Italian Bersaglieri during the invasion of Yugoslavia. Photo credit: Wiki
One of the most successful operations for the Italian military during WWII was its role in the invasion of Yugoslavia in April of 1941. The attack was one half of an ambitious plan by the Axis powers to simultaneously conquer Greece and Yugoslavia, and thus seize control of the western Balkans. Most of the attention from the Yugoslavian portion of the conflict has centered on Germany’s role, and their drive to capture Belgrade. Their forces were well organized, effective, and ruthless as they fought their way south against the Yugoslavian defenses. It was however, Germany’s Axis partner Italy that absorbed and countered the only truly offensive action by the Yugoslavian military, and helped secure this Axis victory in less than two weeks.
Yugoslavia had been on the Italian military’s radar since the late 20’s. Mussolini craved control of the Balkans to help safeguard the Adriatic Sea and Italy’s eastern coast, and also to have access to the raw materials of the region. Italian military leaders had studied and created war plans looking at a direct conflict with Yugoslavia, most likely aligned with France, against the Italian Empire. And although Yugoslavia moved it’s ties and close political relations away from France, and created tighter bonds with Germany and Italy towards the end of the 1930’s, the planning and research for an invasion was not forgotten by Comando supremo.
The uncertainty of continued peace in Europe escalated throughout the decade of the 1930’s. Yugoslavia, like many other countries, committed itself to a military build up for what many saw as an inevitable conflict. While by no means considered a military power, it did posses what was thought of as capable fighting force. It possessed over 110 tanks, with 55 of them being French built Renault R35′s, plus a complement of Czech SI-D Tank Destroyers. The army commanded over 4,000 artillery pieces, with close to 1,800 of them modern weapons. Over 1000 trucks had just recently been purchased from the United States, giving their army a high degree of mobility. Their military had over 700,000 men under arms; however there was differing degrees of experience and training amongst the troops. The Yugoslavian air force was equipped with about 500 front line aircraft, about a third of these being some of the best at the time, which they had previously purchased from other countries. In their arsenal were over 70 German Messerschmitt ME 109 fighters and 40 British Hawker Hurricanes. Their bomber force was backed by over 60 German Dornier DO 17 and 40 of Italy’s own excellent SM 79’s.
The seeds of the Axis attack on Yugoslavia were sown the previous fall with Italy’s ill planned and undermanned invasion of Greece. Launched out of Albania, the Italian army, Regio Esercito, performed well at the onset of the offensive and drove through the Greek defenses before the operation stalled. The muddy and mountainous terrain neutralized the Italian armor, diminishing an advantage they should have been able to utilize to a much greater effect. Poor weather, planning, and coordination by Italy’s air force, Regia Aeronautica, squandered the great advantage it should have had over the battlefield and in the skies high above. Albanian units fighting with Italy during the invasion proved unreliable. Most either faded away and disappeared as the fighting intensified, or joined forces with the Greeks turning on the Italians. After two weeks, the Italian attack bogged down in the mountainous regions of Greece, and the defenders started their very effective counter attack. The Greek army took the initiative, and used its larger size to drive the Italians back into Albania. By the end of January 1941, the Italians were able to halt the Greek counter-offensive and stabilize the front lines before they were driven completely back to the sea. The battle would fall into a stalemate for the winter. The invasion was a definite failure and a major disappointment for Mussolini and his quest to seize control of the Balkans.
German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler had decided to send troops into Greece that upcoming spring to assist Mussolini’s forces. His motives were two fold; To help restore Axis pride that was damaged by Italy’s failed invasion and, more importantly, to safe guard the valuable oil fields in Romania now made vulnerable by British air attacks from the bases they were establishing in Greece. Germany also had been applying pressure on Yugoslavian political leaders to join the Axis alliance for some time. Fellow Balkan countries Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria had all signed the Tripartite Pact previously to join forces with Germany, Italy, and Japan. On March 25th 1941, Yugoslavian leaders signed the pact, but two days later there was a coup d’état over throwing the government. The new Yugoslavian government had not announced their intentions to the world yet on whether they would honor the Pact, but Germany was not going to wait and see what they decided. Hitler became enraged by the coup, and told his military advisors he wanted to destroy “Yugoslavia militarily and as a nation”. The German and Italian military immediately began their plans to conquer not just Greece, but Yugoslavia as well. The plans they formulated called for simultaneous attacks on both countries. The invasion of Yugoslavia was known as Directive n. 25, the attack on Greece Operation Marita. The Italians knew that their role in Directive n. 25 would be vital. Their forces would not only be pitted against those of Yugoslavia, but also against the bulk of the Greek army that was positioned to their south. Starting with the new Yugoslavian operation, Italy would have a chance to redeem itself on the battlefield.
On April 6th, 1941 war came to Yugoslavia. In the north the Luftwaffe began a reign of terror from the skies with constant and devastating air attacks on the capital Belgrade. The German Wehrmacht began its drive two days later into the country. On the western front, the Italians used their artillery to open up their portion of the offensive. Primarily employed were the army’s newest 75mm guns. They were utilized effectively in mass in areas to both soften up targets for an attack, or to pour down destruction on an attacker in a defensive role.
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The IIIrd hungarian army invaded Jugoslavia from the north where lived an important hungarian ethnic population in Bacska area. An airport operation was raised to take bridges over canals. It was the only drop ofhungarian paratroopers. After the drop, they stayed un their position, waiting for the Mobile Corps (gyorhadtest or celere corpo)
ALEX