Misplaced Pages

#202797

120-667: This area, known in German as Gottschee , was settled in the late 14th century by the Carinthian Counts of Ortenburg initially with colonists from the Ortenburg estates in Carinthia and Tyrol , and by other settlers who came from Austrian and German Dioceses of Salzburg , Brixen and Freising . The settlers cleared the vacant and heavily forested land, and established towns and rural villages. The area of Carniola that

240-625: A Yugoslav administrative reform created large municipalities ( občina ) organized within the districts ( srez ). The Kočevje District was the largest district in the Drava Banovina, extending from Veliki Ločnik in the north to the Croatian border in the south. Gottschee territory was encompassed by 11 large municipalities, not all of which were in the Kočevje District. During this time, political and assimilatory pressure against

360-404: A cavalry regiment, a Bersaglieri motorcycle battalion, three Border Guard battalions, one Finance Guard battalion, a motorised artillery regiment of three battalions, a military police battalion, and a tank company equipped with Fiat M13/40 light tanks. The Librazhd Sector included a motorised artillery regiment of four battalions, a bicycle-mounted Bersaglieri regiment, a cavalry regiment,

480-459: A compromise, informed Hitler that evening that Hungary would abide by the treaty, though it would likely cease to apply should Croatia secede, and Yugoslavia cease to exist. Upon the proclamation of an Independent State of Croatia in Zagreb on 10 April, this scenario was realized, and Hungary joined the invasion, its army crossing into Yugoslavia the following day. The invasion was spearheaded by

600-593: A former German-speaking region in Carniola , a crownland of the Habsburg Empire , part of the historical and traditional region of Lower Carniola , now in Slovenia . The region has been a county, duchy, district, and municipality during various parts of its history. The term often also refers to the entire ethnolinguistic enclave regardless of administrative borders. Today Gottschee largely corresponds to

720-470: A further 600 aircraft from France, Africa, and Sicily into Romania and Bulgaria in a period of ten days. The fighter and reconnaissance craft were sent to fields in Arad , Deva , and Turnu Severin . On 12 February Britain broke off diplomatic relations with Romania on the grounds that it was an enemy-occupied country. Two events in early November 1940 convinced Hitler of the need to station troops, especially

840-517: A hostile state. Hitler took the coup as a personal insult, and was so angered that he was determined, in his words, "to destroy Yugoslavia militarily and as a state" ( Jugoslawien militärisch und als Staatsgebilde zu zerschlagen ) and to do so "with pitiless harshness" and "without waiting for possible declarations of loyalty of the new government". Hungary had joined the Tripartite Pact on 20 November 1940. On 12 December, it also concluded

960-620: A large part of the Serbian population as well as liberals and Communists. Military officers (predominantly Serbs) executed a coup d'état on 27 March 1941, forced the Regent to resign, and declared 17-year-old King Peter II to be of age. Upon hearing news of the coup in Yugoslavia, Hitler called his military advisers to Berlin on 27 March. On the same day as the coup he issued Führer Directive 25 , which called for Yugoslavia to be treated as

1080-822: A largely transparent propaganda effort was aimed toward both the Gottscheer and the Slovenians, promising the latter equivalent farmland in Germany for the land relinquished in Lower Styria. The Gottscheer were given Reich passports and transportation to the Rann area just after the forced departure of the Slovenians. Most of the Gottschee fled due to coercion and threats since the VoMi had a deadline of 31 December 1941 for

1200-634: A machine gun battalion, a motorised anti-aircraft battalion (less one battery), an engineer battalion, a company of Blackshirts, and a company of L3/35 tankettes. The Yugoslav forces consisted of more than 33 divisions of the Royal Yugoslav Army ( Serbo-Croatian Latin : Vojska Kraljevska Jugoslavije , VKJ), four air brigades of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force ( Serbo-Croatian Latin : Vazduhoplovstvo Vojske Kraljevine Jugoslavije , VVKJ) with more than 400 aircraft, and

1320-747: A major facility with associated barracks called Baza 20 ( Base 20 ), which is still preserved and today is a tourist attraction. It became the headquarters of the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People , the headquarters of the High Command of Slovene Partisan troops and of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Slovenia (CK KPS). Kočevski Rog was also a location where thousands of people, such as

SECTION 10

#1732790414203

1440-596: A manufacturing licence. The sole operator was 3 vazduhoplovni puk (3rd bomber regiment) composed of two bomber groups; the 63rd Bomber Group stationed at Petrovec airfield near Skopje and the 64th Bomber Group stationed at Milesevo airfield near Priština . Other auxiliary airfields had also been prepared to aid in dispersal. During the course of hostilities, the State Aircraft Factory in Kraljevo managed to produce six more aircraft of this type. Of

1560-510: A motorised anti-aircraft battalion, a sapper assault battalion and a road construction battalion. VI Corps included four motorised artillery regiments with a total of sixteen battalions, two machine gun battalions (one motorised, one pack animal) and a motorised anti-aircraft regiment. XI Corps included one motorised artillery regiment comprising four battalions, three machine gun battalions (one motorised, one pack animal and one static), and six Blackshirt legions of battalion size. The Motorised Corps

1680-654: A navigational error) and one Rogozarski R 313 fighters, 69 Dornier Do 17 K (including 40 plus licence-built), 61 Bristol Blenheim Mk I (including some 40 licence-built) and 40 Savoia Marchetti SM-79 K bombers. Army reconnaissance units consisted of seven Groups with 130 obsolete Yugoslav-built Breguet 19 and Potez 25 light bombers. There were also some 400 trainer and auxiliary aircraft. The Naval Aviation units comprised 75 aircraft in eight squadrons equipped with, amongst other auxiliary types, 12 German-built Dornier Do 22 K and 15 Rogozarski SIM-XIV-H locally designed and built maritime patrol float-planes. The aircraft of

1800-503: A quick cessation of hostilities, and fifth column activities by groups of Croatians, Slovenians, and ethnic Germans . The latter has been questioned by scholars who have suggested that the fifth column had little effect on the ultimate outcome. The invasion ended when an armistice was signed on 17 April 1941, based on the unconditional surrender of the Yugoslav army, which came into effect at noon on 18 April. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia

1920-609: A shortage of coal. Hungarian officials tried to meet all German demands without going further than the governments had agreed. Even sabotage was used on occasion to prevent having to give the Germans more support than required. On 18 January 1941 an agreement was reached to store German supplies in Hungarian warehouses under Hungarian guard, with only a German officer in Budapest to serve as a liaison. These supplies were to be used in

2040-451: A single domain. In 1774, Emperor Joseph II issued a patent allowing the residents of Gottschee County to sell citrus fruit and oil, and the emperor issued a patent confirming peddling privileges on 27 April 1785. In 1791, Emperor Leopold II elevated the territory to the Duchy of Gottschee (German: Herzogtum Gottschee , Slovene : Kočevska Vojvodina ) and Karl Josef Anton von Auersperg to

2160-736: A strength of 1,875 officers and 29,527 other ranks, including some 2,000 pilots, had over 460 front-line aircraft of domestic (notably the IK-3 ), German, Italian, French, and British origin, of which most were modern types. Organized into 22 bomber squadrons and 19 fighter squadrons, the main aircraft types in operational use included 73 Messerschmitt Bf 109 E , 47 Hawker Hurricane Mk I (with more being built under licence in Yugoslavia), 30 Hawker Fury II , 11 Rogožarski IK-3 fighters (plus more under construction), 10 Ikarus IK-2 , 2 Potez 63 , one Messerschmitt Bf 110 C-4 (captured in early April due to

2280-491: A system of 50 auxiliary airfields that had previously been prepared. However, many of these airfields lacked facilities and had inadequate drainage which prevented the continued operation of all but the very lightest aircraft in the adverse weather conditions encountered in April 1941. Despite having, on paper at any rate, a substantially stronger force of relatively modern aircraft than the combined British and Greek air forces to

2400-677: A total of 22 divisions and 666 aircraft to the operation. The Hungarian 3rd Army also participated in the invasion, with support available from over 500 aircraft. During the April War, the Führer Headquarters (FHQ) was codenamed Frühlingssturm (Spring Storm) and consisted of the Führersonderzug (Special Führer 's Train) codenamed "Amerika" stationed in Mönichkirchen alongside the special train "Atlas" of

2520-462: A total of 22 divisions to the operation, comprising around 300,000 troops. The Italian 2nd Army (Italian: 2° Armata ) was commanded by Generale designato d’Armata (acting General) Vittorio Ambrosio , and consisted of one fast (Italian: celere ) corps ( Celere Corps ), one motorised corps ( Motorised Corps ) and three infantry corps ( V Corps , VI Corps , and XI Corps ), and was assembled in northeastern Italy, attacking from Istria and

SECTION 20

#1732790414203

2640-468: A treaty with Yugoslavia calling for "permanent peace and eternal friendship". The Hungarian leadership was split after Germany's War Directive 25 was delivered on 27 March 1941. Regent Miklós Horthy and the military favoured taking part in the invasion of Yugoslavia and mobilized the following day. Prime Minister Pál Teleki sought to prevent German troops passing through Hungary and cited the peace treaty with Yugoslavia as an impediment to co-operation with

2760-462: A villa owned by the Pirzio Biroli family at Brazzacco, near Moruzzo , in order to be close to the front. Germany attacked Yugoslavia from bases in three countries besides itself: Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. German troops entered each of these countries under different pretenses and at different times. The first country to receive a German military mission was Romania. Ostensibly to train

2880-533: Is necessary to avoid even the slightest semblance of military occupation of Romania." In the second half of October, the Romanian leader, Ion Antonescu , asked that the military mission be expanded. The Germans happily obliged the request, since the oil fields and refineries at Ploiești were vital to their war effort. Romania was also an important launching point for an attack on the Soviet Union, which made

3000-760: The 1809 Gottscheer Rebellion , killing the commissar of the Novo Mesto district, Von Gasparini. With the collapse of the Illyrian provinces, Gottschee was returned to Habsburg rule within the Kingdom of Illyria . As part of the Habsburg Kingdom of Illyria, Gottschee was administratively part of the Novo Mesto District (German: Neustädtler Kreis ). The Kingdom of Illyria was succeeded by the reconstituted Duchy of Carniola in 1849. Within

3120-701: The 1st and 2nd Armies, defended 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 Army Groups consisting of the units deployed as follows: On

3240-557: The April War or Operation 25 , was a German -led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II . The order for the invasion was put forward in " Führer Directive No. 25", which Adolf Hitler issued on 27 March 1941, following a Yugoslav coup d'état that overthrew the pro-Axis government. The invasion commenced with an overwhelming air attack on Belgrade and facilities of

3360-670: The Biscaccianti Blackshirt group which incorporated two Blackshirt regiments with a total of five battalions, the regimental-sized Agostini Blackshirt Forest Militia, and the Briscotto group, a regimental-sized formation consisting of one Alpini battalion and two Finance Guard battalions. The Zara garrison numbered about 9,000 men under the overall command of Generale di Brigata (Brigadier) Emilio Giglioli. The garrison consisted of two main groupings and an assortment of supporting units. The two main groupings were

3480-647: The Dalmatian coast . On the same day, Hungarian forces entered Yugoslav Bačka and Baranya , but like the Italians they faced practically light resistance. A Yugoslav attack into the northern parts of Italian-controlled Albania met with initial success, but was ultimately repelled into Dalmatia. Scholars have proposed several theories to explain the sudden collapse of the Royal Yugoslav forces , including poor training and equipment, generals eager to secure

3600-517: The Julian March along the border with Slovenia and Croatia. The 2nd Army was supported by a motorised engineer regiment including three bridging battalions, a chemical battalion, fifteen territorial battalions, and two garrison battalions. V Corps support units included three motorised artillery regiments comprising thirteen battalions, four machine gun battalions (two motorised and two pack animal), three Blackshirt legions of battalion size,

3720-536: The Kingdom of Greece only to be forced back into Italian-occupied Albania . German dictator Adolf Hitler recognised the need to go to the aid of his ally, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini . Hitler did this not only to restore diminished Axis prestige, but also to prevent Britain from bombing the Romanian Ploiești oilfields from which Nazi Germany obtained most of its oil. In 1940 and early 1941, Hungary , Romania , and Bulgaria all agreed to adhere to

Kočevski Rog - Misplaced Pages Continue

3840-694: The Lower Carniola , the Inner Carniola and the White Carniola , with Kočevski Rog as the centre of resistance to the occupation and home to the leadership of the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People . Following an Italian offensive in the summer of 1942, the leaders fled to forested hills above Polhov Gradec , where they decided that Rog would be the location of Partisan hospitals, workshops, schools, printing houses and stores. The leadership returned to Rog on 17 April 1943, setting up

3960-643: The Luftwaffe , in Bulgaria. The first was false reports that the British were constructing an airfield on Lemnos , from which they could bomb Ploiești . The second was the beginning of British air raids originating from Greek bases against Italian shipping on 6 November. Planning for the German invasion of Greece from Bulgaria began on 12 November. Already on 13 November, the Soviets were (incorrectly) accusing

4080-505: The Municipality of Kočevje . The original German settlers of the region are called Gottschee Germans or Gottscheers , and their German dialect is called Gottschee German or Gottscheerish . The Gottschee enclave encompassed a roughly oval-shaped area between 45° 46′ N and 45° 30′ N, and between 14° 36′ E and 15° 9′ E. Geographers divided the enclave into seven regions based on valleys (from west to east): The Gottschee region

4200-668: The Reich before the Wehrmacht invasion in 1941, most Gottscheer had no interest in reuniting with Greater Germany or joining the Nazis. They had been integrated into society with their Slovenian neighbors, often intermarrying among Slovenians and becoming bilingual while maintaining their Germanic language and customs since their arrival in the region in the late 14th century. However, propaganda and Nazi ideology prevailed, and following an agreement between Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler ,

4320-585: The Royal Yugoslav Air Force (VVKJ) by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and attacks by German land forces from southwestern Bulgaria . These attacks were followed by German thrusts from Romania , Hungary and the Ostmark (modern-day Austria , then part of Germany). Italian forces were limited to air and artillery attacks until 11 April, when the Italian Army attacked towards Ljubljana (in modern-day Slovenia ) and through Istria and Lika and down

4440-692: The Slovene Home Guard ( Slovene : Slovenski domobranci ) and their families, were executed by special units of the Yugoslav Army in late May 1945. They were thrown into various pits and caves, which were then sealed with explosives. Several thousand (between 10,000 and 12,000, according to certain sources) Nikolai Tolstoy mentions the events in his book The Minister and the Massacres and John Corsellis, who served in Austria with

4560-780: The Tripartite Pact and thus join the Axis. Hitler then pressured Yugoslavia to join as well. The Regent, Prince Paul , yielded to this pressure, and declared Yugoslavia's accession to the Pact on 25 March 1941. This move was highly unpopular with the Serb -dominated officer corps of the military, Serbian organizations such as National Defense and the Chetniks Association , the Serbian Orthodox Church ,

4680-572: The United States . With the end of the Habsburg monarchy in 1918, Gottschee became a part of the new Kingdom of Yugoslavia . Thus, the Gottscheer went from being part of the ruling ethnicity of Austria-Hungary (and the ruling group in the estates of the province of Carniola itself) to an ethnic minority in a large Slavic state. While some Gottscheer community leaders had embraced Nazism and agitated for "assistance" and "repatriation" to

4800-565: The United States of Greater Austria . Popovici's proposal included Gottschee as a separate autonomous district within the proposed state of Carniola. Gottschee was incorporated into royal Yugoslavia (known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes until 1929) as part of the prewar territory of Carniola. The Gottschee Germans accepted the new arrangement with some reluctance: in February 1918 Gottschee's ethnically German priests characterized

4920-813: The VoMi began planning the Gottschee "resettlement" (forced expulsion) from the Italian occupation zone to the Rann Triangle ( German : Ranner Dreieck ), a region in Lower Styria between the confluences of the Krka , Sotla , and Sava rivers. To achieve that goal, accommodation had to be made for the Gottschee "settlers" and some 46,000 Slovenians in the Rann Triangle region were forcibly deported to eastern Germany for potential Germanisation or forced labor beginning in November 1941. Shortly before that time,

Kočevski Rog - Misplaced Pages Continue

5040-530: The Armed Forces Operations Staff ( Wehrmachtführungsstabes , WFSt). "Atlas" did not arrive at Mönichkirchen until 11 April, well after operations were underway, and "Amerika" only arrived the following day. Mönichkirchen was chosen because a nearby rail tunnel could provide shelter in the event of air attack. Both trains returned to Berlin on 26 April. After the Italian invasion in the northwest began, King Victor Emmanuel III moved to

5160-683: The British Army, wrote about the events in his book, Slovenia 1945: Memories of Death and Survival after World War II . Boris Karapandžić writes that there were 12,000 members of the Slovene Home Guard , 3,000 Serbian Chetniks , 1,000 Montenegrin Chetniks and 2,500 members of the Croatian Home Guard . Karapandžić's report is confirmed in subsequent book by a group of scholars. Gottschee Gottschee ( pronounced [ɡɔˈtʃeː] , Slovene : Kočevsko ) refers to

5280-588: The British had declared that "if Hungary were to permit German troops to pass through Hungarian territory against Yugoslavia, Britain would break off diplomatic relations, indeed might declare war on us." The first German troops began their passage through Hungary on 8 October. Despite some official denials, the troops movements were reported by Reuters and the American ambassador received a full report. According to contemporary British intelligence, three divisions had passed through Hungary to Romania by 2 November. On 20 November, Hungarian Prime Minister Pál Teleki signed

5400-583: The Croatian Counts of Blagay in 1547. In 1574, Gottschee extended from Mount Snežnik in the extreme west to Blatnik pri Črmošnjicah in the east, and from Seč and Gornja Topla Reber in the north to just below Bosljiva Loka and Osilnica in the south. In 1619, the territory was purchased by the Khisl family. The territory was elevated to Gottschee County (German: Grafschaft Gottschee , Slovene : Kočevska grofija ) in 1623. In 1641 Wolf Engelbert von Auersperg purchased Gottschee County from Count Georg Zwickl-Khisl for 84,000 florins. Engelbert abandoned

5520-401: The Danube from Lake Balaton to Barcs , and twelve brigades (nine on the front and three in reserve) for an offensive in Bačka ( Bácska ). The Danube Flotilla was to cover the flanks, and the air force was to stand by for orders. The "Carpathian Group", composed of Eighth Corps , the 1st Mountain Brigade and the 8th Border Guard ( Chasseur ) Brigade, was mobilized on the Soviet border, with

5640-439: The Danube from Romania on 28 February, a day before Bulgaria joined the pact. The greater part of the 12th Army, augmented by VIII. Fliegerkorps , crossed the Danube on 2 March. They were welcomed by the Russophile population, who believed that Germany and the Soviet Union were allied. The 12th Army was originally deployed solely for an attack on Greece. After receiving Directive No. 25, which projected an invasion of Yugoslavia in

5760-615: The Duchy of Carniola, a separate administrative Gottschee District (German: Bezirk Gottschee or Gerichtsbezirk Gottschee ) was set up. The district had an area of approximately 860 km (330 sq mi) and contained a total of 177 settlements (including ethnically Slovene ones and some abandoned before 1941). The Gottschee District was bordered (clockwise) by the districts of Ribnica ( Reifnitz ), Žužemberk ( Seisenberg ), Novo Mesto ( Rudolfswerth ), Metlika ( Mötling ), and Črnomelj ( Tschernembl ). Fully German or ethnically mixed Slovene-German territory extended into all of

5880-490: The Duke of Gottschee. During the short-lived period of the Illyrian Provinces , Gottschee was part of the Napoleonic French Empire . Under this arrangement it was initially part of the Province of Ljubljana ( French : province de Laybach ) from 1809 to 1811, and then the Province of Carniola ( French : province de Carniole ) from 1811 to 1814. Gottschee constituted a separate administrative canton under this arrangement. The Gottscheers revolted against French rule during

6000-466: The German 2nd Army with elements of the 12th Army , First Panzer Group , and an independent panzer corps combined with overwhelming Luftwaffe support. The 19 German divisions included five panzer divisions , two motorised infantry divisions and two mountain divisions. The German force also included three well-equipped independent motorised infantry regiments and was supported by over 750 aircraft. The Italian 2nd Army and 9th Army committed

6120-419: The German minority caused many of Gottschee Germans to emigrate: the German-language high school was closed in 1918, German was eliminated as an elective subject in schools in 1925, the majority of German business, cultural, and athletics societies were dissolved, and there was forced Slovenization of the names of villages and people. By 1941 the Gottschee German population had fallen to only about 12,500. Most of

SECTION 50

#1732790414203

6240-529: The Germans fled back to Austria or emigrated to the United States (mainly New York City or Cleveland, Ohio.) After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Yugoslavia initially remained neutral, but after a coup in 1941 adopted a staunch anti- Axis position. This led to a German and Italian invasion and occupation of the Kingdom. The Gottscheers were in the Italian occupation zone after Yugoslavia's surrender, which Hitler could not abide. Nazi racial policy dictated that these Germans had to be brought back into

6360-459: The Germans of having troops in neutral Bulgaria. On 18 November, Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria met with Hitler and promised to participate in an attack on Greece, but only at the last moment. Shortly thereafter a secret German team under Colonel Kurt Zeitzler entered Bulgaria to establish fuel depots, arrange for troop billeting and scout the terrain. They were soon followed by hundreds of Luftwaffe personnel to establish air observation stations. By

6480-443: The Germans to begin operations, with the use of Hungarian territory and communications, on 12 April and the Hungarians to complete mobilization by 6 April and begin their offensive on the 15th. A meeting of the Supreme Defense Council was convened for 1 April to discuss Werth's request. After a long debate, it approved his mobilization plan, but refused to place Hungarian troops under German command and restricted Hungarian operations to

6600-459: The Germans. On 1 April, Yugoslavia redesignated its Assault Command as the Chetnik Command , named after the Serb guerrilla forces from World War I , which had resisted the Central Powers . The command was intended to lead a guerrilla war if the country was occupied. Its headquarters was transferred from Novi Sad to Kraljevo in south-central Serbia on 1 April. On 2 April, the German ambassador having already been recalled for "talks",

6720-436: The Gottschee "resettlers". Shortly before that time, a largely transparent propaganda effort was aimed toward both the Gottscheers and the Slovenes, promising the latter equivalent farmland in Germany for the land relinquished. The Gottscheers were given Reich passports and transportation to the Lower Sava Valley just after the forced departure of the Slovenes. Most Gottschee left their homes because of coercion and threats since

6840-559: The Gottschee area was partially resettled by Slovenians from various places, creating a mixed dialect area . Only a few hundred Gottscheers remained. This table includes villages in the 19th-century Gottschee District based on maps in Mitja Ferenc's works (2007, 2011–2013). Note: This table is sortable. Click next to any heading to sort by that heading. 45°38′23″N 14°51′41″E  /  45.63972°N 14.86139°E  / 45.63972; 14.86139 Invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as

6960-676: The Gottschee ethnic Germans, who did not want to leave their homes, decided instead to join Slovene Partisans and fight against Italians in Province of Ljubljana , together with their Slovene neighbours. The attempt to resettle the Gottscheers was a costly failure for the Nazi regime, since extra manpower was required to protect the farmers from the partisans. The deported Slovenes were taken to several camps in Saxony , where they were forced to work on German farms or in factories run by German industries from 1941 to 1945. The forced labourers were not always kept in formal Nazi concentration camps , but often just vacant buildings where they slept until

7080-466: The Hungarian legation in Berlin had granted over 6,500 transit visas to Germans traveling to Romania. On 30 September, shortly after the signing of the Tripartite Pact, Ribbentrop and General Keitel asked the Hungarian foreign minister, István Csáky , who was in Vienna, to grant the Germans use of transit facilities for German military "study groups" to pass through to Romania. They were still awaiting final confirmation on 3 October. The arrangement agreed

7200-492: The Italians. On 14 and 15 April, King Peter and the government flew out of the country, and the Yugoslav Supreme Command was captured by the Germans near Sarajevo . The surrender was signed on 17 April and came into effect at noon on 18 April. Following the Belgrade Coup on 27 March 1941, the Yugoslav armed forces were put on alert, although the army was not fully mobilised for fear of provoking Hitler. The VVKJ command decided to disperse its forces away from their main bases to

7320-429: The Mobile Corps held in reserve. These arrangements were agreed to by Werth, he later claimed, "on the basis of the authorization received" on 28 April—although this was not the government's view of what had been authorized. Werth applied for permission to mobilize on 1 April, since a mobilization order had to be approved by the cabinet and issued by the regent over the signature of the minister of defense. Werth expected

SECTION 60

#1732790414203

7440-641: The Nazi regime, since extra manpower was required to protect the farmers from the partisans. In 1945 the Gottscheer mostly fled to Austria and Germany . Most Gottschee were as much victims as the Slovenians deported to the Reich, though the former were not used for forced labor as the latter were. The deported Slovenians were taken to several camps in Saxony , Silesia , and elsewhere in Germany where they were forced to work on German farms or in factories run by German industries from 1941 to 1945. The forced laborers were not always kept in formal concentration camps , but often just vacant buildings where they slept until

7560-405: The Nazis. They had been integrated into society with their Slovene neighbours, often intermarrying among Slovenes and becoming bilingual while maintaining their Germanic language and customs since their arrival in the region in the late 14th century. However, propaganda and Nazi ideology prevailed, and the VoMi began planning the Gottschee "resettlement" (forced expulsion) from Kočevje , which

7680-417: The Reich. The Nazis established a branch of the Resettlement Administration ( Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle , or "VoMi") at Maribor for this purpose. While some of the Gottscheer community leaders had embraced National Socialism and agitated for "assistance" and " repatriation " to the Reich before the German invasion in 1941, most Gottscheers had no interest in reuniting with Greater Germany or joining

7800-416: The Romanian armed forces, its real purpose was to protect Romania's petroleum resources and prepare for an attack on the Soviet Union. The Wehrmacht entered Bulgaria more circumspectly, first with the intention of providing aerial defense against any force attacking Romania's oilfields and later with that of invading Greece in support of Italy. German troops did not enter Hungary until the attack on Yugoslavia

7920-549: The Slovenes did not feel abandoned, defences were built on Yugoslavia's northern border when the natural line of defence was much further south, based on the rivers Sava and Drina. The only effective opposition to the invasion was from wholly Serbian units within the borders of Serbia itself. The Germans, thrusting north-west from Skopje , were held up at Kacanik Pass and lost several tanks (P39, Buckley C "Greece and Crete 1941" HMSO 1977). In its worst expression, Yugoslavia's defenses were badly compromised on 10 April 1941, when some of

8040-433: The Tripartite Pact after a meeting with Hitler in Berchtesgarden . At the meeting, Hitler spoke of his intention to aid Italy against Greece, thereby preparing the Hungarians for his future demands. On 13 December 1940—the day after the Hungaro-Yugoslav Non-Aggression Pact and the day Hitler issued Führer Directive No. 20 —major German troop movements began. The Germans had initially promised to supply 180 locomotives for

8160-513: The Tripartite Pact. At the time Germany informed Romania that she would not be expected to participate in an attack on Greece, but that Germany wanted to use Romanian territory to provide a base for a German attack. On 24 November, Antonescu met with Wilhelm Keitel , chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht , to discuss common defense. As a result of this meeting, the 16th Panzer Division was sent to Romania in late December. The 12th Army and First Panzer Group, along with heavy bridging equipment for

8280-520: The United States of America in the months just preceding the invasion. Fully mobilized, the Yugoslav Army fielded 28 infantry divisions, three cavalry divisions, and 35 independent regiments. Of the independent regiments, 16 were in frontier fortifications and 19 were organized as combined regiments, or "Odred", around the size of a reinforced brigade. Each Odred had one to three infantry regiments and one to three artillery battalions, with three organised as "alpine" units. The German attack, however, caught

8400-469: The VoMi had a deadline of December 31, 1941 for the mass movement of both groups. Gottscheers were removed from a total of 167 settlements in 1941 and 1942. The eviction was organized as a series of 25 resettlement groups (German: Stürme ), numbered Go 1 through Go 25 and named after major settlements: Although from the time of their arrival to the end of the war, Gottschee farmers were harassed and killed by Josip Broz Tito 's Partisans , 56 of

8520-447: The Yugoslav Army; the XLI Panzer Corps from Romania towards Belgrade, the XLVI Panzer Corps from Hungary across the Drava , the LI Infantry Corps from Austria towards Zagreb , and the XLIX Mountain Corps from Austria towards Celje . By the end of that day, the Yugoslav Army was disintegrating, and was in retreat or surrendering right across the country, with the exception of the forces on the Albanian frontier. Italy and Hungary joined

8640-666: The Yugoslav airline Aeroput , consisting mainly of six Lockheed Model 10 Electras , three Spartan Cruisers , and one de Havilland Dragon were mobilised to provide transport services to the VVKJ. The KJRM was equipped with one elderly ex-German light cruiser (suitable only for training purposes), one large modern destroyer flotilla leader of British design, three modern destroyers of French design (two built in Yugoslavia plus another still under construction), one seaplane tender , four modern submarines (two older French-built and two British-built) and 10 modern motor torpedo boats (MTBs), of

8760-415: The army still mobilizing, and only some 11 divisions were in their planned defense positions at the start of the invasion. The Yugoslavs had delayed full mobilisation until 3 April in order not to provoke Hitler. The units were filled to between 70 and 90 percent of their strength as mobilization was not completed. The Yugoslav Army was about 1,200,000 in total as the German invasion commenced. The VVKJ had

8880-479: The campaign against Greece. On 27 March 1941, Hitler informed the Hungarian ambassador, Döme Sztójay , and gave an official proposal to Hungary for participation in the attack on Yugoslavia. Hitler confidentially told Miklós Horthy that Germany fully recognizes the Hungarian territorial claims in relation to Yugoslavia and that he can take Bačka and Banat, and added "take as much as you want". Horthy mostly agreed and accepted Hitler's suggestions. A Hungarian response

9000-539: The control of the House of Habsburg , dukes of Carniola. Emperor Frederick III elevated the town of Gottschee to a city in 1471. The late 15th century began a time of unrest in Gottschee. Numerous Ottoman attacks took place in the region (in 1469, 1471, 1476, 1480, 1491, 1507, 1528, 1546, 1559, 1561, 1564, 1578, and 1584). It was partly in response to the devastation of the Ottoman raids that Emperor Frederick III granted

9120-576: The deteriorating castle at Friedrichstein and built a new castle in the town of Gottschee itself, which survived until the Second World War. Because Gottschee was a county, Engelbert thereby became a count himself. Because he died without an heir in 1673, the county passed to his brother Johann Weikhard of Auersperg , who had become a prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1653. He combined Gottschee with some neighboring estates into

9240-580: The direction of Belgrade on 8 April, the force was redeployed in three groups: one along the Turkish border, one along the Greek border and one along the Yugoslav border. Motorized transport was brought in from Romania to achieve this feat in a few days. Although German troops had been refused the right to transit Hungary for the invasion of Poland in 1939, they were permitted to pass through Hungary as civilians on their way to Romania in 1940. In September 1940

9360-421: The district resulted in a total of 4,161 houses and a population of 21,301 in the culturally German Gottschee area. Czörnig estimated the total Gottschee German population in 1878, accounting for population growth and men working away from home, to be about 25,000. In 1906 the ethnic Romanian Austro-Hungarian lawyer and politician Aurel Popovici unsuccessfully proposed the reorganization of Austria-Hungary as

9480-401: The end of December over a thousand German troops in civilian clothing were active in Bulgaria, although the latter's government continued to deny it. Bombers and dive-bombers were also gradually moved into Bulgaria, beginning in November. By the end of March 1941, the Luftwaffe had 355 aircraft in the country. On 17 February 1941, Bulgaria signed a non-aggression pact with Turkey , paving

9600-423: The eve of invasion, clothing and footwear were available for only two-thirds or so of the potential front-line troops and only partially for other troops; some other essential supplies were available for only a third of the front-line troops; medical and sanitary supplies were available for only a few weeks, and supplies of food for men and feed for livestock were available for only about two months. In all cases there

9720-442: The ground offensive on 11 April. The Italian part in the ground offensive began when their 2nd Army attacked from northeastern Italy towards Ljubljana and down the Dalmatian coast, meeting virtually no resistance. On the same day, the Hungarian 3rd Army crossed the Yugoslav border and advanced toward Novi Sad , but like the Italians, they met no serious resistance. On 12 April, German troops captured Belgrade, and Ljubljana fell to

9840-446: The hard pressed Yugoslav Army by strafing attacking troop and mechanized columns in Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia (sometimes taking off and strafing the troops attacking the very base being evacuated). After a combination of air combat losses, losses on the ground to enemy air attack on bases and the overrunning of airfields by enemy troops, after 11 days the VVKJ almost ceased to exist. However, continued domestic aircraft production during

9960-662: The invasion and resultant fighting into two phases. The first phase encompasses the Luftwaffe ' s devastating air assault on Belgrade and airfields of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force of 6 April, and an initial thrust of the German XL Panzer Corps from Bulgaria towards Skopje that commenced the same day. This was followed by the assault of the German XIV Panzer Corps from Bulgaria towards Niš on 8 April. On 10 April, four more thrusts struck

10080-593: The invasion comprising the Srem , Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the Croatian lands. Along with Italy 's stalled invasion of Greece on 28 October 1940, and the German-led invasion of Greece (Operation Marita) and invasion of Crete (Operation Merkur), the invasion of Yugoslavia was part of the German Balkan Campaign (German: Balkanfeldzug ). In October 1940, Fascist Italy had attacked

10200-410: The invasion supplied the VVKJ with an additional eight Hurricane Is, six Dornier Do 17 Ks, four Blenheim Is, two Ikarus IK 2s , one Rogozarski IK-3 and one Messerschmitt Bf 109 from the local aeronautical industry's aircraft factories and workshops. At the beginning of the April war, the VVKJ was armed with some 60 German designed Do 17Ks, purchased by Yugoslavia in the autumn of 1938, together with

10320-653: The main attack on Subotica ( Szabadka ), with a secondary operation east of the river Tisza . Because of Romania's request that Hungarian troops not operate in the Banat , Paulus modified the Hungarian plan and kept their troops west of the Tisza. This final plan "was put down in map form", according to Paulus' account, and must have been telephoned to Berlin immediately so as to make into Operational Order No. 25, issued by Walther von Brauchitsch that same day. This final plan committed one Hungarian corps of three brigades west of

10440-411: The mass movement of both groups. Though many Gottscheer did receive farmland and households, these were of lesser quality than their own, and many were in disarray from the hasty forced expulsion of the Slovenians. From the time of their arrival to the end of the war, Gottschee farmers were harassed and sometimes killed by Tito's Partisans. The attempt to resettle the Gottscheer was a costly failure for

10560-416: The neighboring districts. On 31 December 1869 the entire Kočevje District had 3,473 houses and a population of 18,432. Subtracting the ethnically Slovene communities of Osilnica ( Osiunitz ) and Kostel left a total of 2,966 houses and a population of 15,520 in ethnically German or German-majority territory in the district itself. Adding in ethnically German houses and population from communities adjacent to

10680-620: The next day's labor took them outside these quarters. Toward the close of the war, these camps were liberated by American and Soviet troops, and the later repatriated Slovenian refugees returned to Yugoslavia to find their homes in shambles. Since then, the Rog area has been largely uninhabited. Yugoslavia was invaded by the Wehrmacht on 6 April 1941, and groups of Partisans began to gather in Kočevski Rog as early as August 1941. From May 1942 on, large areas of liberated territory were established in

10800-456: The next day's labour took them outside these quarters. Toward the end of the war, these camps were liberated by American and Red Army troops, and repatriated refugees later returned to Yugoslavia . The fate of the resettled Gottschee was not much better, and in some cases much worse. At the end of the war the Nazi regime in the region evaporated as soldiers and administrators fled. After the war,

10920-526: The occupation of territory abandoned by the Yugoslavs. On 2 April Germany responded that the Paulus–Werth agreement was final, and German staff officers began arriving in Budapest that day. That same day the British informed Hungary that she would be treated as an enemy state if Germany made use of her territory or facilities in an attack on Yugoslavia. On the morning of 3 April, Pál Teleki committed suicide;

11040-412: The older vessels, there were six ex-Austrian Navy medium torpedo boats, six mine-layers, four large armoured river monitors and various auxiliary craft. The 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

11160-461: The people of Gottschee the right to sell goods outside the territory in 1492. There were also six peasant uprisings in the territory, starting in 1515 and ending in 1662. In 1507, Maximilian I mortgaged the Dominion of Gottschee (German: Herrschaft Gottschee , Slovene : Kočevsko gospostvo ) to Count Jörg von Thurn. The territory was purchased by Hans Ungnad in 1524, and then mortgaged to

11280-603: The planned crossing of the Danube, followed in January 1941. By January 1941 the total number of German effectives in Romania was 170,639. Those elements of the 12th Army that were to invade Yugoslavia from Romania assembled near Timișoara (Temeschwar). Between November 1940 and February 1941, the Luftwaffe gradually moved 135 fighters and reconnaissance aircraft into Romania (in 22–26 squadrons). In early April 1941 they moved

11400-533: The presence of German troops a violation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939. By the middle of November, the 13th Motorised Infantry Division had been assembled in Romania and reinforced by the 4th Panzer Regiment , engineers and signal troops, as well as six fighter and two reconnaissance Luftwaffe squadrons, and some antiaircraft artillery. A total of seventy batteries of artillery were moved into Romania. On 23 November, Romania signed

11520-629: The proposed new state as "treacherous" and sent a letter to Bishop Anton Bonaventura Jeglič in Ljubljana denouncing the plan. In October 1918 a proposal was prepared for the Paris Peace Conference for Gottschee to become an independent republic (German: Republik Gottschee ) under American protection, based on the large Gottschee German population in the United States, and a Gottschee German demonstration demanding autonomy

11640-418: The provinces were abolished, Gottschee was part of the larger Drava Banovina ( Dravska banovina ) from 1929 to 1941. Within the very large Kočevje District ( Slovene : Srez Kočevje ), 22 local communities or small municipalities ( občina ) largely encompassed Gottschee territory until 1933, continuing its 19th-century organization. Many Gottschee settlements were outside the Kočevje District. In 1933,

11760-807: The regent immediately cancelled the mobilization order already given except for the Border Guard and the Mobile Corps, which prompted Werth to resign. Horthy then authorized the mobilization of the Fourth and Fifth Corps and the Mountain Brigade, and Werth withdrew his resignation. This occurred so late in the day that zero hour for mobilization to begin was given as midnight of 5 April. On the morning of 3 April, German units, including tanks and aircraft, bound for Romania passed openly through Budapest. The Italian 2nd Army and 9th Army committed

11880-448: The regimental-sized Fronte a Terra (Land Front), which comprised three static machine gun battalions and a bicycle-mounted Bersaglieri battalion, and the battalion-strength Fronte a Mare (Sea Front), which consisted of two machine gun companies, an anti-aircraft battery, a coastal artillery battery and a naval artillery battery. Supporting units consisted of an artillery regiment of three battalions, two independent artillery battalions,

12000-420: The remaining embassy staff were ordered to leave the capital and to warn the embassies of friendly nations to likewise evacuate. That sent the unmistakable message that Yugoslavia was about to be invaded. On 3 April, Hitler issued War Directive 26 detailing the plan of attack and command structure for the invasion as well as promising Hungary territorial gains. The same day Teleki killed himself. Horthy, seeking

12120-523: The settlements of Gottschee ( Kočevje ), Pölland ( Kočevske Poljane ), Kostel , Ossilnitz ( Osilnica ), and Göttenitz ( Gotenica ). The town of Gottschee acquired market town status in 1377. With the extinction of the House of Ortenburg in 1418, the Gottschee area came under the control of the Counts of Celje in 1420. When the House of Celje died out in 1456, the territory came under

12240-542: The small Royal Yugoslav Navy ( Serbo-Croatian Latin : Kraljevska Jugoslovenska Ratna Mornarica , KJRM) centred around four destroyers and four submarines based on the Adriatic coast and some river monitors on the Danube . The VKJ was heavily reliant on animal-powered transport , was only partly mobilised at the time of the invasion, and had only 50 tanks that could engage German tanks on an equal basis. The VVKJ

12360-667: The south, the VVKJ could simply not match the overwhelming Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica superiority in terms of numbers, tactical deployment and combat experience. The bomber and maritime force hit targets in Italy, Germany (Austria), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Greece, as well as attacking German, Italian and Hungarian troops. Meanwhile, the fighter squadrons inflicted not insignificant losses on escorted Luftwaffe bomber raids on Belgrade and Serbia, as well as upon Regia Aeronautica raids on Dalmatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro. The VVKJ also provided direct air support to

12480-638: The transfers, but later the Hungarians were complaining that only 130 had arrived. On 24 December, István Horthy , President of Hungarian State Railways (HSR), demanded negotiations before implementing requested German increases, but Ambassador Otto von Erdmannsdorf informed him that it had all been settled in Vienna by Keitel and Csáky. The German traffic was so large that on 28 December the HSR had to suspend travel on all its trains for several days on account of

12600-524: The units in the Croatian-manned 4th and 7th Armies mutinied, and a newly formed Croatian government hailed the entry of the Germans into Zagreb the same day. The Serbian General Staff were united on the question of Yugoslavia as a "Greater Serbia", ruled, in one way or another, by Serbia. On the eve of the invasion, there were 165 generals on the Yugoslav active list. Of these, all but four were Serbs. Professor Jozo Tomasevich and others divide

12720-511: The various models often lacked proper repair and maintenance facilities. The only mechanized units were six 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 First World War origin and the other 54 modern French Renault R35 tanks, plus an independent tank company with eight Czech T-32 (Š-I-D) tank destroyers. Some 1,000 trucks for military purposes had been imported from

12840-564: The way for its adherence to the Tripartite Pact, which was signed by Prime Minister Bogdan Filov in Vienna on 1 March. When Ivan V. Petrov, member of the National Assembly from Yablanitsa , asked why the Assembly had not been consulted, Filov pointed out that the constitution only required parliamentary approval prior to ratification. The signing was ratified by a vote in the Assembly of 140 to 20. The first German troops crossed

12960-429: Was already planned and Hungary's participation had been secured. King Carol II of Romania , starting from the cession of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union, proposed in a letter to Adolf Hitler on 2 July 1940 that Germany send a military mission to Romania. The Romanian government asked that a mission be sent urgently on 7 September 1940, the day after Carol's abdication. The decision to aid Romania

13080-471: Was conferred upon the Counts of Ortenburg by the Patriarchate of Aquileia on 20 September 1277. The territory was settled by German farmers from Carinthia and East Tyrol between 1330 and 1400. The first settlement in the territory attested in written sources was Mooswald ( Slovene : Mahovnik ), which appeared in a letter from Patriarch Bertram on 1 September 1339. A 1363 letter mentioned

13200-794: Was equipped with a range of aircraft of Yugoslav, German, Italian, French and British design, including less than 120 modern fighter aircraft . Formed after World War I , the VKJ 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 1600 modern 81mm pieces, as well as twenty-four 220 and 305mm pieces. Of 940 anti-aircraft guns, 360 were 15 mm and 20 mm Czech and Italian models. All of these arms were imported, from different sources;

13320-460: Was hammered out in council and delivered the following day (28 March). On 30 March, General Friedrich Paulus arrived in Budapest and met with Henrik Werth , chief of the Hungarian general staff, and Major General László Deseő . The Hungarians proposed they mobilize five divisions for the attack on Yugoslavia. Two were to be held in reserve, while the First , Fifth and Mobile Corps were to conduct

13440-605: Was held in New York in January 1919. There were also unsuccessful proposals to establish a Gottschee Republic with Italian backing. In 1920, the Slovene press characterized the proposal for a Gottschee Republic as communist agitation. Under the 1921 constitution, the traditional regions were abolished and Gottschee was made part of the Ljubljana Province ( Slovene : Ljubljanska oblast ) from 1922 to 1929. After

13560-608: Was in the Italian occupation zone , to the "Ranner Dreieck" or Brežice Triangle in Lower Styria , the region now known as the Lower Sava Valley , located between the confluences of the Krka , Sotla , and Sava rivers. In November 1941, some 46,000 Slovenians in the Brežice Triangle region were forcibly deported to Eastern Germany for potential Germanization or forced labour in order to make an accommodation for

13680-494: Was little or no possibility of replenishment. Beyond the problems of inadequate equipment and incomplete mobilization, the Yugoslav Army suffered badly from the Serbo-Croat schism in Yugoslav politics. "Yugoslav" resistance to the invasion collapsed overnight. The main reason was that none of the subordinate national groups, including Slovenes and Croats, were prepared to fight in defence of a Serbian Yugoslavia. Also, so that

13800-578: Was supported by a cavalry regiment, three Border Guard battalions, a Finance Guard battalion and two military police (Italian: Carabinieri Reali ) battalions. The XVII Corps included the Diamanti Blackshirt group which incorporated six Blackshirt regiments comprising two battalions each, the Albanian-raised Skanderbeg Blackshirt regiment of two battalions, another Blackshirt regiment of two battalions,

13920-407: Was supported by a motorised artillery regiment consisting of three battalions, and a motorised engineer battalion. In Albania, the elements of the Italian 9th Army (Italian: 9° Armata ) that were involved in the campaign were commanded by Generale d’Armata (General) Alessandro Pirzio Biroli , and consisted of two infantry corps and some sector troops assembled in northern Albania. XIV Corps

14040-407: Was taken on 19 September, and Hungary was asked to provide transit to German soldiers on 30 September. The first troops entered Romania on 10 October. They entered Bucharest two days later (12 October) to shouts of Heil! The official explanation for the presence of German troops was that they were there to train the Romanian army. Hitler's directive to the troops on 10 October had stated that "it

14160-463: Was that six trains would pass through Hungary at night carrying German soldiers in sealed cars. They would not be allowed out, and they would not have any rail transportation officers (RTOs) or supply officers with them. According to György Barcza , the Hungarian ambassador in London, answering the British government's query, it was Romania that had made the request. In his notes, Barcza indicated that

14280-472: Was then occupied and partitioned by the Axis powers. Most of Serbia and the Banat became a German zone of occupation while other areas of Yugoslavia were annexed by neighboring Axis countries, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Albania and Bulgaria. Croatia became the Independent State of Croatia ( Serbo-Croatian Latin : Nezavisna Država Hrvatska , or NDH), an Axis puppet state created during

14400-511: Was to become Gottschee had been a strategic part of the Holy Roman Empire since the year 800. As a result, there were a number of important fortifications in and around Gottschee, which received its municipal charter and city seal in 1471. The Gottschee ethnic and linguistic area consisted of more than 180 villages organized into 31 townships and parishes. Gottscheer began to emigrate from their homeland around 1870, with most going to

#202797