Key battles in WW1/WW2

Battle for Yugoslavia

The battle for Yugoslavia was a short lived battle that lasted 11 days of fierce resistance and fighting before the Yugoslav government surrendered on the 18th April 1941. But let's see how the battle even started with the causes somewhat from a little earlier before.

We start off in the 1930's with the Yugoslav government accepting and forming an alliance with Romania and Czechoslovakia which was known as the little Entente. Then further down the line Croats and Serbs were causing political unrest and instability. With violence and protests from the public. But the country had remained neutral and tied to the Balkans with their King and government in place of the Serbs. However just before the invasion of Yugoslavia, we must consider the Tripartite pact that Germany made to prevent anyone defecting to the allies.

This alliance consisted of Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Vichy France and the General government (Poland) and they were a formidable military alliance. And this was all because of in the wake of the Italian-Greek war that started in late 1940 and into mid 1941 after the Italian attempt to invade the Kingdom of Greece was an absolute disaster as not only had they failed to take Greece but they were now having to defend Albania from Greek invasion! Which then Germany rolled through the Balkans because of its strategic impact and its geographical position. And two countries that were neutral were in the way which were Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. Hitler asked the Bulgarian leader for the alliance and they accepted because they could trust the Germans behind their back similar to the first world war. However when asking Yugoslavia they agreed but after the public rioting and violence, they overthrew the old German aligned government and replaced it with a neutral non aligned government. Which annoyed Hitler because it was easy said done till that happened...

So they used Bulgaria to move their best units in the military also known as the Waffen SS which were elite German troops that had tough experience in Combat most likely WW1. And with Italy, Romania and Hungary, they use their armies to also invade easier. And the Yugoslav border guards were not prepared for what was to come ahead. As German SS divisions rammed through the border and the guarded positions and they Yugoslavian army didnt have enough men and time to successfully defend and establish a defensive line near Belgrade and survive the Axis onslaught easily. The Croats also started rebelling and helping the Axis by disrupting their supplies and the other movements and before the Yugoslavs could even have a chance, they already took Belgrade and the Yugoslav government surrendered and was exiled a few days later leaving Greece alone on the Balkan front. Which then they would later fall in late June 1941 and retreat to the island of Crete but would still be invaded by German paratroopers. And the Yugoslav partisans started dealing heavy damage to German troops and supplies. And they would eventually end up liberated theirselves in early 1945 with assistance from the Red army.