2nd Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)

A map showing the location of Yugoslavia in Europe

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was created with the merger of Serbia, Montenegro and the South Slav-inhabited areas of Austria-Hungary on 1 December 1918, in the immediate aftermath of World War I. The Army of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was established to defend the new state. It was formed around the nucleus of the victorious Royal Serbian Army, as well as armed formations raised in regions formerly controlled by Austria-Hungary. Many former Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers became members of the new army.[3] From the beginning, much like other aspects of public life in the new kingdom, the army was dominated by ethnic Serbs, who saw it as a means by which to secure Serb political hegemony.[4]

The army's development was hampered by the kingdom's poor economy, and this continued during the 1920s. In 1929, King Alexander changed the name of the country to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, at which time the army was renamed the Royal Yugoslav Army (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Vojska Kraljevine Jugoslavije, VKJ). The army budget remained tight, and as tensions rose across Europe during the 1930s, it became difficult to secure weapons and munitions from other countries.[5] Consequently, at the time World War II broke out in September 1939, the VKJ had several serious weaknesses, which included reliance on draught animals for transport, and the large size of its formations. Infantry divisions had a wartime strength of 26,000–27,000 men,[6] as compared to contemporary British infantry divisions of half that strength.[7] These characteristics resulted in slow, unwieldy formations, and the inadequate supply of arms and munitions meant that even the very large Yugoslav formations had low firepower.[8] Generals better suited to the trench warfare of World War I were combined with an army that was neither equipped nor trained to resist the fast-moving combined arms approach used by the Germans in their invasions of Poland and France.[9][10]

The weaknesses of the VKJ in strategy, structure, equipment, mobility and supply were exacerbated by serious ethnic disunity within Yugoslavia, resulting from two decades of Serb hegemony and the attendant lack of political legitimacy achieved by the central government.[11][12] Attempts to address the disunity came too late to ensure that the VKJ was a cohesive force. Fifth column activity was also a serious concern, not only from the Croatian nationalist Ustaše but also from the country's Slovene and ethnic German minorities.[11]

30th ID

10th ID

17th ID

33rd ID

2nd Army

Planned deployment locations for formations of the 2nd Army

• Army headquarters in blue
• subordinate formations in red
• 33rd ID in green

The 2nd Army was part of the 2nd Army Group, which was responsible for the eastern section of the Yugoslav–Hungarian border, with the 2nd Army in the Slavonia and Baranya regions between Slatina and the Danube, and the 1st Army in the Bačka region between the Danube and the Tisza.[19] On the left flank of the 2nd Army was the 4th Army of the 1st Army Group, which was responsible for the defence of the Yugoslav–Hungarian border west of Slatina. The boundary with the 4th Army ran from just east of Slatina through Požega towards Banja Luka. The boundary with the 1st Army on the right flank of the 2nd Army was the Danube. The Yugoslav defence plan saw the 2nd Army deployed from the boundary with the 4th Army to the Danube, with two divisions along the line of the Drava and one division in reserve. The headquarters of the 2nd Army was to initially be located in Đakovo. The planned deployment of the 2nd Army from west to east was:[20][21]

• 17th ID around Našice
• 30th ID in the Baranya region behind the border fortifications
• 10th ID in reserve on the right flank behind the Vuka river, centred on Vinkovci

Army-level and rear area troops were to be deployed near Đakovo. The 10th Border Guard Regiment was to man fortifications in the Baranya region, and the 1st Battalion of the 393rd Reserve Regiment was to man defences along the Drava in front of the 17th ID.[21] The 33rd Infantry Division Lička (33rd ID), which was under the direct command of the Supreme Command of the VKJ,[22] was deployed further south behind the Sava river, centred on Doboj.[23]

After unrelenting pressure from Adolf Hitler, Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941. On 27 March, a military coup d'état overthrew the government that had signed the pact, and a new government was formed under the VVKJ commander, Armijski đeneral Dušan Simović.[24] A general mobilisation was not called by the new government until 3 April, out of fear of offending Hitler and thus precipitating war.[25] On the same day as the coup, Hitler issued Führer Directive 25 which called for Yugoslavia to be treated as a hostile state, and on 3 April, Führer Directive 26 was issued, detailing the plan of attack and command structure for the invasion, which was to commence on 6 April.[26]

The Yugoslav historian Velimir Terzić describes the mobilisation of the 2nd Army as a whole on 6 April as "only partial", and states the headquarters of the 2nd Army was mobilising at Kiseljak near Sarajevo, and did not reach Đakovo until 7 April. Of the army-level support units, the 76th Artillery Regiment was mobilising far to the south in Mostar, and was unable to move to its concentration area near Đakovo due to a lack of draught animals.[27]

By the end of 6 April, the 30th ID held positions in Baranya on the line Batina—Beli Manastir—Drava, with its strongest flank on the left, closest to the Drava. As the 17th ID had not yet arrived in its planned deployment locations, the 1st Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment was initially the only unit in the divisional area, supported by the 1st Battalion of the 30th Artillery Regiment.[30] The 2nd Army faced the Hungarian 3rd Army,[19] and on 7 April Hungarian forces could be seen massing across the border.[31] During the first few days after the commencement of the invasion, there were exchanges of fire with Hungarian border guards, but the 2nd Army faced no direct attacks. Neither the 2nd Army nor the Hungarians were ready for full-scale fighting, as they were still mobilising and deploying their forces.[19] On 7 April, 2nd Army headquarters arrived in Đakovo and issued orders to its subordinate formations. On the left, the 43rd Infantry Regiment and border units remained the only fighting formations yet deployed along the Drava. In Baranya, the 30th ID was deployed with the 41st Infantry Regiment on the left, the 10th Infantry Regiment on the right, and the 64th Infantry Regiment in reserve, with supporting artillery distributed among the infantry formations. The 30th Divisional Cavalry Battalion was located in Kneževi Vinogradi, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) southeast of Beli Manastir.[32]

On 9 April, due to events in other parts of Yugoslavia, the 6th Army on the right flank of the 2nd Army Group was ordered to withdraw south of the Danube and deploy on a line facing east to defend against an attack from the direction of Sofia, Bulgaria. The headquarters of the 2nd Army issued orders to evacuate Baranja and reinforce the left flank.[33]

The following day, the situation deteriorated significantly when General der Panzertruppe Georg-Hans Reinhardt's XXXXI Motorised Corps of the German 12th Army crossed the Yugoslav–Romanian border into the Yugoslav Banat and struck the 6th Army, halting its withdrawal and disrupting its ability to organise a coherent defence behind the Danube.[34] Also on 10 April, the main thrust of General der Panzertruppe Heinrich von Vietinghoff's XXXXVI Motorised Corps of the 2nd Army, consisting of the 8th Panzer Division leading the 16th Motorised Infantry Division crossed the Drava at Barcs in the 4th Army sector on the left of the 2nd Army. Generalmajor Walter Neumann-Silkow's 8th Panzer Division turned southeast between the Drava and Sava rivers, and meeting almost no resistance and with strong air support, had reached the left flank of the 2nd Army at Slatina by evening, despite poor roads and bad weather.[35]

Later that day, as the situation was becoming increasingly desperate throughout the country, Simović, who was both the Prime Minister and Yugoslav Chief of the General Staff, broadcast the following message:[35]

All troops must engage the enemy wherever encountered and with every means at their disposal. Don't wait for direct orders from above, but act on your own and be guided by your judgement, initiative, and conscience.

— Dušan Simović

The 2nd Army was able to evacuate Baranja and organised a defence of the left flank of the 2nd Army Group, now threatened by the 8th Panzer Division, but Croat reservists began to desert their units due to the fifth column activities of the fascist Ustaše and their sympathisers. This significantly reducing the combat power of the 2nd Army. By the evening of 10 April, the 2nd Army Group was ordered to withdraw from this line and form a defensive line behind the Sava, from Debrc to the confluence with the Vrbas river, for which one or two days would be needed. On the night of 10/11 April, the whole 2nd Army Group continued its withdrawal, but units of the 2nd Army that included significant numbers of Croats began to dissolve.[36]

Messerschmitt Bf 110s of Zerstörergeschwader 26 destroyed the air reconnaissance assets of the 2nd Army at Bijeljina on 12 April

At dawn on 11 April, Hungarian forces,[37] consisting of the Mobile, IV and V Corps of Vezérezredes[lower-alpha 6] Elemér Gorondy-Novák's 3rd Army,[39] crossed the Yugoslav border north of Osijek and near Subotica,[40] overcame Yugoslav border guards and advanced on Subotica and Palić.[41] The XXXXVI Motorised Corps continued to push east south of the Drava, with the 8th Panzer Division capturing Našice, Osijek on the Drava, and Vukovar on the Danube, followed by Generalmajor Sigfrid Henrici's 16th Motorised Infantry Division which advanced east of Našice, despite bridge demolitions and poor roads.[37][35] The 8th Panzer Division had effectively routed the 2nd Army Group by 11 April.[42] On the same day, the 3rd Air Reconnaissance Group Breguet 19s were flown from Staro Topolje to Bijeljina. The following day, Messerschmitt Bf 110s of I Group of the 26th Heavy Fighter Wing (German: Zerstörergeschwader 26, ZG 26) destroyed the 3rd Air Reconnaissance Group aircraft when they swept over the airfield in one of the most effective attacks of the campaign.[43] On the night of 11/12 April, the 8th Panzer Division captured Sremska Mitrovica on the Sava at 02:30, after two important bridges over the Sava were captured intact.[35] The 8th Panzer Division then destroyed a bridge over the Danube at Bogojevo,[44] and advanced on Lazarevac about 32 kilometres (20 mi) south of Belgrade.[35] These advances delayed the withdrawal of the 2nd Army Group south of the Sava.[41]

By 12 April, the withdrawal of the 2nd Army Group was being threatened from the left flank, with 2nd Army being described by the Polish historian Andrzej Krzak as having "no combat importance at all". On the far right flank, 6th Army attempted to regroup while being pressed by the 11th Panzer Division as it drove towards Belgrade.[44] West of Belgrade, remnants of the 2nd Army Group tried to establish a line along the Sava, but XXXXVI Motorised Corps had already captured the bridges. Elements of the 8th Panzer Division captured Zemun without a fight. On 12 April, the 1st Army's 3rd Cavalry Division counter-attacked on the right flank of the 2nd Army at Šabac and pushed the Germans back across the Sava. The Ustaše had captured Slavonski Brod without German assistance, but 2nd Army units recaptured the town and destroyed the bridge over the Sava.[41] The Hungarians occupied Baranja without facing resistance.[45]

The 8th Panzer Division and 16th Motorised Infantry Division struggled along poor roads during their drive into the left flank of the 2nd Army on their way to Belgrade

On the evening of 12 April, elements of SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS[lower-alpha 7] Paul Hausser's SS Motorised Infantry Division Reich, under command of XXXXI Motorised Corps crossed the Danube in pneumatic boats and captured Belgrade without resistance. About the same time, most of the elements of XXXXVI Motorised Corps that were approaching Belgrade from the west were redirected away from the capital, but part of the 8th Panzer Division continued their thrust to capture the Sava bridges to the west of Belgrade, and entered the city during the night. The rest of the 8th Panzer Division turned southeast and drove towards Valjevo to link up with the left flank of the First Panzer Group southwest of Belgrade. The 16th Motorised Infantry Division was redirected south across the Sava, and advanced toward Zvornik.[47]

On 13 and 14 April, the 8th Panzer Division led a southward thrust towards Sarajevo, where both the Yugoslav Supreme Command and the headquarters of the 2nd Army were located, and during that day the 2nd Army asked the Germans for a separate ceasefire agreement, but were rebuffed, as by this stage only the unconditional surrender of the whole Yugoslav Army would be considered by the Germans. On 14 and 15 April, tens of thousands of Yugoslav soldiers were taken prisoner by the Germans during their drive on Sarajevo in the centre of the country, including 30,000 around Zvornik and 6,000 around Doboj. On 15 April, the 8th Panzer Division approached Sarajevo from the east as the 14th Panzer Division entered it from the west, and the 2nd Army surrendered. After a delay in locating appropriate signatories for the surrender document, the Yugoslav Supreme Command unconditionally surrendered in Belgrade effective at 12:00 on 18 April.[48]