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author: wuming.

about the author: wuming, male, a senior high school student at nankai middle school in chongqing, likes military history and geopolitics, has studied macroeconomics, microeconomics, statistics, calculus, and java c++ languages ​​in college. when he is free, he will try to copy the small virus codes he saw during the xuexin competition to prank his friends and never get tired of it.

the full text is divided into nine chapters, each with the following themes:

the soul of independence: the background of the birth of the resistance movement

where is the road? - operation uzice (the enemy's first offensive)

snow falls into foca - operation in southeast croatia (second enemy offensive)

a sword is sharpened by grinding - operation trio (the enemy's third attack)

hope is created by people - battle of neretva river (the enemy's fourth offensive)

there is no way forward, and no way back (bloody june) - battle of sutjeska (the enemy's fifth offensive)

operation kugelblitz (the enemy's sixth attack)

let's go - operation vault (the enemy's seventh attack)

the german army's death star: soviet assistance and post-war massacre of german army

independent spirit

it took only about twenty months for yugoslavia to go from neutrality in world war ii to falling victim to the axis invasion on april 6, 1941, when the combined forces of germany, italy, hungary, and bulgaria launched an invasion that marked the end of yugoslavia as an independent state.

in fact, in the initial stage, the top leaders of the kingdom of yugoslavia were inclined to maintain friendly relations with nazi germany. on march 25, 1941, the regent paul karadjordjevic (prince pavle) signed an agreement to join the triple alliance pact in an attempt to maintain the integrity and security of yugoslavia. prince paul met with hitler on march 1, and the two sides agreed to jointly resist the "threat" of the soviet union. yugoslavia planned to support germany's attack on the soviet union. however, domestic anti-axis sentiment was growing.

the main opposition parties, including the democratic party, the agrarian party, and the communist party of yugoslavia, all expressed strong protests against the government's pro-german policies. the vast majority of the people were dissatisfied with joining the axis powers, believing that it was against yugoslavia's national interests. at this time, nationalist sentiment in the country was also increasing, especially tensions between the two major ethnic groups of serbs and croats.

the ruling macek government (the croatian peasant party led by stepan macek was an important force in the government) tried to quell opposition through repression. in order to control the situation, the government banned all trade union activities at the end of 1940 and established military concentration camps to imprison about 2,000 communists and anti-fascist activists. however, these measures did not succeed in curbing the wave of protests in the country. on march 27, 1941, just two days after the signing of the pro-german agreement, a large-scale anti-german demonstration broke out in belgrade. under the influence of the rising nationalism in the country, general dušan-simovic, who was also dissatisfied with the government's pro-axis policy, cooperated with different factions supported by the british intelligence agency, the us strategic office, and the soviet intelligence department. as a representative of the military of the kingdom of yugoslavia, he launched a coup, overthrew the pro-axis government, and replaced the pro-british peter ii as king.

this incident showed that there was widespread anti-axis sentiment in yugoslavia, both in the political and civilian circles. this included the pro-british faction in serbia, the clericalists in slovenia, the yugoslav communists seeking soviet support, and even the pro-slav generals in the army, all of whom opposed the policies of the axis. this laid the groundwork for the large-scale resistance movement that broke out in yugoslavia after the fall. in addition, the communist party of yugoslavia gradually emerged during this period - although the government remained hostile to it and firmly believed that even under german occupation, the communist party could not be allowed to take advantage of the opportunity to expand its influence.

however, in addition to the external threat of war, yugoslavia, as a country formed for geopolitical reasons, has many internal contradictions. since the establishment of the country, the serbs have dominated as the ruling ethnic group, which has caused strong dissatisfaction and resistance from the croats, who believe that their national rights have been ignored. at the same time, macedonian independence forces are also fighting for greater independence and autonomy. in addition, there are many ethnic minorities in yugoslavia, including albanians, germans, hungarians, romanians, slovaks and italians, many of whom are eager to seek greater autonomy.

such complex ethnic and religious conflicts, coupled with the fact that the balkans had long been a stage for european powers to compete for territory and influence, seriously undermined the efforts of the new country to strengthen its political cohesion. especially after the german occupation of yugoslavia, internal divisions and conflicts became more prominent. the axis powers also used these differences to control the situation, which made the yugoslav resistance movement more complicated and ultimately laid a deeper hidden danger for post-war ethnic conflicts.

figure 1. map of yugoslav guerrilla forces in 1941

in april 1941, the kingdom of yugoslavia quickly surrendered under the joint attack of the axis powers, and more than 300,000 soldiers were captured because the high command ordered not to resist. from the first day of the war to the last moment of the war of liberation, the bourgeoisie of all ethnic groups in yugoslavia always worried that the balance of class power in society might change drastically, and the proletariat would gain more power. class interests overwhelmed patriotism, and many bourgeois groups therefore chose to surrender to the invaders in the hope of preserving their own interests. only the communist party of yugoslavia (cpy) took active action to disperse party members into the regular army to influence combat, and called on the broad masses of the working class and peasant class to resist the aggression and massacre of the axis powers.

serbian peasants in bosnia and herzegovina were the first to raise the banner of rebellion, becoming the birthplace of modern european guerrilla warfare. from the beginning of june 1941, the uprising was ignited throughout eastern herzegovina. in lika and bosnian krajina, peasants began to resist the genocide of the ustasha as early as may. the ustasha was an organization of croatian fascists that launched a brutal massacre of serbs, jews and roma. in order to suppress the resistance, the german army used heavy artillery at the sana river bridge on may 8, killing dozens of krajina insurgents.

on june 3, in the village of drezjne in nevešije, the ustaša planned to massacre all serbs, but more than fifty youths set up an ambush, killed three ustaša on the spot, captured four and executed them. the uprising quickly spread to nevešije county, bileča county and gacko county, and the entire area was liberated by the insurgents, except for a few cities. the atrocities committed by the ustaša in herzegovina and the news of the uprising angered the serbs in montenegro, and several montenegrin detachments came to support the resistance movement in herzegovina.

however, ethnic hatred was further intensified under the instigation of some nationalists with ulterior motives. the insurgents in herzegovina began to organize massacres of local muslim residents, accusing them of collaborating with the ustasha and being responsible for the tragedy of the serbs. in bileca county, the ustasha did not harm any serbs (because it was close to the montenegrin border and was afraid of retaliation), but the serbian insurgents massacred more than 600 muslim residents, including women and children.

spontaneous uprisings also broke out in bosnia, lika, kordun and banja, and yugoslavia was plunged into the flames of the uprising. however, due to the lack of communication and unified command among the uprisings in various places, their impact on the war situation was minimal. the members sent by the communist party of yugoslavia tried to unite these scattered uprising forces, but their efforts were obviously not enough to cope with the complex situation.

on june 22, 1941, the soviet union joined the war against germany. this news greatly encouraged the communist party of yugoslavia and all yugoslavs who opposed the axis. the vast rural areas of yugoslavia have always retained deep slavic traditions. many people firmly believe that the slavic brothers from the east will help them get rid of their suffering, which further inspired the fighting spirit of the uprising.

after the soviet union entered the war, a larger-scale mass uprising broke out in yugoslavia. in an uprising that began on july 13, more than 3,000 armed montenegrins attacked the italian garrisons. except for a few cities such as cetinje, podgorica, and nikšić, the entire territory of montenegro was liberated. the area of ​​this liberated area reached more than 10,000 square kilometers. at the same time, it had a significant impact on the italians. the italian messina division alone suffered more than 5,000 casualties.

the yugoslav people had an almost blind confidence in the power of the soviet union. montenegrin farmers even believed that soviet paratroopers could land at any time, so they cut the weeds in the fields that might hinder their landing. not only were the civilians so optimistic, but the leaders of the communist party of yugoslavia also had a strong belief in the soviet union's quick victory. in the summer of 1941, the leader of the communist party of yugoslavia, veselin maslesa, wrote an article in the official newspaper of the montenegrin provincial committee, our struggle, predicting that the war would end within six months. however, this overly pessimistic prediction caused the montenegrin communist party committee to hold him accountable, accusing him of spreading false information.

after the soviet union entered the war on june 22, optimism in the herzegovinian region grew further, and many people believed that the war would soon end. on june 24, communist dukića grahovac led the insurgents in an attack in nevešić, carrying red flags and shouting "long live russia". the herzegovinian insurgents succeeded in capturing parts of the city, forcing the ustaša forces to retreat to their fortifications. but soon after, the axis powers responded quickly. the italian ninth army mobilized six divisions and launched a counterattack against the montenegrin insurgents on july 18. by august 10, the liberated areas of montenegro had fallen completely.

as the situation worsened, the peasants' instability gradually became apparent. they began to regard the communists as dangerous elements, and took the initiative to report to the occupation authorities, and also acted as guides to assist in the search and arrest. in the crmnica region, the yugoslav communist party was even forced to admit that it was a "terrorist organization" and was forced to surrender to the government. this incident revealed the social psychology of the yugoslav peasants at the time: their uprising was not motivated by the ideal of national liberation, but simply to avoid the massacre of the ustasha. once the ustasha adopted a relatively relaxed policy, the peasants stopped resisting. this reflected that the religious traditions and nationalism of yugoslavia at the time did not support the peasants to unite, and the yugoslav communist party did not yet have the prestige and ability to integrate the peasants.

at the same time, another force was rising in yugoslavia. dracha mihajlovic, former deputy chief of staff of the second army of the yugoslav army, advocated the nationalism of "serbs above all else" and formed a chetnik force based on former yugoslav soldiers in the ravna gora mountains. the chetniks, with conservative serbian nationalism as their core, opposed the communist party of yugoslavia and grew rapidly. the communist party of yugoslavia not only faced the instability of the people, but also had to deal with the competition with resistance organizations with different ideologies such as the chetniks.

this complex situation highlighted the contradictions and divisions within yugoslavia: the lack of consensus among peasants, nationalists, communists and various resistance forces meant that the communist party of yugoslavia faced huge resistance in promoting a nationwide resistance movement.

figure 2. scope of the actual controlled area in september 1941

however, despite the difficulties, the guerrillas under the control of the yugoslav communist party still liberated a considerable area of ​​land. in september, the guerrillas' general headquarters moved from belgrade to the liberated areas, first to krupanj and then to užice. on september 26, a meeting of commanders of guerrilla detachments from all over yugoslavia was held in stolica near krupanj. at the meeting, the supreme command and the general headquarters of various regions were formed.