2-WWII+Yugoslavia+OT


 * Sydney Owens**
 * Brock 2**

=THE OCCUPATION OF YUGOSLAVIA =

On April 6, 1941, the Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia under Adolf Hitler’s order of Operation 25, and began what would come to be known as the April War. It was a German led attack that was part of Germany’s Balkan Campaign, or Balkanfeldzug, in which Hitler looked to maintain peace through diplomacy in order to ensure that his country would peacefully gain the raw materials of countries in the region. At the beginning of Balkanfeldzug, Hitler made accessing Romania oil the top priority. In order to this to be achieved, however, Hitler realized that he would need to access the Danube waterway, which ran through Yugoslavia. The waterway would allow the oil to be transported from Romania. However, on October 28, 1940, Italy broke the peace in the Balkan region by invading Greece. This was a violation of Greece’s neutrality, and prompted Hitler to take immediate action. Hitler’s interests in Romanian oil were simply too great, and Hitler also did not want to let Italy, an ally, be defeated. As a result, Hitler decided to attack Greece, which required him to attack Yugoslavia in order to do so. Attacking Yugoslavia was necessary because of the Danube waterway, but was also due to the fact that Yugoslavia had excellent railroads that would allow military supplies to be transported to and from Germany. Hitler wanted to gain access to these resources, but decided that instead of forcing the country, he looked to bring it into a treaty instead.

Prince Paul, the regent of Yugoslavia, decided to sign the Tripartite Pact in order to keep the peace- not only between Yugoslavia and Germany, but within Yugoslavia itself. Yugoslavia was composed of many different ethnicities and ethnic tensions were running high; Prince Paul feared that tensions would erupt if Yugoslavia were to enter into a way with Germany. For these reasons, the Prince signed the Tripartite Pact on March 25, in Vienna. The stipulations of the treaty were the following:


 * Yugoslavia’s sovereignty would be maintained
 * Germany wouldn’t ask for Yugoslavia’s military assistance during the war
 * German troops would not pass through Yugoslavia
 * Yugoslavia would possibly be allowed to claim an outlet to the Aegean sea in the reorganization of Europe

The pact, however, was extremely unpopular in certain parts of the country, such as Serbia and Montenegro. On March 27, a group of Serbian military officers overthrew the regency and placed a Serbian general on the throne. The act was bloodless, however, and the new government allowed the Prince and his family to flee to Greece that night.

The new regent looked to comply with the pact that the previous government had signed, however, Hitler was furious about the coup. Hitler decided that under no circumstances would be accept the loyalty of the Serbs, who he saw to be the cause of World War I. Hitler ordered the invasion on March 27, 1941.

Operation 25 had three main objectives:


 * To psychologically shock the country by air- this was in the form of an air attack on Belgrade
 * To engage the Yugoslav army from different directions
 * To eliminate the army’s piecemeal

On April 6, 1941, Palm Sunday, German, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian military units invaded Yugoslavia. Over 17,000 Yugoslav civilians died that day. This was the highest number of civilian casualties in one day since the start of the war. In the process, its airfield were bombed and over 600 aircraft were destroyed. In regards to the Belgrade air attack, over 500 German aircraft attacked Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Almost 6,000 civilians died in this city alone. In regards to the plan to attack the army from different directions, invading forces issued staggered attacks from three separate sides.

**Resistance**

The Yugoslav army was not well equipped to engage in a war with Germany. One reason was due to the fact that many of the army formations were not able to mobilize. In addition, the army did not have modern equipment. For example, the army did not have modern tanks or much artillery. As a result, only 459 aircraft was deployed, which wasn’t much compared to the Axis powers’ strength. Assistance in the form of ground operations was also sparse and very weak.

Throughout the struggle, Yugoslavia looked to its allies, Turkey and the Soviet Union. However, such counties did not want to engage in conflict with Germany. As a result, they didn’t voice their criticisms of the German invasion, leaving the Yugoslavs to be completely crushed by the Axis powers.

Just days after the invasion, the Yugoslav high command decided to try to negotiate local agreements to ceasefire. However, Yugoslavia would have to unconditionally surrender before Germany would agree to an armistice. After 11 days of fighting, an Armistice was signed, and Yugoslavia surrendered. This took place on April 17, 1941.

**Effects**

As a result of the April War, Yugoslavia was completely dismembered. In addition to the massive casualties, which exceeded 17,000 on day 1 of the invasion, between 254,000 and 345,000 Yugoslavs were imprisoned. However, Germany only lost 558 men.

Some areas of Yugoslavia were annexed; others remained occupied. Axis puppet states were created. One example of such was the Independent State of Croatia. In addition, new territorial boundaries were enforced.

Who did what?


 * Germany annexed northern and eastern Slovenia
 * Italy annexed southern Slovenia
 * Hungary annexed the Backa and Baranja regions in northeastern Yugoslavia
 * Germany and Italy divided Croatia into spheres of influence

**Analysis: How successful was Operation 25?**

Germany’s military invasion was extremely successful. However, Hitler failed to create peace for Yugoslavia. The Axis occupation meant the overwhelming exploitation of such areas in order to support the German war effort. As a result, Germany gained massive amounts of resources to feed its efforts. The invasion in Yugoslavia also allowed the Germans to control the Danube waterway, which would allow the transportation of oil from Romania- one of the early goals that Hitler looked to achieve in the Balkan campaign.

The German invasion proved that overwhelming force could successfully yield a quick victory. This was partially due to the fact that Yugoslav resistance was incapable, however, it was a massive victory nonetheless. It was a decisive victory; the Germans spent little on the effort and lost relatively few men. The victory also boosted German pride, which was also significant.

However, Hitler did not understand the political, cultural, or geographical conditions that had existed in Yugoslavia long before the April War. Prior to Hitler’s declaration of Operation 25, a pro-Serbian coup had just overthrown the government. Prior to the coup, ethnic tensions had already run rampant throughout the country. Especially after the coup, there was no central government, and ethnic unity was nonexistent. Since many different races existed in Yugoslavia, each had its own customs, traditions, and most of all, pride. As a result, a civil war based on ethnic diversity raged throughout the country. While Hitler’s aim was to maintain peace and the flow of resources from Yugoslavia to Germany, the military invasion was actually ineffective in doing so. Within a few months, ethnic tensions gave way, and the victory began to unravel. It was no longer a decisive victory for Germany.

**Effect on women and youth** As a result of the rampant ethnic tensions, an anti-partisan war broke out. Two main movements resulted from the division of resistance groups- the Chetniks and the Partisans. A former colonel of the Yugoslav Army led the Chetniks. Both Serbs and non-Serbs were allowed to join the movement as it was non-homogeneous. The group looked to protect the Serbs from the threat of genocide that the Croatians, Germans, and the Croatian/Serbian Muslims posed. The other movement was the Partisan movement led by Josip Broz, the head of the underground Yugoslav Communist party. The goal of the party was to create an independent Socialist Yugoslav state, and also received support from the Soviet Union. This was one instance in which women rose up during the time of great ethnic tension. Women played a key role in the Partisan movement when the two movements entered into full-scale conflict in October of 1941. For example, women played a large role in the Partisans’ People’s Liberation Committees. Conflict between the two movements was detrimental, especially on children. During the first anti-partisan sweep, over 144 schoolboys were killed. The atrocity was considered barbaric. Many Muslim women and children were also persecuted, and many were murdered in April of 1942 as a result. By 1944, forces comprised of 650,000 men AND women were organized into four armies that engaged in warfare. One year later, the forces grew to 800,000.


 * Sources:**

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"German War Machine - The German Army of World War II." //Battles & Campaigns: Yugoslavia, 1941//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. ======

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"Germany Invades Yugoslavia and Greece." //History.com//. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. ======

(End)- Sydney Owens, Brock 2 __________________________________________________________________________________________________