by the Ustashas.[106]
Chetniks
The Chetniks, a Serb royalist and nationalist movement which initially resisted the Axis[109] but progressively entered into collaboration with Italian, German and parts of the Ustasha forces, sought the creation of a Greater Serbia by cleansing non-Serbs, mainly Muslims and Croats from territories that would be incorporated into their post-war state.[110] The Chetniks systemically massacred Muslims in villages that they captured.[111] These occurred primarily in eastern Bosnia, in towns and municipalities like Goražde, Foča, Srebrenica and Višegrad.[111] Later, "cleansing actions" against Muslims took place in counties in Sandžak.[112] Actions against Croats were smaller in scale but similar in action.[113] Croats were killed in Bosnia, Herzegovina, northern Dalmatia, and Lika.[104]
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.
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, Gorski Kotar and the Governorate of Dalmatia, 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."[116] This was particularly the case in the Province of Ljubljana, where Italian authorities terrorized the Slovene civilian population and deported them to concentration camps with the goal of Italianizing the area.[117][118]
Hungarian forces
Thousands of Serbs and Jews were massacred by Hungarian forces in the region of Bačka, the territory occupied and annexed by Hungary since 1941. Several high-ranking military officials were complicit in the atrocities.[119]
Partisans
The Partisans engaged in the massacres of civilians during and after the war.
Casualties
Yugoslav casualties
Nationality | 1964 list | Kočović[122] | Žerjavić[20] |
---|---|---|---|
Serbs | 346,740 | 487,000 | 530,000 |
Croats | 83,257 | 207,000 | 192,000 |
Slovenes | 42,027 | 32,000 | 42,000 |
Montenegrins | 16,276 | 50,000 | 20,000 |
Macedonians | 6,724 | 7,000 | 6,000 |
Muslims | 32,300 | 86,000 | 103,000 |
Other Slavs | – | 12,000 | 7,000 |
Albanians | 3,241 | 6,000 | 18,000 |
Jews | 45,000 | 60,000 | 57,000 |
Gypsies | – | 27,000 | 18,000 |
Germans | – | 26,000 | 28,000 |
Hungarians | 2,680 | – | – |
Slovaks | 1,160 | – | – |
Turks | 686 | – | – |
Others | – | 14,000 | 6,000 |
Unknown | 16,202 | – | – |
Total | 597,323 | 1,014,000 | 1,027,000 |
Location | Death toll | Survived |
---|---|---|
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 177,045 | 49,242 |
Croatia | 194,749 | 106,220 |
Macedonia | 19,076 | 32,374 |
Montenegro | 16,903 | 14,136 |
Slovenia | 40,791 | 101,929 |
Serbia (proper) | 97,728 | 123,818 |
AP Kosovo (Serbia) | 7,927 | 13,960 |
AP Vojvodina (Serbia) | 41,370 | 65,957 |
Unknown | 1,744 | 2,213 |
Total | 597,323 | 509,849 |
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.[123] 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.[124] After Germany requested verifiable data the Yugoslav Federal Bureau of Statistics created a nationwide survey in 1964.[124] The total number of those killed was found to be 597,323.[125][126] The list stayed a state secret until 1989 when it was published for the first time.[20]
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".
Kočović's research into human losses in Yugoslavia during World War Two was considered to be the first objective examination of the issue.[130] 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.[131] 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.[132] He came up with an estimated demographic (not real) population loss of 1.7 million.[132] He did not intend for his estimate to be used as a calculation of actual losses.[133] However, Foreign Minister Edvard Kardelj took this figure as the real loss in his negotiations with the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency.[132] 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.[132] 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.[134]
The reasons for the high human toll in Yugoslavia were as follows:
- Military operations of five main armies (Germans, Italians,
- German forces, under express orders from Hitler, fought with a special vengeance against the Serbs, who were considered Untermensch.[135] One of the worst massacres during the German military occupation of Serbia was the Kragujevac massacre.
- 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.[136]
- 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.[137]
- Allied bombing of German supply lines caused civilian casualties. The hardest hit localities were Podgorica, Leskovac, Zadar and Belgrade.[138]
- 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.[138]
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.[139] 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.[140] The figure also includes the victims of 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.[141] 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
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.[20] According to Ivo Goldstein, on NDH territory 45,000 of Croats are killed as Partisans while 19,000 perishing in prisons or camps.[143]
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.[144] 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 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).[145]
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.[146]
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.[147] In the 2000s, concealed mass grave commissions were established in both 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.[148] 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.[149]
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.[citation needed] 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.[150] An additional 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
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- ^ Mitrovski, Glišić & Ristovski 1971, p. 211.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 255.
- ^ Jelić Butić 1977, p. 270.
- ^ Colić 1977, pp. 61–79.
- ^ Mitrovski, Glišić & Ristovski 1971, p. 49.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 167.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 183.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 771.
- ^ Tomasevich 1975, p. 64.
- ^ Microcopy No. T314, roll 566, frames 778 – 785
- ^ Borković, p. 9.
- ^ Zbornik dokumenata Vojnoistorijskog instituta: tom XII – Dokumenti jedinica, komandi i ustanova nemačkog Rajha – knjiga 3, p.619
- ^ Perica 2004, p. 96.
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- ^ Overmans, Rüdiger (2000). Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. P:336
- ^ Geiger 2011, pp. 743–744.
- ^ Geiger 2011, pp. 701.
- ^ a b A'Barrow 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g Žerjavić 1993.
- ^ a b Mestrovic 2013, p. 129.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 226.
- ^ Ramet 2006, p. 147.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 308.
- ^ a b c d e Ramet 2006, p. 142.
- ^ a b Ramet 2006, pp. 145–155.
- ^ Tomasevich 1975, p. 246.
- ^ Trbovich 2008, pp. 131–132.
- ^ Lampe 2000, p. 198.
- ^ Gorodetsky 2002, p. 130–.
- ^ Roberts 1973, p. 26.
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- ^ Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 24.
- ^ Talmon 1998, p. 294.
- ^ Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. [page needed].
- ^ Lemkin 2008, pp. 241–64.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 85.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 419.
- ^ a b Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 12.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 420.
- ^ a b Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 13.
- ^ a b c d Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 17.
- ^ Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 10.
- ^ Timofejev 2011.
- ^ Pavličević 2007, pp. 441–442.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7735-2017-2.
- ISBN 953-7254-00-3,
Prvi partizanski odred, koji je osnovan u Hrvatskoj, odnosno u okupiranoj Jugoslaviji, formiran je 22. lipnja 1941., u šumi Žabno kod Siska. […] Nije to bio prvi partizanski odred u okupiranoj Europi, niti prvi antifašistički partizanski odred u Europi, kako se dugo govorilo. Prve oružane partizanske postrojbe u okupiranoj Europi pojavile su se još 1939., u okupiranoj Poljskoj, onda u Norveškoj, Francuskoj, zemljama Beneluksa, u Grčkoj itd. Sisački NOP odred je prvi antifašistički partizanski odred u okupiranoj Jugoslaviji, u Hrvatskoj.
- ^ Bailey 1980, p. 80.
- ^ LCWeb2.loc.gov
- ^ a b Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 32.
- ^ Lekovic 1985, p. 83.
- ^ Lekovic 1985, p. 86,87.
- ^ Tomasevich 1975, p. 245.
- ^ Davidson, Contact.
- ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 60.
- ISBN 978-953-59439-0-7 [1]
- ^ Martin 1946, p. 34.
- Teheran Conferenceof 28 November to 1 December 1943, NOVJ is recognized as an allied army, this time by all three allied sides, and for the first time by the United States."
- ^ "While Tito Fights". Time Magazine. 17 January 1944. Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
- ^ Ciglić & Savić 2007, p. 113.
- ^ Narodnooslobodilačka Vojska Jugoslavije. Beograd. 1982.
- ]
- ^ Klemenčič & Žagar 2004, pp. 167–168.
- ^ "The Ambassador in Yugoslavia (Cannon) to the Secretary of State". Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State.
- ^ Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 33.
- ISBN 0-19-860446-7, p. 134.
- ].
- ISBN 1-4358-9132-5, p. 77.
- ^ Davidson, Rules and Reasons.
- ^ Pavlowitch 2008, p. 258.
- ^ Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 9.
- ^ Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 30.
- ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 70.
- ^ Ciglić & Savić 2007, p. 150.
- ^ Pavlowitch 2008, p. 256.
- ^ Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 22.
- ^ a b Shaw 1973, p. 101.
- ISBN 978-0-684-85629-2.
- ^ Đilas 1977, p. 440.
- ^ Pavlowitch 2008, p. 259.
- ^ Bušić & Lasić 1983, p. 277.
- ^ Đorić 1996, p. 169.
- ^ a b Tomasevich 1975, pp. 451–452.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 766.
- ISBN 978-1-351-89422-7.
- ^ Klemenčič & Žagar 2004, pp. 197.
- ISBN 978-1-4742-2522-9.
- ISBN 978-1-000-75438-4.
- ^ Ramet 2006, p. 166.
- ^ "Too Tired", time.com, 24 June 1946.
- ISBN 978-2-262-01393-6.
- ISBN 978-0-880-33333-7.
- ISBN 978-0-203-89043-1. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
- ISBN 978-0714656250.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. [page needed].
- ISBN 978-1-440-86194-9.
- ISBN 978-1-135-76736-5.
- ISBN 978-0-804-73181-2.
- ISBN 978-0-773-51429-4.
- ISBN 978-1-350-01598-2.
- ^ a b Tomasevich 2001, p. 747.
- ISBN 978-0822977933.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-253-02386-5.
- ISBN 978-0-23037-567-3.
- ISBN 978-0-429-97606-3.
- ISBN 978-1-442-69469-9.
- ^ Ramet 2006, p. 145.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-197-26380-8.
- ^ Tomasevich 1975, pp. 258–259.
- ^ Tomasevich 1975, p. 259.
- ^ a b c Tomasevich 2001, p. 745.
- ISBN 978-0-19161-347-0.
- ^ General Roatta's War against the Partisans in Yugoslavia: 1942, IngentaConnect
- ISBN 978-1-137-21908-4.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 104.
- ISBN 978-0-81432-691-6.
- ISBN 978-1-4128-2445-3.
- ISBN 978-1-598-84926-4.
- ^ Cohen 1996, p. 109.
- ISBN 978-0-71906-467-8.
- ^ a b Cohen 1996, p. 108.
- ^ Cohen 1996, pp. 108–109.
- ISBN 978-1-62892-073-4.
- ^ U.S. Bureau of the Census The Population of Yugoslavia Ed. Paul F. Meyers and Arthur A. Campbell, Washington D.C.- 1954
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 737.
- ^ Army War College 1994, p. 116.
- ISBN 978-1-34924-541-3.
- ISBN 978-8-77124-107-5.
- ^ a b c d Tomasevich 2001, p. 723.
- ^ Ramet 2006, p. 161.
- ISBN 978-0-81471-288-7.
- ^ a b Tomasevich 2001, p. 744.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, pp. 744–745.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 748.
- ^ a b Tomasevich 2001, p. 749.
- ^ "DS-RS.si". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.
- ^ "DS-RS.si" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2011.
- ^ "RTVSLO.si".
- ^ Delo, Sobotna priloga, 30 October 2010.
- ISBN 978-1-13458-328-7
- ^ Geiger 2012, p. 116.
- ^ Geiger 2012, pp. 117–118.
- ^ Geiger 2012, p. 103.
- ^ 66 7.6.2002 Zakon o prestanku važenja Zakona o utvrđivanju ratnih i poratnih žrtava II. svjetskog rata, narodne-novine.nn.hr
- ^ Davidson, The sixth offensive.
- ^ Overmans 2000, p. 336.
- ^ The South Slav Journal. Volume 6. 1983. Page 117
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