This month, 70 years ago, the German Führer decided to punish  the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
    Originally, the German Führer had no military designs on the Balkan countries. The German Reich was getting whatever it needed from that area. He would have preferred that the Balkan countries - Yugoslavia, Greece and Bulgaria - remain neutral. But when the Italian Duce couldn’t help himself, and attacked the Kingdom of Greece, on October 28, 1940, the Führer’s hand was forced.
    A week after Italian forces had occupied Albania, in March 1939, Great Britain had issued a guarantee to the Kingdom of Greece. Hitler realized that British bombers, based in Greece, would place the Reich’s recently secured oil source at Ploiesti, Rumania at risk. Now that Mussolini’s ill-conceived attack on the Greeks was foundering, and British arms and planes were en route, the German Führer had to act.
    The Kingdoms of Hungary and Rumania were convinced to join the Tri-Partite Pact - the alliance of the German Reich, the Italian Kingdom and the Japanese Empire - in November 1940. A diplomatic offensive was also launched against the Kingdoms of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. A land route from Germany to Greece was needed and these were the last two pieces of the puzzle.
    On March 1, 1941, Prime Minister Bogdan Filov executed the document on behalf of Bulgaria. Finally, on March 25, 1941, Dragica Cvetkovic and Alexander Cincar-Markovic, Yugoslavia’s Premier and Foreign Minister, respectively, having snuck out of Belgrade the night before, executed the document at the Belvedere Palace in Vienna, on behalf of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Premier assured the German Führer that his country, “...would be ready to maintain its position of independence and cooperate with the German Reich.”
    However, the Serbs, who controlled the country, were furious, and within two days the Yugoslav military, led by Generals Borivoje Mirkovic and Dusan Simovic, had replaced the government and removed the Regent, Prince Paul. Peter II was elevated to the throne. Prince Paul was a cousin of the Yugoslavian king, Alexander I, who was assassinated in Marseille, France, in 1934. The King’s will named Prince Paul as regent for the King’s son, Peter II, until his 18th birthday, in September 1941.
    Even though the new government had given no indication that it would not honor the document to which it had been committed by Prince Paul, and the Yugoslav signatories, Dragica Cvetkovic and Alexander Cincar-Markovic, the German warlord was enraged, viewing the Yugoslavian governmental change as a personal affront. He vowed, “...without waiting for possible declarations of loyalty of the new government, to destroy Yugoslavia militarily and as a nation. No diplomatic inquiries will be made and no ultimatums presented.” He ordered Luftwaffe chief, Reichsmarshal Hermann Göring, “...to destroy Belgrade in attacks by waves.” The German Führer then announced, that, “The beginning of the Barbarossa operation [which had been set to begin May 15] will have to be postponed up to four weeks.”
    On April 6, 1941 - Palm Sunday - as the Reich’s Foreign Minister announced on the radio that the Germans planned to punish the, “...clique of conspirators in Belgrade...” and to, “...restore peace and security,” the Luftwaffe began Operation Punishment at 7:00 A.M. without a declaration of war.  It was three days and nights of bombing of the Yugoslav capital, by Luftwaffe units under the command of Lt.Gen. Alexander Löhr. The result was the destruction of Belgrade and, at least, 17,000 dead. The day after the bombing began, the Reich’s Propaganda Minister, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, noted that, “This is the punishment they have earned.” For General Löhr the result would be equally deadly, for, after the war, he was tried by the Yugoslavs for his participation in the bombing, convicted and, on February 26, 1946, executed by firing squad.
    While the Luftwaffe was pummeling the capital, the Regia Aeronautica was attacking targets in Dalmatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Macedonia. On the same day that the bombing campaign began, elements of the German Twelfth Army, under the command of Field Marshal Wilhelm List, began crossing the Yugoslavian border from Germany, Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria.
    The next day, Skopje - the capital of Macedonia - was captured by the Ninth Panzer Division, which was composed of mostly Austrian troops and was commanded by Lt.Gen, Alfred Ritter von Hubicki.
    On April 9, 1941, the German Second Army, under the command of Maximilian von Weichs joined the invasion of Yugoslavia.
    With the complicity of the Croats, who had never liked their second-fiddle position in the Serb dominated country, troops from the German Second Army entered the Croat capital of Zagreb on April 10, to the strains of the German national anthem - Deutchland uber Alles - on the radio.
    The next day, the Italian Second Army, commanded by Vittorio Ambrosio, crossed the Yugoslav border, from Trieste.
    On the morning of April 12, Captain Fritz Klingenberg, of the 2nd SS Das Reich Panzer Division, crossed the Danube River and entered Belgrade with six men from his motorcycle company. They raised the Swastika over the German Embassy, and within two hours, the mayor had arrived and surrendered the city to the captain. For this, he received the Knight’s Cross. He later commanded the 17th SS Götz von Berlichingen Panzergrenadier Division. The rest of the SS division arrived the next day to secure the city. The mayor then shot himself.
    Also, on April 12, the Hungarian Third Army, under the command of Elemér Gorondy-Novák, joined the Axis offensive. Facing it was the Yugoslavian First Army, commanded by General Milan Radenkovic.
    Only months before, Hungary and Yugoslavia  had executed a “Treaty of Eternal Friendship.” Because of that betrayal, Hungarian Prime Minister Count Pál Teleki de Szék committed suicide, leaving a note which read,
    “We have become breakers of our word.  I have allowed our Nation’s honor to be lost. The Yugoslav Nation was our friend but now, out of cowardice, we have allied ourselves with scoundrels. We will become body snatchers! A Nation of trash.  I did not hold you back. I am guilty.”
    German troops captured Sarajevo on April 16, 1941. The Italians occupied Dubrovnik, on the Adriatic coast, in Croatia, the next day. The same day, the two Yugoslav officials who had originally signed the Tri-Partite Agreement - Dragica Cvetkovic and Alexander Cincar-Markovic - now executed documents surrendering their country to the four Axis nations.
    Bulgarian troops occupied Macedonia on April 19, 1941, which had been taken from it in previous wars.
    The conquest of Yugoslavia cost the Wehrmacht less than 600 casualties and the Luftwaffe 60 planes, while the Royal Hungarian Army suffered 350 casualties. As many as 350,000 Yugoslavs became POWs. Within the first week, 100 of the 135 Yugoslavian generals had surrendered, while the two generals who had started all this - Mirkovic and Simovic - made off with the country’s gold.
    Administratively, the following were created: The Independent State of Croatia, under the leadership of the Poglavnik, Dr. Ante Pavelic; The Independent State of Montenegro; and the Serbian Government of National Salvation, headed by Serbian General, Milan Nedic, which lasted until October 4, 1944. In addition, the Kingdoms of Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria and the German Reich, each annexed a slice.
    Whether the delay caused by the invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece contributed to the Axis defeat in the East is still debated. What is beyond question is that the Axis expended hundreds of thousands of troops combating Marshal Tito’s partisans - forces which could have been put to good use elsewhere.

*Next - OPERATION MARITA - THE FALL OF GREECE   
Mr. Wimbrow writes from Ocean City, Maryland, where he practices law representing those persons accused of criminal and traffic offenses, and those persons who have suffered a personal injury through no fault of their own.