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124-601: Shortly before the invasion, Serbian officers of the Yugoslav General Staff, encouraged by British Special Operations Executive personnel in Belgrade , led a coup d'état  against  Prince Paul of Yugoslavia and Dragiša Cvetković for adhering to the Tripartite Pact . Beyond the problems of inadequate equipment and incomplete mobilization, the Royal Yugoslav Army suffered badly from

248-816: A camp run by SOE in Oshawa in Canada. In early 1942, Donovan's organisation became the Office of Strategic Services . SOE and OSS worked out respective areas of operation: OSS's exclusive sphere included China (including Manchuria ), Korea and Australia, the Atlantic islands and Finland. SOE retained India, the Middle East and East Africa, and the Balkans. While the two services both worked in Western Europe, it

372-542: A personal dictatorship and appointed Živković as prime minister . In April, thirty-two generals were forcibly retired, including the chief of the General Staff , Petar Pešić . During that year, the army took delivery of 4,000 light machine guns , eighty 75 mm (3.0 in) field guns and 200,000 vz. 24 rifles from the Czech firm Škoda . The latter meant that the standing army could finally be equipped with

496-487: A Guards division was formed, consisting of two regiments of cavalry, and one regiment each of infantry and artillery. It was commanded by Petar Živković , a founder of the White Hand. The first significant acquisition of military aircraft were made in the same year, with 150 Breguet 19 light bomber and aerial reconnaissance biplanes being purchased from France under the terms of a loan. Extensions were also made to

620-506: A blind eye to some of SOE's questionable activities. With other military headquarters and commands, SOE cooperated fairly well with Combined Operations Headquarters during the middle years of the war, usually on technical matters as SOE's equipment was readily adopted by commandos and other raiders. This support was lost when Vice Admiral Louis Mountbatten left Combined Operations, though by this time SOE had its own transport and had no need to rely on Combined Operations for resources. On

744-466: A branch office, formally titled " British Security Coordination ," and headed by Canadian businessman Sir William Stephenson . Their office, located at Room 3603, 630 Fifth Avenue , Rockefeller Center , coordinated the work of SOE, SIS, and MI5 with the American FBI and the Office of Strategic Services . As with its leadership and organisation, the aims and objectives of SOE changed throughout

868-630: A celebration in Zagreb on 5 December with a Te Deum at the Zagreb Cathedral . Members of the 25th Croatian Home Guard Infantry Regiment and the 53rd Infantry Division held a protest at the same time at the nearby Ban Jelačić Square . The protest was quelled by the police with 15 dead and 17 injured. Both units were subsequently demobilised and disbanded. At the end of 1918, a Serbian Army mission led by Colonel Dušan Simović , Milan Pribićević and Milisav Antonijević arrived in Zagreb to lead

992-479: A commando and parachute training school numbered STS 102 at Ramat David near Haifa . This school trained agents who joined SOE from among the armed forces stationed in the Middle East, and also members of the Special Air Service and Greek Sacred Squadron . A commando training centre similar to Arisaig and run by Fairbairn was later set up at Oshawa , for Canadian members of SOE and members of

1116-470: A large number of training, research and development or administrative centres. It was a joke that "SOE" stood for "Stately 'omes of England" , after the large number of country houses and estates it requisitioned and used. The establishments connected with experimentation and production of equipment were mainly concentrated in and around Hertfordshire and were designated by roman numbers. The main weapons and devices research establishments were The Firs ,

1240-582: A major part in MI(R)'s and SOE's early operations. He also put into practice many of the lessons he learned from the IRA during the Irish War of Independence . The organisation of SOE continually evolved and changed during the war. Initially, it consisted of three broad departments: SO1 (formerly Department EH, which dealt with propaganda); SO2 (formerly Section D, operations); and SO3 (formerly MI R, research). SO3

1364-570: A peak of 450,000 soldiers in July 1919, though demobilization quickly followed. By early 1921 the army organisation had settled into one cavalry division of four regiments , 16 infantry divisions, each consisting of three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment, and additional army-level troops. The 16 infantry divisions were grouped into four numbered army areas, with headquarters at Novi Sad ( 1st Army ), Sarajevo ( 2nd Army ), Skoplje ( 3rd Army ), and Zagreb ( 4th Army ). Later in 1921,

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1488-890: A result of his hard work, and appointed Sir Charles Hambro , head of Hambros Bank , to replace him. He also transferred Jebb back to the Foreign Office. Hambro had been a close friend of Churchill before the war and had won the Military Cross in the First World War . He retained several other interests, for example remaining chairman of Hambros and a director of the Great Western Railway . Some of his subordinates and associates expressed reservations that these interests distracted him from his duties as director. Selborne and Hambro nevertheless cooperated closely until August 1943, when they fell out over

1612-436: A second cavalry division was formed using the four army-level cavalry regiments. Artillery allocation was one heavy artillery regiment and one howitzer regiment at army level, and one field artillery regiment at infantry division level. The army was based on conscription , and annual call-ups were used to maintain the peacetime strength of the army at 140,000. Of the four armies, two were equipped with French-pattern rifles, and

1736-446: A single type of rifle. The year also saw three inter-divisional exercises conducted, although reports indicated that they were poorly organised and carried out. In 1930, Živković was promoted to Armijski đeneral , and four out of the five army commanders were changed. There was only one Croat or Slovene in the general ranks, and he was an engineer in an unimportant post. Acquisition of about 800 modern artillery pieces of various calibres

1860-520: A traitor, but he was exonerated by a war crimes court, and some have claimed he was acting under secret orders from SOE or MI6. SOE was also far ahead of contemporary attitudes in its use of women in armed combat. Although women were first considered only as couriers in the field, or as wireless operators or administrative staff in Britain, those sent into the field were trained in the use of weapons and in unarmed combat. Most were commissioned into either

1984-508: The Savska (Zagreb) and Dravska ( Ljubljana ) divisions converted one of their infantry regiments into a mountain infantry regiment. This latter development was intended as the first step to creating two independent formations that, with integral artillery, signals and transport elements, could be used along the mountainous northwest frontier. The year saw no military exercises, even the recent inter-divisional manoeuvres being foregone due to

2108-553: The 4th Indian Division but was later disbanded in Italy in 1944 as its strength dwindled and the unit was plagued by infighting between royalist and pro- Josip Broz Tito factions. During 1943–44, 27 men made up the "No. 7 (Yugoslav) Troop" of the 10th (Inter-Allied) Commando, a special forces unit under British command. In November 1943, the Yugoslav Detachment was established as part of the 512th Bombardment Squadron of

2232-634: The Adriatic opposite Zadar comprised one infantry division and two detachments, in addition to fortress brigades and anti-aircraft units at Šibenik and Kotor . Along with other Yugoslav forces, the Royal Yugoslav Army surrendered on 17 April 1941 to an invading force of Germans, Italians, and Hungarians. Subsequently, a unit titled " 1st Battalion, Royal Yugoslav Guards " was formed in Alexandria, Egypt. This unit saw action in North Africa with

2356-699: The Allied invasion of Italy , personnel from Massingham established forward stations in Brindisi and near Naples . A subsidiary headquarters, initially known as "Force 133," was later set up in Bari in Southern Italy , under the Cairo headquarters, to control operations in the Balkans, including Greece , and Northern Italy . An SOE station, first called the "India Mission," and subsequently known as "GS I(k),"

2480-727: The Armistice of Villa Giusti was struck with the Kingdom of Italy on 3 November 1918. A National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs had been formed in Zagreb in the previous month with the aim of representing the kingdoms of Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia , the condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina , and the Slavic-populated areas of Carniola and Styria . On 1 November 1918 the National Council had established

2604-746: The Axis powers , except where demarcation lines were agreed upon with Britain's principal Allies , the United States and the Soviet Union . SOE made use of neutral territory on occasion, or made plans and preparations in case neutral countries were attacked by the Axis. The organisation directly employed or controlled more than 13,000 people, of whom 3,200 were women. Both men and women served as agents in Axis-occupied countries. The organisation

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2728-738: The Balkan Wars twenty years earlier. Three more anti-aircraft regiments were formed, and an independent command was created for Šibenik in Dalmatia . Long-term shortages in officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) remained, with deficiencies of 3,500 officers and 7,300 NCOs. Disturbances in the Macedonian region resulted in the issue of 25,000 rifles to members of the Serb-nationalist paramilitary force Narodna Odbrana . In June 1934, Army general Milan Nedić became Chief of

2852-1064: The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) or the Women's Auxiliary Air Force . Women often assumed leadership roles in the field. Pearl Witherington became the organiser (leader) of a highly successful resistance network in France. Early in the war, American Virginia Hall functioned as the unofficial nerve center of several SOE networks in Vichy France . Many women agents such as Odette Hallowes or Violette Szabo were decorated for bravery, posthumously in Szabo's case. Of SOE's 41 (or 39 in some estimates) female agents serving in Section F (France) sixteen did not survive with twelve killed or executed in Nazi concentration camps. Most of

2976-623: The Government Code and Cipher School , until in November 1940 it was decided that it was unwise to conduct codebreaking and explosives experiments on the same site. The establishment moved to Aston House near Stevenage in Hertfordshire and was renamed Station XII . It originally conducted research and development but from 1941 it became a production, storage and distribution centre for devices already developed. Station XV, at

3100-728: The Partisans and Chetniks . However, in 1944 SOE and OSS successfully pooled their personnel and resources to mount Operation Jedburgh , providing large scale support to the French Resistance following the Normandy landings . SOE had some nominal contact with the Soviet NKVD , but this was limited to a single liaison officer at each other's headquarters. After working from temporary offices in Central London,

3224-896: The Prince of Wales in Church End, Tempsford, Bedfordshire , close to the site of the former RAF Tempsford . The organisation was formed from the merger of three existing secret departments, which had been formed shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Immediately after Germany annexed Austria (the Anschluss ) in March 1938, the Foreign Office created a propaganda organisation known as Department EH (after Electra House , its headquarters), run by Canadian newspaper magnate Sir Campbell Stuart . Later that month,

3348-614: The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6) formed a section known as Section D (the "D" apparently standing for "Destruction") under Major Lawrence Grand, to investigate the use of sabotage, propaganda, and other irregular means to weaken an enemy. In the autumn of the same year, the War Office expanded an existing research department known as GS (R) and appointed Major J. C. Holland as its head to conduct research into guerrilla warfare . GS (R)

3472-650: The Thatched Barn near Borehamwood , was devoted to camouflage , which usually meant equipping agents with authentic local clothing and personal effects. Various sub-stations in London were also involved in this task. Station XV and other camouflage sections also devised methods of hiding weapons, explosives or radios in innocuous-seeming items. Agents also needed identity papers, ration cards, currency and so on. Station XIV, at Briggens House near Roydon in Essex,

3596-530: The United States in the months just preceding the invasion. Fully mobilized, the Royal Yugoslav Army could have put 28 infantry divisions, three cavalry divisions, and 35 independent regiments in the field. Of the independent regiments, 16 were in frontier fortifications and 19 were organized as combined detachments, around the size of a reinforced brigade. Each detachment had one to three infantry regiments and one to three artillery battalions, with three organised as "alpine" units. The German attack, however, caught

3720-859: The United States Army Air Forces . The detachment consisted of 40 Yugoslav aviators and was disbanded in August 1945. All Royal Yugoslav Forces were formally disbanded on March 7, 1945, when King Peter II's government was abolished in Yugoslavia. Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive ( SOE ) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage , sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local resistance movements during World War II . SOE personnel operated in all territories occupied or attacked by

3844-449: The arsenal at Kragujevac in 1925, but the previous deficiencies in the army continued to plague the force, with the result that despite its size, the army could not be expected to contend with a smaller and more modern force for any significant time. In 1926, the 5th Army was created, utilising two divisions from the 1st Army and one from the 4th Army. In the same year, 13 more companies of frontier troops were raised for deployment along

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3968-416: The international financial crisis . The British military attaché observed that the army lacked the sound system of battalion and regimental training needed to thoroughly prepare units for modern warfare, as training consisted mainly of close order drill , basic marksmanship and a small number of field firing exercises. In 1932, Živković resigned as Prime Minister and from official politics, and returned to

4092-764: The 1921 Vidovdan Constitution , he abstained from parliamentary work even though he was elected a member of the parliament as an independent candidate in the 1920 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Constitutional Assembly election . In 1921, Drinković took part in establishment of the Croatian Bloc coalition of the Party of Rights, the Croatian Republican Peasant Party , and the Croatian Community  [ hr ] . Subsequently, his political views gradually changed towards

4216-741: The 2nd Army had three infantry divisions and one frontier defence regiment. Finally, the 1st Army Group consisted of the 4th Army, with three infantry divisions and one detachment, whilst the 7th Army had two infantry divisions, one cavalry division, three mountain detachments, two infantry detachments and nine frontier defence regiments. The Strategic, "Supreme Command" Reserve in Bosnia comprised four infantry divisions, four independent infantry regiments, one tank battalion, two motorized engineer battalions, two motorized heavy artillery regiments, fifteen independent artillery battalions and two independent anti-aircraft artillery battalions. The Coastal Defence Force, on

4340-474: The 3rd Territorial Army with three infantry divisions and one independent motorized artillery regiment; the 5th Army with four infantry divisions, one cavalry division, two detachments and one independent motorized artillery regiment and the 6th Army with three infantry divisions, the two Royal Guards detachments and three infantry detachments. The 2nd Army Group's 1st Army had one infantry and one cavalry division, three detachments and six frontier defence regiments;

4464-485: The Axis and occupied nations, such as Operation Anthropoid , the assassination in Prague of Reinhard Heydrich . In general also, SOE's objectives were to foment mutual hatred between the population of Axis-occupied countries and the occupiers, and to force the Axis to expend manpower and resources on maintaining their control of subjugated populations. Dalton's initial statement about outline of methods to be used by SOE's

4588-414: The Axis. It employed known homosexuals, people with criminal records (some of whom taught skills such as picking locks), those with bad conduct records in the armed forces, Communists, and anti-British nationalists. Some of them might have been considered a security risk, but no known case exists of an SOE agent wholeheartedly going over to the enemy. The Frenchman, Henri Déricourt , is widely regarded as

4712-827: The Department of National Defense, which brought all Austro-Hungarian units on its territory under the command of a new National Army of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. All affected units of the Common Army , the Imperial-Royal Landwehr and the Royal Croatian Home Guard came under that unified command. Immediately after the Armistice of Villa Giusti, Italy began occupying parts of the Kingdom of Dalmatia that had been promised to it under

4836-709: The General Officer Commanding the Royal Yugoslav Air Force . The major organisational change during the year was the formation of a tank battalion, consisting of three companies, each of three platoons of five tanks. The only tankettes in service at this time were Renault FTs operated by a training company, but an order for new tanks had been submitted. Large-scale manoeuvres were carried out in Slovenia in September 1937, involving

4960-457: The General Staff, replacing Milovanović. King Alexander appointed Nedić to carry through a significant change in army organisation against the opposition of many of the senior generals, mainly to reduce the size of the oversized infantry divisions and create corps as an intermediate formation between divisions and armies. After Alexander's assassination, Nedić decided to defer the changes, citing practical difficulties. A chemical warfare battalion

5084-538: The Hungarian and Italian borders, and 12 Dornier floatplanes were also purchased. The first manoeuvres of any significant size since the formation of the army in 1919 were conducted between the troops of two divisions during 29 September to 2 October 1927, although the number of troops engaged did not exceed 10,000 and some reserves had to be called up to achieve this number. Prior to this, only local inter-garrison exercises had been conducted. The method adopted for

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5208-538: The Middle East and Balkans were controlled from a headquarters in Cairo , which became notorious for poor security, infighting and conflicts with other agencies. It was eventually named, in April 1944, "Special Operations (Mediterranean)," or SO(M). Shortly after the Allied landings in North Africa , a station code named "Massingham" was established near Algiers in late 1942, which operated into Southern France . Following

5332-445: The Military Council and was replaced by Army General Ljubomir Marić as Chief of the General Staff. Six infantry regiments were disbanded, but the General Staff decided to stick with four infantry regiments per infantry division. Equipment received during the year included 800 Stokes mortars , enough Skoda anti-aircraft guns to arm 20 batteries, and six Skoda Škoda S-1d tankettes. Deficiencies in radio communications were apparent, with

5456-443: The Party of Rights ticket. Drinković supported the Rijeka Resolution  [ hr ] calling on the unification of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia. He also advocated for the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the creation of a common South-Slavic state. This led to Drinković's arrest, trial, and conviction of treason in 1914. He was imprisoned until a general amnesty in 1917. A year later, Drinković took part in

5580-465: The SIS-controlled radio station at Bletchley Park . From 1 June 1942, SOE used its own transmitting and receiving stations at Grendon Underwood in Buckinghamshire and Poundon nearby, as the location and topography were suitable. Teleprinters linked the radio stations with SOE's HQ in Baker Street. Operators in the Balkans worked to radio stations in Cairo. Mate Drinkovi%C4%87 Mate Drinković ( Jelsa , 29 April 1868 – Vienna , 18 May 1931)

5704-437: The Serbo-Croatian schism in Yugoslav politics. Yugoslavian resistance to the Axis invasion collapsed overnight, primarily due to a large part of the non-Serb population, Croats in particular, being unwilling to offer resistance. In its worst expression, Yugoslavia's defenses were badly compromised on 10 April 1941, when some of the units in the Croat-manned 4th and 7th Armies mutinied, and a newly formed Croatian government hailed

5828-418: The advocation of integral Yugoslavism . In the 1920s, Drinković held ministerial positions in various governments: He was the post and telegraph minister in 1920 governments of Ljubomir Davidović and Stojan Protić , a minister without portfolio in 1924–1925 Nikola Pašić government and the minister of social policy in the 1928 Anton Korošec government. During the 6 January Dictatorship , Drinković became

5952-416: The allocation of artillery within the army was enhanced using material captured in World War I . The result was that the army-level artillery was stripped of its howitzer regiments, which were used to increase the division-level field artillery regiments to brigade strength in eight of the 16 infantry divisions. In the same year, the peacetime strength of the army was reduced to 100,000, and the Ministry of War

6076-409: The army and the emblem worn on the cap, virtually everything else was retained from the Serbian Army, including uniforms, ranks, medals and regulations. Serbian Army symbols were used by the force for a substantial part of 1919. While the Serbian Army officers were automatically transferred to the Army of the KSCS, the former Austro-Hungarian and Croatian Home Guard officers had to apply to be accepted to

6200-522: The army had continued, with young educated Croats and Slovenes now reluctant to enter the army. The attaché saw the Serb domination of the army as a possible political weakness for the nation, but also a military weakness in time of war. Three Croat officers were promoted to the rank of brigadni đeneral during the year. There were also reductions in the numbers of artillery regiments and batteries, and infantry battalions and companies, due to significantly lower conscription numbers for 1933, which were caused by

6324-446: The army had great self-belief, its infantry was tough and its artillery was well-equipped, but it greatly lacked in significant areas required by a modern fighting force. Key deficiencies remained in machine guns and infantry guns, and there was no combined arms training. The attaché further observed that, along with the almost complete Serb domination of the general ranks, the General Staff was also 90 per cent Serb, and "Serbianisation" of

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6448-835: The army mobilised troops in Macedonia and parts of Serbia along the border with Albania. Formed after World War I, the Royal Yugoslav Army was still largely equipped with weapons and material from that era, although some modernization with Czech equipment and vehicles had begun. Of about 4,000 artillery pieces, many were aged and horse-drawn, but about 1,700 were relatively modern, including 812 Czech 37mm and 47mm anti-tank guns. There were also about 2,300 mortars, including 1,600 modern 81 millimetres (3.2 in) pieces, as well as twenty-four 220 millimetres (8.7 in) and 305 millimetres (12.0 in) pieces. Of 940 anti-aircraft guns, 360 were 15 millimetres (0.59 in) and 20 millimetres (0.79 in) Czech and Italian models. All of these arms were imported, from different sources, which meant that

6572-402: The army still mobilizing, and only some eleven divisions were in their planned defense positions at the start of the invasion. The total strength of the Royal Yugoslav Army at full mobilization was about 1,200,000 however only around 50 per cent of the recruits were able to join their units before the German invasion. By 20 March 1941, its total mobilized strength amounted to 600,000. On the eve of

6696-454: The borders with Albania, Bulgaria and Greece . In 1923, the only non-Serb generals in the army retired, and the number of generals in the army was increased from 26 to more than 100 by the promotion of colonels into the lower general ranks of brigadni đeneral (brigadier general) and divizijski đeneral (divisional general). In 1924, the artillery strength of the remaining eight infantry divisions were brought up to brigade strength. In 1925,

6820-435: The command of the Guards Division. Some communist activity was detected within the army during the year, and the same conservative group of senior Serb officers remained firmly in charge. The two independent mountain brigades completed formation in 1932, each provided with two batteries of 75 mm (3.0 in) guns. The exclusively Serb Chetnik organisation led by Kosta Pećanac formed new detachments in various parts of

6944-539: The complaints over impropriety at SOE's Cairo headquarters during 1941 and partly because both the supreme command in the Mediterranean and SOE's establishments were split in 1942 and 1943, leading to divisions of responsibility and authority. There was tension between SOE and SIS, which the Foreign Office controlled. Stewart Menzies , the chief of SIS, was aggrieved to lose control of Section D. Where SIS preferred placid conditions in which it could gather intelligence and work through influential persons or authorities, SOE

7068-421: The control of the Allied theatre commands. Relationships with Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in north-west Europe (whose commander was General Dwight D. Eisenhower ) and South East Asia Command (whose commander was Admiral Louis Mountbatten, already well known to SOE) were generally excellent. However, there were difficulties with the Commanders in Chief in the Mediterranean, partly because of

7192-405: The country and the weakness of existing bridges meant that motorisation and mechanisation should be developed slowly, but that a light truck should be acquired as a first step. Reserves of ammunition of all types were reported as low. In 1935, estimates were made that within a month of mobilisation, 800,000 to 900,000 soldiers could be placed under arms. This was based on the duplication of eight of

7316-409: The country, but if fully mobilised would be able to give a good account of itself in a defensive campaign. The exercise was conducted in Slovenia to test the loyalty and value of Slovene and Croat reservists, and was completely satisfactory in this respect only, with nearly all of the reservists reporting for duty and bearing the hardships of the exercise with "discipline and fortitude". The same year saw

7440-407: The country. From a military perspective, it was intended that the Chetniks would assist the frontier guards in peacetime, in addition to their traditional guerilla activities in times of war. Three anti-aircraft regiments were formed in the same year. In early 1933, there was a war scare regarding Italy and Hungary which greatly concerned the General Staff. The British military attaché observed that

7564-407: The creation of secret armies which would rise up to assist the liberation of their countries when Allied troops arrived or were about to do so. It was recognised that acts of sabotage would bring about reprisals and increased Axis security measures which would hamper the creation of underground armies. As the tide of war turned in the Allies' favour, these underground armies became more important. At

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7688-402: The criminal underworld. Some of them were recruited by word of mouth among the acquaintances of SOE's officers, others responded to routine trawls of the armed forces for people with unusual languages or other specialised skills. In most cases, the primary quality required of an agent was a deep knowledge of the country in which he or she was to operate, and especially its language, if the agent

7812-489: The delivery of a substantial amount of equipment from Czechoslovakia, including 36 mountain guns, 32 anti-aircraft guns, 60 reconditioned howitzers, 80 field guns, and eight Škoda S-1d tankettes. Considerable work was being undertaken building fortifications on the Italian frontier. During 1938, Milutin Nedić was appointed as Minister of the Army and Navy, and was replaced as Chief of the General Staff by Armijski đeneral Dušan Simović . That year, two geo-strategic changes made

7936-411: The early months of the war, Section D was based first at St Ermin's Hotel in Westminster and then the Metropole Hotel near Trafalgar Square . The Section attempted unsuccessfully to sabotage deliveries of vital strategic materials to Germany from neutral countries by mining the Iron Gate on the River Danube . MI(R) meanwhile produced pamphlets and technical handbooks for guerrilla leaders. MI(R)

8060-419: The entry of the Germans into Zagreb the same day. During the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, the Chetniks of Draža Mihailović were referred to as the "Royal Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland". The Royal Yugoslav Army was formally disbanded on 7 March 1945 when the Yugoslav government-in-exile appointed by Peter II of Yugoslavia was abolished. The Austro-Hungarian Army exited the First World War after

8184-435: The equivalent of four divisions, and exposing to foreign observers the serious deficiencies in the army, caused by incompetent General Staff and the senior commanders, a lack of technical training of regimental officers in modern warfare, and across-the-board shortages of arms and equipment of almost every type. The British military attaché observed that the army was not capable of undertaking any large-scale operations outside of

8308-407: The establishment of the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs carved out of Austria-Hungary at the conclusion of the World War I . He was a member of the central committee of the National Council, and national defence commissioner of the new state. In the latter capacity, Drinković took part in organisation of 1918 occupation of Međimurje resulting in the addition of Međimurje region to

8432-444: The exercises and the tactics used were similar to those used by the British Army before the Second Boer War . In 1928, four new infantry regiments were established in response to an Italian buildup along the frontier. These were seen as the nucleus for a potential new infantry division. The arsenal at Kragujevac also went into operation, producing Mauser M24 series rifles and ammunition. In January 1929, King Alexander established

8556-783: The field underwent commando training at Arisaig in Scotland, where they were taught armed and unarmed combat skills by William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes , former Inspectors in the Shanghai Municipal Police . Those who passed this course received parachute training by STS 51 and 51a situated near Altrincham , Cheshire with the assistance of No.1 Parachute Training School RAF, at RAF Ringway (which later became Manchester Airport ). They then attended courses in security and Tradecraft at Group B schools around Beaulieu in Hampshire. Finally, depending on their intended role, they received specialist training in skills such as demolition techniques or Morse code telegraphy at various country houses in England. SOE's Cairo branch established

8680-418: The first above divisional level since the formation of the army in 1919. They took place on the Sava river between Novi Sad and Sarajevo at the end of September, and were really in the form of a demonstration rather than a war game . There was no freedom of action for commanders, and control was rigid. During 1936, Marić became Minister of the Army and Navy, replacing Živković, who had been intriguing against

8804-450: The force. Non-Serbian officers accepted to the service were often discriminated against. The Serbian Army numbered 145,225 soldiers at the end of the war, and absorbed the some 15,000 former Austro-Hungarian officers and volunteers which had been organized by the National Council. By 1 January 1919, a total of 134 former high-ranking Austro-Hungarian officers had been retired or relieved of their duties. From late 1918 until 10 September 1919,

8928-585: The former diplomat Fitzroy Maclean or the classicist Christopher Woodhouse ) were commissioned only during wartime. Several of SOE's agents were from the Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine , some of whom were émigrés from countries in Europe. Thirty-two of them served as agents in the field, seven of whom were captured and executed. Exiled or escaped members of the armed forces of some occupied countries were obvious sources of agents. This

9052-463: The government level, SOE's relationships with the Foreign Office were often difficult. On several occasions, various governments in exile protested at operations taking place without their knowledge or approval, provoking Axis reprisals against civilian populations, or complained about SOE's support for movements opposed to the exiled governments. SOE's activities also threatened relationships with neutral countries. SOE nevertheless generally adhered to

9176-524: The government. Before this occurred Marić had told the British naval and military attachés that any mobilisation of the army would take 25 days, and revealed that shortfalls in many items of equipment were severe, including gas masks, steel helmets, tents, horseshoes, small arms ammunition, saddlery and tanks. The new Chief of the General Staff was Armijski đeneral Milutin Nedić , brother of Milan, who had been

9300-641: The headquarters of SOE was moved on 31 October 1940 into 64 Baker Street (hence the nickname "the Baker Street Irregulars " ). Ultimately, SOE occupied much of the western side of Baker Street. "Baker Street" became the euphemistic way of referring to SOE. The precise nature of the buildings remained concealed; it had no entry in the telephone directories, and correspondence to external bodies bore service addresses; MO1 (SP) (a War Office branch), NID(Q) (Admiralty), AI10 (Air Ministry), or other fictitious bodies or civilian companies. SOE maintained

9424-508: The home of MD1, formerly MIR(C), near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire (although this was not formally part of SOE), and Station IX at The Frythe , a country house (and former private hotel) outside Welwyn Garden City where, under the cover name of ISRB (Inter Services Research Bureau), SOE developed radios, weapons, explosive devices and booby traps . Section D originally had a research station at Bletchley Park , which also held

9548-433: The infantry needing between 1,000 and 2,000 small sets, and the cavalry being completely lacking in radios. The radios issued to artillery units were unable to communicate with aircraft, and were therefore of little use. The British military attaché observed that even the most senior commanders have never handled a force larger than a division on exercises or in war. The 1935 manoeuvres were the first of any type since 1930, and

9672-598: The instigation of newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill , Lord Hankey (who held the Cabinet post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster ) persuaded Section D and MI(R) that their operations should be coordinated. On 1 July, a Cabinet level meeting arranged the formation of a single sabotage organisation. On 16 July, Hugh Dalton , the Minister of Economic Warfare , was appointed to take political responsibility for

9796-473: The invasion, there were 167 Generals on the Yugoslav active list. Of these, 150 were Serbs, 8 Croats, and 9 Slovenes. The Royal Yugoslav Army was organized into three army groups and the coastal defense troops. The 3rd Army Group was the strongest with the 3rd, 3rd Territorial, 5th and 6th Armies defending the borders with Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. The 2nd Army Group with the 1st and 2nd Armies, defended

9920-434: The lessons of World War I. In the view of the British military attaché , the clique of Serbian officers in charge of the army at this time were narrow-minded and conservative men who, while keen to modernise the equipment of the army, did not see the need to modernise its tactics or organisation, and were unwilling to learn from others. During following year, a machine gun company was created in each infantry battalion, and both

10044-480: The new army was involved in a sharp military confrontation with irregular pro- Austrian formations in the region of Carinthia on the northern frontier of the new KSCS. At one point, KSCS troops briefly occupied Klagenfurt . After a plebiscite in October 1920 the frontier with Austria was fixed and tensions subsided. To deal with these security concerns, a large mobilization was carried out from 1918 to 1919, reaching

10168-470: The new organisation, and a senior civil servant , Gladwyn Jebb , transferred from the Foreign Office to it, with the title of Chief Executive Officer. Campbell Stuart left the organisation, and the flamboyant Major Grand was returned to the regular army. At his own request, Major Holland also left to take up a regular appointment in the Royal Engineers . (Both Grand and Holland eventually attained

10292-536: The new organisation, which was formally created on 22 July 1940. Dalton recorded in his diary that on that day the War Cabinet agreed to his new duties and that Churchill had told him, "And now go and set Europe ablaze." Dalton used the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence as a model for the organisation. Sir Frank Nelson was nominated by SIS to be director of

10416-456: The newly created American organisation, the Office of Strategic Services . A variety of people from all classes and pre-war occupations served SOE in the field. The backgrounds of agents in F Section, for example, ranged from aristocrats such as Polish-born Countess Krystyna Skarbek , and Noor Inayat Khan , the daughter of an Indian Sufi leader, to working-class people such as Violette Szabo and Michael Trotobas , with some even reputedly from

10540-459: The newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . He was a member of the National Council's delegation sent to Belgrade to arrange establishment of the new South-Slavic state through the unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with the Kingdom of Serbia . In the constituent assembly of the new kingdom, Drinković spoke against centralisation of the country. Displeased with

10664-526: The other hand, the Admiralty objected to SOE developing its own underwater vessels, and the duplication of effort this involved. The Royal Air Force, and in particular RAF Bomber Command under "Bomber" Harris were usually reluctant to allocate aircraft to SOE. Towards the end of the war, as Allied forces began to liberate territories occupied by the Axis and in which SOE had established resistance forces, SOE also liaised with and to some extent came under

10788-626: The other two used an Austrian model. In the early 1920s, the army responded to several external crises, including the attempted return of King Charles IV to neighbouring Hungary , disturbances along the Albanian border, and incursions from Bulgaria . Despite high standards of discipline and individual training, the army was unable to conduct large-scale mobilisation due to threats on all frontiers, lack of funds, poor railway infrastructure, lack of suitably trained and qualified officers, and shortage of arms, munitions, clothing and equipment. In 1922,

10912-498: The outbreak of war), the rest were various civil servants , lawyers, or business or industrial experts. Most of the members of the council, and the senior officers and functionaries of SOE generally, were recruited by word of mouth among public school alumni and Oxbridge graduates, although this did not notably affect SOE's political complexion. Several subsidiary SOE stations were set up to manage operations that were too distant for London to control directly. SOE's operations in

11036-459: The possible exception of Germany, and could also deal with a combined Italian and Hungarian attack. During the year, a Coastal Defence Command was raised using troops already stationed along the Yugoslav coastline, and did not involve the creation of new formations. Delivery of 10,000 light machine guns from Czechoslovakia was completed during the year, which meant that the army was fully equipped with rifles and light machine guns. Further fortification

11160-569: The question of whether SOE should remain a separate body or coordinate its operations with those of the British Army in several theatres of war. Hambro felt that any loss of autonomy would cause a number of problems for SOE in the future. At the same time, Hambro was found to have failed to pass on vital information to Selborne. He was dismissed as director, and became head of a raw materials purchasing commission in Washington, D.C. , which

11284-565: The rank of major-general .) However, Holland's former deputy at MI(R), Brigadier Colin Gubbins , returned from command of the Auxiliary Units to be Director of Operations of SOE. One department of MI(R), MI R(C), which was involved in the development of weapons for irregular warfare, was not formally integrated into SOE but became an independent body codenamed MD1 . Directed by Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Millis Jefferis , it

11408-844: The re-organisation of the Serbian Army and the National Army of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs into a single new Army of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS). The re-organisation talks were led by Pribičević on one side and Mate Drinković and Slavko Kvaternik on the other. They agreed that there would be a new army for the new state, consisting of six regiments. Two of them would be based in Croatia and one in Slovene Lands (specifically in Ljubljana), commanded by Croatian and Slovene officers respectively. The agreement

11532-645: The region between the Iron Gates and the Drava River . The 1st Army Group with the 4th and 7th Armies, composed mainly of Croatian troops, was in Croatia and Slovenia defending the Italian, German (Austrian) and Hungarian frontiers. The strength of each "Army" amounted to little more than a corps , with the three Army Groups consisting of the units deployed as follows; The 3rd Army Group's 3rd Army consisted of four infantry divisions and one cavalry detachment;

11656-401: The reserve army from 40 to 50 years of age. Service in the standing army was set at one-and-a-half years, and three general ranks were introduced instead of the previous single rank. One year after their disbandment, border disturbances made it necessary to reconstitute a smaller contingent of frontier troops in the 3rd Army area. A total of 32 companies were therefore raised and stationed along

11780-452: The resistance networks which SOE formed or liaised with were controlled by radio directly from Britain or one of SOE's subsidiary headquarters. All resistance circuits contained at least one wireless operator, and all drops or landings were arranged by radio, except for some early exploratory missions sent "blind" into enemy-occupied territory. SOE wireless operators were also known as "The Pianists". At first, SOE's radio traffic went through

11904-520: The rule, "No bangs without Foreign Office approval." Early attempts at bureaucratic control of Jefferis's MIR(c) by the Ministry of Supply were eventually foiled by Churchill's intervention. Thereafter, the Ministry co-operated, though at arm's length, with Dudley Newitt's various supply and development departments. The Treasury were accommodating from the start and were often prepared to turn

12028-420: The secret Treaty of London . On 1 December 1918 the unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with the Kingdom of Serbia was declared, forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . The Kingdom of Montenegro had already united with Serbia five days earlier. This declaration and firm action by armed groups halted any further encroachments by Italy. The National Council subsequently organised

12152-416: The selection and training of agents. Sections, usually referred to by code letters or groups of letters, were assigned to a single country. Some enemy-occupied countries had two or more sections assigned to deal with politically disparate resistance movements. (France had no less than six). For security purposes, each section had its own headquarters and training establishments. This strict compartmentalisation

12276-472: The sixteen standing infantry divisions and of the alpine division, and the formation of an additional cavalry division, resulting in a total of 24 infantry divisions of about 25,000 men each, one guards division, two alpine divisions and three cavalry divisions. This year saw significant changes in the higher command of the army following the creation of the Military Council . Nedić became a member of

12400-529: The task of the army significantly more difficult, the Anschluss between Germany and Austria, and the Munich Agreement which drastically weakened Czechoslovakia. These changes meant that Yugoslavia now had a common frontier with Germany and its most significant supplier of arms and munitions was under threat. It was the assessment of the British military attaché that the army could stem the tide of an invasion by one of its neighbours acting alone, with

12524-496: The various models often lacked proper repair and maintenance facilities. The only mechanized units were 6 motorized infantry battalions in the three cavalry divisions, six motorized artillery regiments, two tank battalions equipped with 110 tanks, one of which had Renault FT models of World War I origin and the other 54 modern French Renault R35 tanks, plus an independent tank company with eight Czech SI-D tank destroyers. Some 1,000 trucks for military purposes had been imported from

12648-399: The war, although they revolved around sabotaging and subverting the Axis war machines through indirect methods. SOE occasionally carried out operations with direct military objectives, such as Operation Harling , originally designed to cut one of the Axis supply lines to their troops fighting in North Africa. They also carried out some high-profile operations aimed mainly at the morale both of

12772-405: Was "industrial and military sabotage, labor agitation and strikes, continuous propaganda, terrorist attacks against traitors and German leaders, boycotts and riots." Dalton's early enthusiasm for fomenting widespread strikes, civil disobedience and sabotage in Axis-occupied areas had to be curbed. Thereafter, there were two main aims, often mutually incompatible; sabotage of the Axis war effort, and

12896-631: Was a physician and Croatian and Yugoslavian politician. He graduated from the University of Graz obtaining a degree in medicine before practising in Ston , Vodice , and Šibenik . Drinković was a supporter of the Party of Rights and became a member of the leadership of the party's Dalmatian chapter in 1908. In the 1908 Dalmatian parliamentary election , he was elected a member of the Diet of Dalmatia on

13020-402: Was also formed, with the intention of providing each army with one company. Trials were also undertaken with Skoda tankettes and a locally designed automatic rifle . It was announced that army-level manoeuvres would be held in 1935, for the first time since the formation of the army in 1919. A commission formed to examine the issue of mechanisation of the army concluded that the terrain of much of

13144-665: Was also involved in the formation of the Independent Companies , autonomous units intended to carry out sabotage and guerrilla operations behind enemy lines in the Norwegian Campaign , and the Auxiliary Units , stay-behind commando units based on the Home Guard which would act in the event of an Axis invasion of Britain, as seemed possible in the early years of the war. On 13 June 1940, at

13268-412: Was also undertaken, again from Czechoslovakia, and another 100,000 rifles were purchased from Belgium. Despite this new equipment, the army remained deficient in light and heavy machine guns, motor transport, signalling and bridging equipment, and tanks. Inter-division manoeuvres were again undertaken in three regions, but cavalry charges and massed infantry attacks demonstrated that the army had not learned

13392-461: Was appointed director, he formalised some of the administrative practices which had grown in an ad hoc fashion and appointed an establishment officer to oversee the manpower and other requirements of the various departments. The main controlling body of SOE was its council, consisting of around fifteen heads of departments or sections. About half of the council were from the armed forces (although some were specialists who were only commissioned after

13516-579: Was dissolved in 1946. A memorial to those who served in SOE was unveiled in 1996 on the wall of the west cloister of Westminster Abbey by the Queen Mother , and in 2009 on the Albert Embankment in London, depicting Violette Szabo . The Valençay SOE Memorial honours 91 male and 13 female SOE agents who lost their lives while working in France. The Tempsford Memorial was unveiled in 2013 by

13640-510: Was expected that SOE would be the leading partner. In the middle of the war, the relations between SOE and OSS were not often smooth. They established a joint headquarters in Algiers but the officers of the two organisations working there refused to share information with each other. In the Balkans, and Yugoslavia especially, SOE and OSS several times worked at cross-purposes, reflecting their governments' differing (and changing) attitudes to

13764-455: Was ignored by Serbian military authorities. Following the December 1918 protest in Zagreb , existing Royal Croatian Home Guard were disbanded. Existing Slovenia-based units of the former Austro-Hungarian armed forces were gradually disbanded over the course of 1919 when the new army was established, led by Serbian generals with Serbian language as the official language. Apart from the name of

13888-697: Was intended to create unrest and turbulence, and often backed anti-establishment organisations, such as the Communists , in several countries. At one stage, SIS actively hindered SOE's attempts to infiltrate agents into enemy-occupied France . Even before the United States joined the war, the head of the newly formed Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), William J. Donovan , had received technical information from SOE and had arranged for some members of his organisation to undergo training at

14012-531: Was involved in the exchange of nuclear information. As part of the subsequent closer ties between the Imperial General Staff and SOE (although SOE had no representation on the Chiefs of Staff Committee ), Hambro's replacement as director from September 1943 was Gubbins, who had been promoted to Major-general . Gubbins had wide experience of commando and clandestine operations and had played

14136-735: Was located at The Firs in Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire and nicknamed "Churchill's Toyshop" from the Prime Minister's close interest in it and his enthusiastic support. The director of SOE was usually referred to by the initials "CD". Nelson, the first director to be appointed, was a former head of a trading firm in India, a back bench Conservative Member of Parliament and Consul in Basel , Switzerland, where he had also been engaged in undercover intelligence work. In February 1942 Dalton

14260-619: Was originally the home of STS38, a training facility for Polish saboteurs, who set up their own forgery section. As the work expanded, it became the central forgery department for SOE and the Poles eventually moved out on 1 April 1942. The technicians at Station XIV included a number of ex-convicts. The training establishments, and properties used by country sections, were designated by Arabic numbers and were widely distributed. The initial training centres of SOE were at country houses such as Wanborough Manor , Guildford . Agents destined to serve in

14384-563: Was particularly true of Norway and the Netherlands. In other cases (such as Frenchmen owing loyalty to Charles de Gaulle and especially the Poles), the agents' first loyalty was to their leaders or governments in exile, and they treated SOE only as a means to an end. This could occasionally lead to mistrust and strained relations in Britain. The organisation was prepared to ignore almost any contemporary social convention in its fight against

14508-584: Was quickly overloaded with paperwork and was merged into SO2. In August 1941, following quarrels between the Ministry of Economic Warfare and the Ministry of Information over their relative responsibilities, SO1 was removed from SOE and became an independent organisation, the Political Warfare Executive . Thereafter, a single, broad "Operations" department controlled the Sections operating into enemy and sometimes neutral territory, and

14632-479: Was removed as the political head of SOE (possibly because he was using SOE's phone tapping facility to listen to conversations of fellow Labour ministers, or possibly because he was viewed as too "communistically inclined" and a threat to SIS). He became President of the Board of Trade and was replaced as Minister of Economic Warfare by Lord Selborne . Selborne in turn retired Nelson, who had suffered ill health as

14756-514: Was renamed MI(R) in early 1939. These three departments worked with few resources until the outbreak of war. There was much overlap between their activities. Section D and EH duplicated much of each other's work. On the other hand, the heads of Section D and MI(R) knew each other and shared information. They agreed to a rough division of their activities; MI(R) researched irregular operations that could be undertaken by regular uniformed troops, while Section D dealt with truly undercover work. During

14880-793: Was set up in India late in 1940. It subsequently moved to Ceylon so as to be closer to the headquarters of the Allied South East Asia Command and became known as " Force 136 ." A "Singapore Mission" was set up at the same time as the India Mission but was unable to overcome official opposition to its attempts to form resistance movements in Malaya before the Japanese overran Singapore . Force 136 took over its surviving staff and operations. New York City also had

15004-591: Was so effective that in mid-1942 five governments in exile jointly suggested that a single sabotage organisation be created, and were startled to learn that SOE had been in existence for two years. Four departments and some smaller groups were controlled by the director of scientific research, Professor Dudley Maurice Newitt , and were concerned with the development or acquisition and production of special equipment. A few other sections were involved with finance, security, economic research and administration, although SOE had no central registry or filing system. When Gubbins

15128-474: Was to pass as a native of the country. Dual nationality was often a prized attribute. This was particularly so of France. In other cases, especially in the Balkans, a lesser degree of fluency was required as the resistance groups concerned were already in open rebellion and a clandestine existence was unnecessary. A flair for diplomacy combined with a taste for rough soldiering was more necessary. Some regular army officers proved adept as envoys, and others (such as

15252-556: Was trimmed by handing over the frontier troops to the Minister of Finance and transferring the gendarmerie to the Ministry of Interior. From the earliest days of the army, a clique of officers known as the White Hand , were actively engaged in politics. In 1923, the liability for service in the army were changed so that all citizens were liable to service from 21 to 50 years of age, in the active army from 21 to 40 years of age and in

15376-523: Was undertaken along the Italian border, and plans were developed to fortify the former Austrian border. Of the 165 generals in the army in 1938, two were Croats and two were Slovenes, the rest were Serbs. During the interwar period , the Yugoslav military budget expended 30 per cent of government outlays. By January 1939, the army, when mobilised, and including reserves, numbered 1,457,760 men, with fighting formations including 30 infantry divisions, one guards division, and three cavalry divisions. In late 1940,

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