“Finally changed the nature of the war”: what role did the Belgrade operation play in the liberation of the Balkans and Hungary

On September 28, 1944, Soviet and Bulgarian troops launched a large-scale attack on the forces of Nazi Germany occupying the territory of Yugoslavia. The actions of the allies during the Belgrade operation were actively supported by the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOAU), operating behind enemy lines.

During the battles, Soviet, Yugoslav and Bulgarian troops defeated the Serbia army group, inflicted significant damage on other formations of Army Group F, liberated the northeastern regions of Yugoslavia and created favorable conditions for an attack on the Budapest direction.

The occupation of Yugoslavia

After the end of World War I and the collapse of Austria-Hungary in the Balkans, a single state emerged - the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which in 1929 was renamed Yugoslavia. The authorities of the Balkan state traditionally sympathized with Great Britain and France, but were forced to reckon with Hitler Germany, which for Yugoslavia was a key foreign economic partner, and after the Anschluss of Austria, a neighbor.

After the outbreak of World War II, Belgrade tried to adhere to a policy of neutrality. However, on March 25, 1941, the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia Dragisa Tsvetkovich, under pressure from Berlin, signed an agreement on the country's accession to the Tripartite Pact. This led to the start of thousands of street protests. Two days later, a group of Yugoslav officers carried out a coup. The new government was led by the leader of the rebels, Dusan Simovic, and the 17-year-old Peter II was declared king.

That evening, Adolf Hitler signed a directive on the outbreak of war against Yugoslavia. Axis countries (Germany, Italy and Hungary) attacked Yugoslavia on the night of April 6, 1941. The authorities of Romania and Bulgaria provided their territory for the deployment of the military contingent.

Hitler and his allies also relied on the “fifth column” operating in Yugoslavia, primarily on Croatian and Slovenian nationalists, as well as ethnic Germans living in the kingdom. On April 12–13, SS units occupied Belgrade, after which the king and most of the members of the Yugoslav government fled the country. The remaining cabinet members and representatives of the army command signed an act on unconditional surrender of the country. However, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia called on the people to resist the invaders.

• Head of the Independent State of Croatia Ante Pavelic and Croatian Legionnaires
• © Wikimedia commons

“Even after the end of the First World War, fierce territorial disputes began in the Balkans. The neighbors had many complaints against Yugoslavia. Most of them were on the side of Hitler during the Second World War, and the Reich tried to satisfy their appetites, ”military historian Yuri Knutov told RT.

After the occupation began, Southern Slovenia and Dalmatia moved to Italy, most of Macedonia and Eastern Serbia - Bulgaria, Kosovo and Metohija, together with Western Macedonia - Albania, Vojvodina and Eastern Slovenia - Hungary. Hitler annexed Northern Slovenia to Germany. In the remaining territory of Yugoslavia, the Nazis formed three puppet states under the control of Berlin and Rome: the Kingdom of Montenegro, the Republic of Serbia and the Independent State of Croatia, which included Bosnia.

Heroes and traitors

According to Knutov, in Croatia, the Nazis recruited about 113 thousand volunteers to serve in the Wehrmacht and the SS. The Nazis also made a massive recruitment to the Croatian-German police of the order, which numbered about 32 thousand employees. Military historians consider Croatian military and police units to be one of the most effective national formations that fought on the side of the Reich. They were used both on the Eastern Front and during punitive operations against the Yugoslav partisans.

After the partition of Yugoslavia, massacres of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies began on its territory. They were attended by both the German occupation forces and the Croatian nationalists (Ustashi). All Serbs were subject to assimilation, crowding out and physical destruction. Historians estimate the total number of victims of Nazis and Hitler collaborators in Yugoslavia at about 1.7 million people.

Croats imprisoned Serbs, Roma and Jews in death camps, the largest of which was Jasenovac. To date, the names of 83 thousand people killed in this concentration camp are established. However, their total number, according to the calculations of historians, could reach 700 thousand.

In Serbia, the Germans took people hostage and killed civilians in response to the actions of the partisans. According to Knutov, by 1944 the Nazis executed about 80 thousand hostages in Serbia.

• German soldiers lead the Serbs to execution
• © Wikimedia commons

The Yugoslav partisans, the core of which were local communists led by Josip Broz Tito, switched to a massive underground struggle against the Nazis on July 4, 1941. Its scope was so large that the Nazis soon lost control of a significant part of the territory of Yugoslavia.

Created by the partisans in September 1941, the Uzhitsky Republic controlled about two-thirds of the territory of modern Serbia. Fighting with the patriots, the Nazis and their allies destroyed hundreds of settlements. In 1943, about 20 thousand Yugoslav partisans for five months restrained 197 thousand Germans, Italians and collaborators in the forests on the river Sutjeska.

“One of the largest Resistance movements in Europe was operating in Yugoslavia,” said Georgy Emelianenko, an employee of the scientific and methodological department of the Victory Museum, in an interview with RT.

Belgrade operation

Speaking about the course of the operation to liberate the Balkan kingdom, Yuri Knutov said that the forces of popular resistance to expel the invaders from Yugoslav territory were not enough.

“Despite the courage of the partisans, the Nazis retained control over key communications and settlements in Yugoslavia. They turned big cities, such as Belgrade, into real fortresses, ”said the historian.

On September 8–9, 1944, the Bulgarian military, together with the Communists, carried out a coup in Sofia and overthrew the pro-Nazi government. Bulgaria was at war with Germany on the side of the USSR. Meanwhile, the leadership of the Soviet Union agreed with the command of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army formed from partisans on joint actions against the Nazis.

The total number of Soviet, Yugoslav and Bulgarian troops that were to strike at Hitler's forces in eastern Yugoslavia reached 660 thousand people. They had 4477 artillery guns, 421 tanks and self-propelled guns, 1250 aircraft.

“The Soviet troops and their allies in eastern Yugoslavia were opposed by about a 150,000-strong German group, which relied on a multi-thousand-strong collaborationist corps. The Nazis were in well-prepared positions, ”said Knutov.

On September 28, units of the Soviet 57th Army, in cooperation with the 13th and 14th corps of the NOAU, broke through the defensive line of the invaders in eastern Yugoslavia. At the same time, the 2nd Bulgarian Army launched an offensive southwest of the city of Pirot. Two days later, the Bulgarians, together with the partisans, occupied the village of Vlasotinze on the territory of Yugoslavia.

• Yugoslav partisans coordinate with Red Army units
• RIA News
• © Fedor Levshin

In October, Soviet troops reached the Morava River and captured bridgeheads on its right bank, and Red Army tankers completely blocked the southern approaches to Belgrade. To the south-east of the capital of Yugoslavia were surrounded by 13 thousand Nazis, 8 thousand of whom laid down their arms, the rest were destroyed.

“On October 14, Soviet troops and units of the NOAU began fighting directly for Belgrade and liberated the city six days later. During the Belgrade offensive, the main part of Army Group F and part of Army Group E were defeated, ”said Emelianenko.

According to him, this “finally changed the nature of the war in Yugoslavia” - the units of the NOAU now acted not as partisan detachments, but as a full-fledged regular army.

After the liberation of the capital, the Soviet command ordered the Red Army to go on the defensive at the line of Belgrade - Batochina - Parachin - Knyazhevets. The Yugoslav units were to play a key role in the liberation of the rest of the country.

• Soviet troops and Yugoslav partisans enter Belgrade
• RIA News
• © Olga Lander

“In addition, the extremely important mission of the Soviet forces and their allies was to block German troops in the south of the Balkans,” Knutov emphasized.

In turn, Emelianenko noted that in early October the enemy decided to withdraw his forces from the territory of Greece, Albania and Macedonia. Thus, the Soviet troops forced the Nazis to voluntarily leave the prepared positions in a large territory of Southeastern Europe. But at the same time, it was of fundamental importance to prevent the rapid transfer of Wehrmacht units from the southern Balkans to Hungary, where a new large-scale offensive of the Red Army was being prepared.

According to Knutov, "Soviet aviation destroyed a significant part of the roads and bridges leading from the southern Balkans to the north."

“The Nazis had no choice but to try to break through to their mountain paths. Here they turned into easy prey for the partisans, they had to abandon military equipment and go light. Despite all efforts, Hitler did not manage to strengthen his position in Hungary in time, ”Knutov said.

During the Belgrade operation, the Nazis lost about 45 thousand people killed and captured, were forced to retreat 200 km and lost control of the southern and eastern parts of the Balkan Peninsula. The irretrievable losses of the Soviet troops amounted to 4350 people.

“The Belgrade operation played an important strategic role in the war. She created the conditions for the liberation of Hungary and the Balkans, and also brought closer the final victory over Nazism, ”Knutov summed up.