“Serbian society still remembers and honors”: historian Milana Zivanovic – about the Belgrade operation of the Red Army

80 years ago, on October 20, 1944, Soviet troops, in cooperation with units of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, liberated Belgrade from the Nazi occupiers. This day is considered the date of completion of the Belgrade offensive operation, which was carried out by the forces of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts of the Armed Forces of the USSR, Yugoslav and Bulgarian troops. As a result, Hitler’s army group “Serbia” was defeated, conditions were created for a successful offensive in the Budapest direction, and the eastern and northeastern regions of Yugoslavia were liberated. Milana Zivanovic, a researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History of Serbia, spoke in an interview with RT about the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia and the role of Soviet troops in its liberation.

— Under what circumstances was Yugoslavia occupied by Nazi Germany and its allies?

—The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was surrounded by states that joined the Axis powers. Against the backdrop of external pressure, on March 25, 1941, the kingdom signed an agreement with Germany, according to which the integrity of Yugoslavia was guaranteed. It was not to be used for the transit of Axis armed forces and was not obliged to provide them with military assistance. However, just two days later, a military coup took place in the country, as a result of which the government was overthrown. Although the new government convinced the Third Reich that it would not change its foreign policy course, Hitler decided to “punish” Yugoslavia.

On the night of April 6, 1941, the April War began. The German army invaded Yugoslavia. German aircraft began to bomb Yugoslav airfields in Macedonia, Zagreb and Ljubljana, and Italian aircraft began to bomb airfields, marinas and naval bases in Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia. This was followed by heavy bombing of Belgrade.

Already on the first day of the war, the German army broke through the defenses of the Yugoslav armed forces along the Nis-Pirot highway, opening up the road to Belgrade. On April 7, German units entered Skopje (today the capital of North Macedonia), and on April 10 – into Zagreb, after which the Independent State of Croatia was proclaimed. On April 11, Hungary declared war on Yugoslavia and invaded its territory. On April 12, German troops entered Belgrade. Three days later, the government and king left Yugoslavia.

On April 17, the country officially capitulated. Its territory was occupied. Serbia was captured by the Germans. Albania, which was under an Italian protectorate, was given most of Kosovo and Metohija, as well as Western Macedonia. Backa and Baranja were transferred to Hungary, most of Macedonia and southeastern Serbia – Bulgaria. The Independent State of Croatia was created on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Srem. Germany annexed the Slovenian parts of Carniola and Styria. Italian troops occupied the area around Ljubljana, as well as most of the Adriatic coast.

April War 1941Gettyimages.ru ullstein bild/ullstein bild

— How difficult was the occupation regime for the population of Yugoslavia during the Second World War and what losses did the country suffer?

— In the occupied territories of Yugoslavia, repressions and punitive operations were carried out, actions of mass intimidation and mass executions were organized. Thus, in the fall of 1941, in two cities of Central Serbia, in response to the actions of the partisan movement, the Germans shot several thousand civilians. Concentration camps operated in occupied Serbia, as well as on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia. Citizens of Yugoslavia were sent to forced labor in Germany. The German policy of intimidating citizens provided for the execution of 100 Serbs for one killed German, 50 for each wounded. The Jewish population was being exterminated. The consequences of the Holocaust were terrible – less than 20% of Yugoslav Jews survived the war.

The Nazis massacre the inhabitants of Serbia, 1941Gettyimages.ru ullstein bild/ullstein bild

— How did the partisan movement arise in Yugoslavia and what were its main achievements?

— Intensive preparations for a partisan armed uprising began immediately after the occupation of the country. Throughout Serbia, members of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, which had been banned since 1920, collected weapons and military equipment left behind by soldiers of the Royal Yugoslav Army. Military commissions were established, which, in turn, created strike groups. Clandestine military training took place. The armed uprising itself was raised after Germany's attack on the USSR. On June 22, 1941, Yugoslav communists published an appeal in which they called on all peoples of the country to prepare for a decisive struggle.

The head of the executive committee of the Comintern, Georgiy Dimitrov, in his letter to the leader of the Yugoslav communists, Josip Broz Tito, called on the partisans to burn military factories, fuel depots, airfields, destroy railways, telegraph and telephone lines, and interfere with the transfer of troops and ammunition of the occupiers. In the summer of 1941, an armed uprising began. It was most widespread in Serbia and Montenegro. In Serbia, rebels liberated several towns and created an area free of Nazis. In Montenegro, approximately every fifth local resident participated in actions against the occupiers. On the basis of the partisan movement, the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, arose.

Yugoslav partisansGettyimages.ru Keystone

— Under what circumstances did the liberation of Yugoslavia by Soviet troops begin?

— The decision to participate in the liberation of Yugoslavia by the Red Army was made long before the start of the Belgrade operation. The Danube military flotilla in the USSR, for example, was created immediately with an eye to participating in the liberation of Nazi-occupied countries in the Danube basin. At the end of August 1944, during the Iasi-Kishinev operation, units of the Red Army defeated German-Romanian troops in Bessarabia and on the territory of Romania. Bucharest went over to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. This opened the way for the liberation of Yugoslavia.

— How did the Belgrade strategic offensive operation of the Red Army go? How effective were the actions of the Soviet troops?

— In September 1944, units of the Red Army reached the border with the former Yugoslavia. At the beginning of the month, a reconnaissance group of the 75th Rifle Corps of the 2nd Ukrainian Front crossed the Danube River in Eastern Serbia, and on September 22 the corps crossed the Danube in this area. Already on September 28, the Belgrade strategic offensive operation began, in which, according to Belgrade University professor Timofeev, about 300 thousand Soviet soldiers were involved. Units of the Red Army used modern heavy weapons; Soviet soldiers and officers had extensive combat experience.

Belgrade residents welcome their liberatorsgloballookpress.com Mary Evans Picture Library

Soviet troops and the NOLA liberated Vojvodina, then Eastern, Central, and Southeastern Serbia. The Red Army led the enemy rear into chaos, facilitating the breakthrough of Yugoslav divisions into Serbia, which, in turn, prevented the Germans from organizing reliable resistance on the approaches to Belgrade. The capital itself was liberated on October 20.

According to the General Staff of the Red Army, the irretrievable losses of the army in the Belgrade operation amounted to 4,350 people. At least 1,162 soldiers and officers of the Red Army fell in the battles for the liberation of Belgrade, whose names are contained in an incomplete list compiled by the Soviet side. According to our calculations, in total, more than 11 thousand Soviet citizens, including prisoners of war and partisans, died on the territory of Yugoslavia from 1941 to 1945.

— How do people in Serbia today assess the role of the USSR in the liberation of Yugoslavia during World War II?

— In socialist Yugoslavia, the policy of memory in relation to the role of soldiers and officers of the Red Army in the liberation of the country often changed. Until 1948, at the peak of bilateral relations, the country publicly glorified the feat of the Soviet people. Representatives of the authorities in their statements noted the decisive contribution of the USSR and its army to the liberation of Yugoslavia. However, already in 1948, due to the worsening relations between Moscow and Belgrade, the memorial policy changed significantly. Just a month after the adoption of the Information Bureau Resolution, which accused the Yugoslav leadership of abandoning Marxism-Leninism and pursuing an anti-Soviet line, Josip Broz Tito, in his report to the Fifth Congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, noted: “The heroic Red Army helped us liberate Belgrade, eastern Serbia and Vojvodina. They helped us a lot.”

During the period of maximum aggravation, Belgrade newspapers assessed the activities of Soviet military personnel as sabotage. In 1954, on the tenth anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade in World War II, the official narrative was presented through the construction of the cemetery for the liberators of Belgrade, which included the graves of Yugoslav soldiers in the first part and Soviet ones in the second.

Funeral of Soviet and Yugoslav soldiers who died during the battles for Belgrade, October 22, 1944RIA Novosti Olga Lander

On the 20th anniversary of the liberation of the capital, it was already emphasized that Soviet troops and the NOLA liberated Belgrade – in that order: first they mentioned the contribution of the Red Army, then the Yugoslav partisans. However, in 1975, the true role of the USSR in these events was hushed up or downplayed. It was noted that the country liberated itself on its own with the help of a small number of states – primarily the Soviet Union. In modern Serbia there are practically no scientific works that would refute the role of the USSR in the events of the autumn of 1944. Serbian society still remembers and honors the role of the Soviet Union in the liberation of the country. In Serbia, not only are monuments to soldiers and officers of the Red Army carefully preserved, but new ones are also being erected. In memory of the liberation of individual cities, government officials, as well as ordinary citizens, lay flowers and wreaths at them.