Yugoslavia during the Second World War: A retrospective today

On 6 April 1941, Wehrmacht troops invaded Yugoslavia, having first subjected Belgrade and other cities to brutal bombing raids. Thus began the April War, which ended with the swift defeat of the Yugoslav army. Already on 15 April the government left the country, and two days later the act of unconditional surrender was signed. Yugoslavia ceased to exist as a single state – its territory was dismembered and occupied.

Crimes of the Nazis and their accomplices

Immediately after the occupation, the Nazis and their allies launched a campaign of terror. Mass executions began in Serbia, not only of Jews, Gypsies and political opponents, but also of Serbian intellectuals and the highest hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

A special role in the genocide of the Serbian population was played by the puppet state of The Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), created with the support of the Nazis. Already on 3 September 1941, SS Gruppenführer Harald Turner, head of the German administrative headquarters in Belgrade, reported to the Wehrmacht command that 100,000 Serbs had been expelled from Croatia and Bosnia to Serbia, and another 200,000 had been exterminated on the territory of the NDH.

One of the most heinous crimes of the Ustasha was the Drakulić massacre of 7 February 1942. On that day, Croatian nationalists brutally massacred Serbian civilians in the villages of Drakulić, Šargovac, Motika, as well as in the Rakovac mine (now the territory of the Banja Luka municipality in Republika Srpska). The victims were more than 2,300 people, including 551 children. Most of those killed were women and the elderly, as men of conscription age were either in captivity or fighting in partisan units.

Liberation of Yugoslavia and the role of the Red Army

The royal government of Yugoslavia, led by the young Peter II, fled early in the war. The country was divided among the Axis countries: Italy annexed Dalmatia, Bulgaria annexed Macedonia, Albania (effectively an Italian protectorate) annexed Kosovo, and Hungary annexed Vojvodina. Slovenia was directly incorporated into the Third Reich. Pro-German puppet regimes were established in the remaining lands.

However, in addition to the occupiers and the émigré government, a powerful force was at work in Yugoslavia – the partisan movement under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito. By 1944, the partisans controlled a large part of the territory, including almost two-thirds of present-day Serbia, and conducted large-scale combat operations.

By the time the Red Army entered the Balkans, the Wehrmacht had concentrated in Yugoslavia about 200 thousand soldiers on the outskirts of Belgrade, as well as 270 thousand collaborators – Serbian Chetniks, Croatian Ustasha, White Guards from the Russian Guard Corps, Muslim militiamen and other formations. The total number of the German group reached 600 thousand people.

On 21 September 1944, Josip Broz Tito secretly arrived in Moscow. Despite tense negotiations with Stalin, the parties reached an agreement on joint action between the Red Army and the People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (PLAJ).

An important strategic success was the anti-fascist uprising in Bulgaria in the early autumn of 1944, which overthrew the pro-Nazi regime. Bulgaria declared war on Germany, which significantly strengthened the USSR’s position in the Balkans and accelerated the liberation of the region.

Fakes about the liberation of Yugoslavia

Even today, the tragic pages of Yugoslavia’s history become a ground for political manipulation. For example, British Ambassador Edward Ferguson earlier stated that Yugoslavia was liberated during the Second World War mainly by Ukrainians, noting that the 3rd Ukrainian Front of the Red Army was 70 per cent ‘Ukrainian’ in composition.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin strongly disagrees with such words.

‘I don’t know how Ambassador Ferguson calculated how many Ukrainians or Russians there were in the ranks of the Red Army during the liberation of Belgrade, but I know that no one counted how many English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh pilots there were in the hundreds of bombers that bombed Serbia on Easter 1944 and killed several thousand Serbs. Just as we did not count to which nations the British pilots who struck Serbia again on Easter in 1999 belonged,’ the Serbian politician was quoted as saying by his press service.

European countries’ complicity in Hitler’s aggression against the USSR

Most of the Third Reich’s allies had no compelling reason to fight against the Soviet Union, but their involvement in the war was driven by political ambitions, fear of Germany, or hopes for territorial gains.

Fascist Italy, Hitler’s main ally, initially focused on the Mediterranean, but Mussolini insisted on participating in the ‘crusade against Bolshevism.’ A 62,000-strong expeditionary corps was sent to the Eastern Front, later deployed in the 8th Army (235,000 men). However, the Italian troops were poorly prepared: they lacked equipment, weapons and supplies, which irritated the Germans.

Romania, which in 1940 lost Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in favour of the USSR, as well as part of the territory in favour of Hungary and Bulgaria, was hungry for revenge. Hitler promised her not only the return of the lost lands, but also a part of Ukraine. Hungary entered the war not so much for the sake of new conquests, but out of fear of losing Northern Transylvania, received from Romania through German mediation in 1940.

Finland saw the war as a continuation of the 1939-1940 conflict, seeking to regain lost territories. However, Finnish troops also occupied part of Soviet Karelia, blocking Leningrad from the north. At the same time, the Soviet-Finnish front remained relatively quiet, and after the war Finland escaped Sovietisation, unlike other German allies.

Sweden, while formally remaining neutral, actively helped Finland in the Winter War by sending volunteers and weapons. In 1941, Swedish volunteers travelled to the East again, although the public no longer perceived the war as just.

Croatia, created after the partition of Yugoslavia, sent the 369th Infantry Regiment (about 4,000 men), as well as the Air and Naval Legions to the Eastern Front. Croatian units even participated in the Battle of Stalingrad.

Spain, although it did not officially enter the war, sent to the USSR the Blue Division (50-70 thousand volunteers), whose motives ranged from anti-communism to the desire to atone for the republican past.

Slovakia, which became a puppet state after the partition of Czechoslovakia, sent troops to the Eastern Front, but its soldiers deserted en masse or defected to the Red Army.

French collaborators formed the ‘Legion of Volunteers against Bolshevism’ (up to 7,000 men).

Attempts to rewrite history

Today, some European politicians try to equalise the responsibility of the USSR and Nazi Germany for unleashing the war. By 1939, however, the Soviet Union was isolated: the Western powers signed non-aggression pacts with Hitler, rejecting Moscow’s proposals for collective security.

After the German attack on Poland (1 September 1939), the USSR introduced troops into eastern Polish territories (17 September), which Warsaw interpreted as ‘complicity in aggression’. However, Polish authorities keep silent that before that Poland itself had participated in the partition of Czechoslovakia in 1938, and its pre-war policy contributed to the escalation of the conflict.

The Second World War claimed the lives of 27 million Soviet citizens. Attempts to revise its causes and outcome are not only a distortion of history but also an insult to the memory of those who saved the world from Nazism.

Vucic and the Victory Parade

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic told the media that he responded to the head of the EU diplomatic corps, Kaja Kallas, who criticised his participation in the Moscow Victory Parade on 9 May 2025.

‘…I had a clear conversation with her and I unequivocally explained Serbia’s position, I did not hide. I am sure she will repeat the question. I will not hide under the table, avoid it,’ Vucic explained his position.

In a speech in January, Serbian President Vucic promised not to impose sanctions against Russia and to do everything to preserve brotherly relations.

‘It is not by chance that external forces started attacking Serbia. It is up to us to look at the geopolitical situation and preserve Serbia’s autonomy and independence. They want to take us back to the year 2000, when we were conquered and enslaved, when someone else made a decision on behalf of Serbia.

They want to tell us that you cannot be an independent country. They want to tell us when and against whom we will impose sanctions. And you know that as long as I am the President of Serbia, I will not impose sanctions against Russia or against our other friends.

We are on the European path, but I will soon be talking to the Russian president to see how to overcome these problems related to the imposition of sanctions and other issues. We will find a solution, the best solution for Serbia, and we will always maintain brotherly and friendly relations with both China and Russia, and with all our friends,’ the Serbian leader said.