The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War, was a military operation of the Axis countries (Germany, Italy, Hungary) against Yugoslavia during the Second World War. The operation lasted from April 6 – 17, 1941 and ended after the surrender of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The attack was carried out on several fronts: from the territories of Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and also directly from Germany. During a short military confrontation, the armed forces of Yugoslavia were defeated, and the royal government fled. The country remained occupied until 1945.
Prior Events
After the outbreak of World War II, Yugoslavia declared its neutrality. November 28, 1940 Germany invited Yugoslavia to sign a non-aggression pact, and December 22, 1940, invited Yugoslavia to join the Tripartite Pact. March 25, 1941 Yugoslav Prime Minister D. Cvetkovic signed the Vienna Protocol.
On the same day, on March 25, 1941, protest rallies began in the country against the signing of the treaty with Germany. On March 26, 1941, rallies and demonstrations continued in the streets of Belgrade, Ljubljana, Kragujevac, Cacak, Leskovac.
On the night of March 27, 1941, a group of Air Force officers led by the Commander of the Yugoslav Air Force, General D. Simovic, committed a coup d’état by overthrowing Prince Regent Paul. The throne was given to 17-year-old king Peter II, after which a new government was formed.
Hitler regarded the change of power in Yugoslavia as a betrayal, and gave the order to begin preparations for war, even if the new Yugoslav government declares loyalty to Germany.
The Attack
On the early morning of April 6, 1941, the Luftwaffe began air raids. 150 German bombers, under the cover of fighters, struck at Belgrade. The main goal was the center of the city, where the most important state institutions were located. German planes also bombed Yugoslav airfields in the areas of Skopje, Kumanovo, Nis, Zagreb and Ljubljana. The Yugoslav Air Force managed to down only a fewl German aircraft. Immediately after the outbreak of hostilities, the Italian fleet launched a naval blockade of the coast of Yugoslavia.
On the second day of the war, on April 7, 1941, the Yugoslav government declared a general mobilization. Early in the morning of April 8, 1941, after heavy artillery fire, two panzer divisions of the von Kleist 1st Tank Group invaded Yugoslavia from Bulgaria and launched an offensive along the Sofia-Belgrade road against the southern flank of the Yugoslav 5th Army in the direction of the city of Nis. On April 9, 1941, Nis was taken by the Germans. On the same day, the German command observed signs of the disintegration of the Yugoslav army. Serb servicemen continued their resistance, while Croats and Macedonians began to lay down their arms.
On April 10, 1941, in Zagreb Ustashe, Croatian nationalists occupied the barracks of the Yugoslav army, and the leaders of the Croatian nationalists announced the creation of an “independent state of Croatia” on the city radio station.
At the same time, a national council in Slovenia called upon the population of the region not to resist, and the “Slovene Legion” began disarming servicemen of the Yugoslav army.
On April 10, 1941, German troops joined forces with Italian forces near the northern shore of Lake Ohrid. On April 11, 1941 Hungarian troops began the offensive. On the same day, the incoming Italian troops occupied Ljubljana. By the evening of April 11, 1941, the German units advancing from the southeast approached within 11 km of Belgrade. On April 12, 1941, the Germans entered Sarajevo.
End of the War
In the evening of April 12, 1941, a reconnaissance patrol under the command SS Hauptsturmführer Fritz Klingenberg (consisting of 10 servicemen) reached the German embassy in Belgrade. From the embassy staff, Klingenberg learned that the city was not prepared for defense, and the Yugoslav troops had not yet entered the capital, and their arrival was expected in a few hours. After that, he went to the central square of the city, and on behalf of the command of the German army, demanded that the city authorities surrender the city of Belgrade. In case of failure to honor his requirements within 20 minutes, he threatened to call bombers on the radio to completely wipe the city from the face of the earth. Having no information about what was happening, the mayor announced that Belgrade was surrendering and handed over keys to the German soldiers who had occupied the town hall, in the presence of a German embassy employee, although the German troops were still 10 kilometers from the city at that time. On April 13, 1941 Belgrade was occupied without a fight by German troops.
On April 15, 1941, the King and the Government of Yugoslavia left the country. Also on April 15, 1941, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia called on all the peoples of Yugoslavia to continue armed resistance. On April 17, 1941 in Belgrade, the Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia and the Chief of the Operation Department of the Yugoslav General Staff signed an act of unconditional surrender on behalf of Yugoslavia.
The Royal Government of Yugoslavia, flown on an airplane to Greece on April 15, 1941, moved from Athens to the Middle East on April 18, and later moved from Cairo to London. Yugoslavia ceased to exist. On 21 and 22 April, the sectioning and division of Yugoslavia was concluded at a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Germany and Italy in Vienna.