How Hitler ordered the bombing of Yugoslavia: Drawn into the war without a declaration

In Berlin, the decision was taken that, alongside the previously planned attack on Greece, Yugoslavia would also be attacked. The primary objective was to prevent the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops to Greece.

In fact, Yugoslavia was attacked during the night of April 5–6 along the Danube, near Sipa in Djerdap, before the attack on Belgrade. The invasion followed both from the air and on land, from the territories of Germany, present-day Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, including what was then Italian-occupied Albania.

Of the countries surrounding the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, only Romania did not participate in the attack; Greece was already at war with Italy since autumn 1940.

Besides the destruction of Belgrade, the main objective of the German invasion forces was to occupy the Vardar Valley from the direction of Bulgaria, with the aim of preventing the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces into Greece and the formation of a new Salonika front.

Faced with a hopeless situation, completely surrounded, the Yugoslav royal government signed a protocol joining the Tripartite Pact on March 25 in Vienna. The first regent, Prince Paul, although a complete Anglophile, reluctantly agreed to join the Pact, hoping to keep Yugoslavia out of the war.

Southeastern Europe, and thus Yugoslavia, was drawn into the war because Berlin was determined not to tolerate the presence of British troops in Greece. The British expeditionary corps, numbering approximately 50,000 and commanded by General Henry Wilson, had landed after Italy’s attack on Greece in late October 1940.

Since Germany’s goal was to remove British forces, the advance of German units toward Greece continued immediately after occupying Yugoslavia. Athens was captured as early as April 28. The British troops retreated rapidly, first to Crete and then to Egypt.

Occupation without resistance

After the occupation of France in June 1940, there was no resistance to Germany on the European continent. At that time, only Britain was at war with Germany. Previously, Germany had occupied Czechoslovakia and Poland, which was divided with the Soviet Union. Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg were also occupied. Only after the defeat of France in the summer of 1940 did the highest circles in Belgrade begin to consider a more tactical approach toward Germany.

At the same time, the Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bessarabia, and went to war with Finland. German troops also entered Hungary and Romania, and then Bulgaria at the beginning of March 1941, from where the invasion of Greece was planned, leaving Yugoslavia completely encircled.

The Yugoslav army, numbering about 1,200,000 at the time of the attack, was between 70 and 90 percent staffed.

Evacuation of the Government

Germany and its allies Italy, Bulgaria, and Hungary attacked the Kingdom of Yugoslavia without declaring war.

During the April War, the Yugoslav Supreme Command could not manage the situation; the communications system was destroyed. During the bombing of Belgrade on April 6, one government member, Minister Fran Kulovec of the Slovene People’s Party, was killed.

The evacuation of Simović’s government from Belgrade began immediately on April 6. By April 8, the government had been left by Vice President Vlatko Maček, head of the Croatian Peasant Party, ministers from Croatia Josip Torbar, Bariša Smoljan, and Ivan Andres, as well as Džafer Kulenović, leader of the Yugoslav Muslim Organization.

During the first two days of fighting, German invasion troops cut through the Morava–Vardar valley. Skopje was captured on April 7, Zagreb on April 10, and Belgrade on April 13.

Simović’s government, during its last session in the country in Nikšić on April 15, adopted a conclusion, following the suggestion of Slobodan Jovanović, that only the army, not the state, should sign the capitulation. After fleeing the country via Greece, and after a brief stay in then-British Palestine and Egypt, the government reached London.

The capitulation was signed on April 17 in Belgrade, in Aleksandrova Street, in the building of the then-also-destroyed Czechoslovak embassy, by former Foreign Minister Aleksandar Cincar-Marković and General Radivoje Janković.

Members of the Yugoslav army were taken into captivity; only Serbs and Slovenes were imprisoned, while all others were released.

Dušan Simović returned to Belgrade after the war, where he testified in favor of the prosecution against Draža Mihailović.