Yugoslav Airmen And Their Aircraft in World War 2

Excellent info!

great work imalko, i'm looking to build a couple of these and your work will make it so much more possible. thank you!

robi

Thanks and your welcome.
Robi, if you need some additional info for your builds on some specific aircraft flown in Yugoslavia feel free to ask either here in this thread or you can PM me if you like.

Regards
Igor

This Day 70 Years Ago...

Wednesday, 6th of April - today our country commemorates the 70th anniversary of Axis invasion of Yugoslavia which was spearheaded with heavy air raids on our capitol city Belgrade on this day. Thus our country was drawn into the World War.
The defeat that fallowed, by all accounts a speedy and a decisive one, was a result of many factors. On one side - a country weakened by internal disputes, political divide and incompetent leadership, on the other - a determined and ruthless enemy. In just eleven days Hitler's armies overcome the defense, overrun the country and forced the Kingdom of Yugoslavia into unconditional capitulation. Following this military success, the Nazis immediately set to the task of partitioning the country between their allies and the internal loyalists. Thus the neighboring countries: Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary as well as the newly created NDH (Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska) or The Independent State of Croatia, were assigned a part of the occupied country. This marked the total collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in both military and political sense.
Today we commemorate those who had fallen in April of 1941, remembering that April defeat was only the first chapter in four year long struggle of peoples of Yugoslavia in World War Two.

During fallowing month or so I intend to make series of posts on April War in this thread, thus commemorating this important event in my country's history. Along the lines of this thread and the forum itself these will be mostly related to aerial operations of both sides with some mentions of ground operations.

THE APRIL WAR

Prelude to War
In spring of 1941 with the World War II well into its second year, Yugoslavia found itself surrounded by the states already aligned with the Axis: Bulgaria and Romania on the east, Hungary on the north, German annexed Austria on the north-west and on the west and south (across the Adriatic Sea and in occupied Albania) Italy. On 25 of March, fearing the imminent invasion, Prince Pavle, Regent of Yugoslav Kingdom, signed the Tripartite Pact adhering thus to the Hitler's demands. This provoked a widespread outrage and huge street demonstrations, especially in the Yugoslav capital Belgrade. Two days later a coup d'état, initiated by the British secret service and led by General Dušan Simović, overthrew the government. The Crown Prince Petar was declared King while General Simović took over the government. On the same day, 27 of March, enraged Hitler issued "Directive 25", ordering an invasion of Yugoslavia. In days between coup d'état and the invasion, grasping perhaps its desperate situation, the new government had change of heart and tried to appease Hitler by a promise of neutrality. Hitler, however, was not interested. Without declaration of war, the attack, under the codename "Operation Punishment", began in early hours on April the 6th with massive aerial bombardment of Belgrade. This was followed by a Blitzkrieg from several directions, conducted by the troops stationed in the neighboring countries. Unable to resist German advance on any front, the Yugoslav army, dispirited and weakened by the internal struggles, soon melted away amidst desertions and surrender, leaving the country and its population to the will of the aggressor.

Source:
World War II: The defeat of Yugoslavia by Bekir Šabić

Pictures from Jagdwaffe Strike in the Balkans:
(Above) In response to an invitation from Adolf Hitler, the Yugoslav Prime Minister Dr. Dragiša Cvetković and his Foreign Minister Dr. Cincar-Marković arrived at Berchtesgaden on 14th February to discuss Yugoslavia joining the Axis Tripartite Pact. The Pact was signed on March the 25th.
(Bellow) Scenes in Belgrade during demonstrations protesting at the signing of the Tripartite Pact. Fallowing a coup led by the military the agreement was repudiated.

Opposing Air Forces
The April War was an unequal struggle from the outset, both on the ground and in the air. In terms of sheer numbers this was a fight between 2236 Axis aircraft and 420 Yugoslav aircraft. On countless airfields across Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy the Axis assembled 1062 bombers, 885 fighters and 289 observer aircraft with experienced crews (out of these numbers there were 1570 German and 666 Italian aircraft). On Yugoslav side there were 147 bombers (Do 17K, SM.79 and Blenheim), 131 observer aircraft (mostly obsolete Breguet-19 and Potez-25 with few Blenheims) as well as 102 modern (Me-109E, Hurricane and IK-3) and 42 obsolete fighters (Hawker Fury, IK-2, Avia BH-33 and Potez-63) opposing them.

In the spring of 1941 Yugoslav aviation was organized in three separate branches: Vazduhoplovstvo Vojske (VVKJ) or Air Force of the Army, Pomorsko Vazduhoplovstvo or Naval Air Force and Civilno Vazduhoplovstvo or Civil Aviation (incorporated into the army on the eve of the war acting in the role of previously nonexistent military transport aviation). The VVKJ was further divided into: Operativno, Armijsko and Pozadinsko vazduhoplovstvo.

Operativno vazduhoplovstvo (Operational Air Force) consisted of bomber and fighter aviation, long range recconnaisance units, liaison and transport units. These units were organized into aviation squadrons, regiments and brigades and assigned to defend particular areas of the country.
Armijsko vazduhoplovstvo (Army Air Force) consisted of units allocated to the individual ground armies for air support and reccon work.
Pozadinsko vazduhoplovstvo (Second line AF) consisted of training units, Air Force Test Group and replacement squadrons.

Yugoslav fighter pilots were well trained for dog fighting in pairs, but lacked experience in fighting in large formations which proved as a great disadvantage in comparison to the Jagdwaffe pilots. The lack of incendiary ammunition was also a problem. According to the Yugoslav War Plan R-41 the primary role of fighter aviation was to provide aerial defense of the state territory. It's secondary role was to provide cover for bomber aviation in attacks on enemy airfields and other targets and to support the operations of own ground forces and navy. Though pilots didn't lacked courage, the numerical strength of fighter arm was insufficient to successfully fulfill these tasks. Never the less, VVKJ was the only branch of Yugoslav army which awaited the German onslaught fully mobilized.

Source of info and pictures: Aeromagazin
Pictures (from above):
Pic. 1 - Auxiliary airfield at Veliki Radinci, April 1941. In front of Messerschmitt Bf 109E (designated Me-109E in Yugoslav service) stands Captain Kosta Lekić, CO of 101. eskadrila, and unit mechanics. Me-109E was most numerous and most advanced fighter aircraft available to VVKJ in April 1941.
Pic. 2 - This obsolete fighter biplane Avia BH-33E was used for pilot training in 3rd Pilot School during peacetime and for interception missions in short April War! This aircraft as later captured by the Italians.
Pic. 3 - Luftwaffe personell arming the Ju 87B Stuka dive bomber prior to another sortie over Yugoslavia. Picture taken at Data, Romania. Note the yellow engine cowling - the recognition feature of all German aircraft participating in Balkan campaign.

Luftwaffe units assembled for attack on Yugoslavia and Greece were those of Luftflotte 4 and Fliegerkorps VIII as can be seen on this OOB on 5th April 1941 in the attachment far bellow.

Interesting shots Igor!

Great post imalko.
Apart from having just a general idea about the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia and the long struggle of Yugoslavian resistance fighters against its Nazi oppressors which was strategically important for the Allies by tying down Wehrmacht divisions that could had been used elsewhere; I have come across several accounts of Allied airmen, engaged in the strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany and its allies from bases in Italy, that were shot down over Yugoslavian territory and subsequently helped by brave Yugoslavian resistance fighters in evading capture by Wehrmacht soldiers and guiding them out of the country undetected via the Adriatic Sea.
I appreciate your efforts in bringing these stories to us and I'll be of course expectant for more.

Thank you for your words mate. I'm preparing another installment on the April War which I will be posting shortly.

If you are interested in stories about Allied airmen rescued in Yugoslavia, then I can recommend the book "The Forgotten 500" by Gregory Freeman. The book tells the story of "Halyard Mission" in 1944, the largest rescue ever of downed American airmen. More than 500 U.S. airmen were rescued, along with some from other countries, all right under the noses of the Germans, and mostly in broad daylight. The mission was a complete success - the kind that should have been trumpeted in news reels and on the front page but wasn't. (By comparison, the famed escape of allied prisoners from a German POW camp portrayed in the movie "The Great Escape" involved 200 men, and only 76 were successful.)

Thank you for that recommendation.
If memory does not fail me, I believe I have seen that book being on display in the library that I frequently visit; next time I go, I will take a look at it.
It must be a great book packed with amazing first-hand accounts of those brave airmen who risked everything in such hostile skies.

IN MEMORIAM - General Zlatko Rendulić (1920-2021)



PROF. Dr. Zlatko Rendulić, retired colonel general of aviation, pilot, engineer and doctor of technical sciences and the last living pilot of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force and participant in the April War, passed away at the age of 101.

As announced by the Association of Retired Military Pilots and Paratroopers of Serbia, Rendulić passed away on Saturday, April 24.
Rendulić was born on September 29, 1920, in Jastrebarsko, Croatia. At the age of 14, he completed a glider course in Vršac, and in 1940 he enrolled and graduated from the pilot school of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force.
He took part in the April War, and after the capitulation lived and worked in Zagreb until 1943, when he joined the partisans, from where he was sent to Italy to the RAF's training school for a Spitfire fighter pilot.
When an agreement was reached with the USSR, he was sent with a group of pilots to Grozny for training as a pilot of "Il-2" assault bombers.
After the war, Rendulić held various assignments as a pilot in the Air Force Operational Unit ("Il-2 Assault Regiment"), a squadron commissioner, then a test pilot and a pilot-engineer for testing aircraft in flight at the Aeronautical Testing Center (VOC). Later in his career he became the chief aerodynamicist for the "Seagull" plane project at the Aeronautical Technical Institute, then the head of aerodynamics and finally the director of the Institute.
He graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade in 1948, at the Soviet Military Aviation Engineering Academy Zhukovsky. He received his master's degree in 1954 from Cornell University and the University of Michigan and finally a doctorate in 1964 from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade.
As a full professor, he worked at the Center for Strategic Studies of the JNA General Staff.
He was involved in contruction in the G-2 Galeb, J-21 Jastreb and J-20 Kraguj aircraft projects and ended his military career in the rank of colonel general, as an assistant chief of the General Staff for scientific research.
During his career he actively flew until 1959 on 47 types of aircraft.
He was a lecturer in Aerodynamics at Yugoslav military schools and a longtime lecturer at the Center for Strategic Studies of the JNA General Staff.
General Rendulić is also credited with forming the Higher Military Aviation Technical Academy in Žarkovo in 1966 with the professors of the Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Belgrade.
He is the holder of many war and peacetime decorations and author of more then 20 books.

GALLERY_SEO_TILE - PREMINUO GENERAL ZLATKO RENDULIĆ: Poslednji pilot Jugoslovenskog kraljevskog vazduhoplovstva i učesnik Aprilskog rata