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Octavianus
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Für Christoph Awender (Österreich) & Mark V. (Slowenien)

#1

Post by Octavianus » 24 Sep 2002, 01:06

Ave amici, Servus Christoph and Zivio Mark,

Here are the missing information connected with the capture of the Headquarters of the Krajina Division by Kampfgruppe "Schotters" in April 1941.

First some basic information about the organization and deployment of the Krajina Division. I recommend you to take a detailed map of former Yugoslavia to keep the tracking of the units of the Krajina Division unless if you don't want to get lost.

On the 6th of April 1941, when the war had begun in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Krajina Division (or Krajinska Divizija as it is a proper spelling in Yugoslav military terminology of that time) was just finishing with its concentration according to war plans (R-41) as follows: the Divisional Headquarters and the Headquarters of the Divisional Infantry in Boljevac; the Headquarters of the Divisional Rear Command in the village of Stubik; the 9th Infantry Regiment (minus 1st Battalion) was still on the march from Negotin to Zajecar, with the 1st Battalion remaining on a position near the village of Kobisnica, southeast of Negotin in order to check the direction Vidin-Negotin; 74th Infantry Regiment, which was about to be incorporate into the Branicevo Detachment (Branicevski Odred), was also on the move from Pozarevac, and just arrived in the village of Bratunac to reinforce the border front against Bulgaria, with one battalion being deployed at the village of Kurjaca, some 15 kilometers southeast of Veliko Gradiste; the 8th Infantry Supplement Regiment (8. dopunski pesadijski puk) was assembled between the area of Stubik-Negotin, except the 2nd Battalion which wasa still on its mobilization place in Pozarevac; the 8th Artillery Regiment (8. artiljerijski puk) was deployed as follows - one artillery squadron (divizion) at Kraljevica near Zajecar with one artillery battery at Veliko Gradiste and one artillery platoon at Sipa, one howitzer squadron was stationed in Zajecar, while the divisional field artillery squadron was on the march from Knjazevac and was heading towards Stubik; the 8th Cavalry Squadron (8. konjicki divizion) was on the move from Pozarevac and reached Krepolje at the time of the outbreak of the war. In addition, one infantry company and one artillery platoon were stationed at Sipa (** check my special note about this force at the bottom of this message), while the protection of a vital mine pit in the city of Bor was defended by another infantry company and a field artillery battery. There was also a substantial force on the border front, made up of the 312th and 310th Regiment of the reserve Army as well as the units of the border guard.

In general, the Krajinska Divizija was one of rare units of the Royal Yugoslav Armed that was mobilized almost up to full strength. Namely at the start of the war, the division already had about 90% of personnel and stoke within its ranks and was one of a few Royal Yugoslav army divisions that could boasted with that - you had to remember that the mobilization in Yugoslavia proceeded with an extremly slow stampedo with many Croat , Albanian and Macedonian recruits ignoring the mobilizaction call, what eventually resulted in that majority of Yugoslav divisions awaited the war with many units still terribly under strength. Notice that Royal Yugoslav army divisions were a very large military formations, much stronger than German or British divisions, usually having even up to 27,000 men, when they were at the full strength, of course. The Royal Yugoslav Army knew no corps and division directly formed the armies, usually a group of four infantry divisions, one cavalry division plus some other auxiliary detachments formed an army, and two armies formed an army group.

Returning back to 'our' unit, the Krajina Division's main defence task was to defend the border front against Bulgaria and Romania from Vrska Cuka to the village of Brnjice, some 15 kilometers east of Golupac, and to close the approaches leading from Bulgarian territory towards Zajecar, Salas and Negotin.

Now to the question I think you await the most - the command structure of the Krajina Division.

The Krajinska Divizija was a part of the Royal Yugoslav 5th Army, which was directly subordinated to the Royal Yugoslav High Command. The Order of Battle with a complete command structure for the 5th Yugoslav Army would be as follows:

* 5th Army
Commander: Divisional General Vladimir Cukavac
Chief-Of-Staff: Staff Colonel Franc Tomse

- Toplicka Divizija
Commander: Divisional General Vladislav Kostic
Chief-Of-Staff: Staff Lieutenant-Colonel Anton Sabatin

- Timocka Divizija
Commander: Divisional General Antonije Stosic
Chief-Of-Staff: Staff Lieutenant-Colonel Ilija Kukuc

- Drinska Divizija
Commander: Divisional General Kosta Djordjevic
Chief-Of-Staff: Staff Major Milos Popovic

- Krajinska Divizija (* scroll down)

- Vlasinski Odred
Commander: Brigadier General of the Infantry Pavle Pavlovic
Chief-Of-Staff: Staff Major Vlastimir Vukcevic

- Kalnski Odred
Commander: Brigadier General of the Infantry Panta Draksic

- Rear Command of the 5th Army
Commander: Divisional General Mihailo Stajic

and now the moment of truth

- KRAJINSKA DIVIZIJA
Commander: Divisional General MILOJE POPADIC
Chief-Of-Staff: Staff Colonel RADOVAN SOKOL

This is how the Yugoslav history mentions the activities of the Krajina Division in the April War 1941:

April 12th, 1941: Advancing towards direction Knjazevac-Boljevac, an advance party of the German 4. Gebirgs-Division reached, during the course of the night from 12th to 13th April, the village of Dobro Polje, some five to six kilometers southeast of Boljevac), where it had captured the commander of the Krajinska Divivzija [General M. Popadic] and his chief-of staff [Colonel R. Sokol].

April 13th, 1941: When the Krajina Division received a new order which was delivered to it by an airplane, its new task was to retreat through Cestobrodica-Paracin on the left bank of the Velika Morava River. During the night of 12/13th April, the main kernel of the division reached the area od Cestobrodica, while isome of its small units were still engaged in some rear figthings near Boljevac with the German 4th Mountain Division, which captured the city of Zajecar on that particular day.

April 14th, 1941: The main head of the division was almost completely surrounded in the area of Cestobrodica, and only some small parts could evade the capture by taking a route through Zagubica and Majdanpek to the direction of Velika Morava. This was also the end of the Krajina Division.

** A small force of the Krajina Division, a company of the infantry and one artillery platoon were stationed at Sipa Canal and were actually among the first, if not the first, Royal Yugoslav units attacked by German army on April 6th 1941. In early morning hours on April 6th, before the bombing of Belgrade, a small company of German Brandenburgers under the command of Leutnant Koteschke crossed a small river island on the Danube near Orsova (Romania) on rubber boats and attacked this small Yugoslav outpost at Sipa, overruning it, but not before the Yugoslavs put a formidable fight.

Hope this had answer all your questions regarding the Krajina Division.

Gratiam,

Octavianus

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Christoph Awender
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Excellent, excellent

#2

Post by Christoph Awender » 24 Sep 2002, 03:37

Hello Octavianus!

This is excellent information!!!
Thank you very much for taking the time to find the info. Highly appreciated.

Thanks again,
Christoph


Zygmunt
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#3

Post by Zygmunt » 24 Sep 2002, 20:07

Octavianuse druze,

You seem very well informed about the Royal Yugoslav Army; would you have any information about fighting in and around the Vojvodinan City of Novi Sad?

There is a Fortress there (Petrovaradin, though known to all merely as the "tvrdjava"), which has some scarring (what looked to me like small arms and possibly 2cm cannon strikes) which I was assured was from the Second World War. I also know that during the war at least one bridge was destroyed (the remains of it are still visible, not far from the remains of the bridges which Nato destroyed in 1999). But no one could give me any concrete information as to whether these were the result of aerial bombardment, the initial assault in 1941, or later fighting.

I'd appreciate any links or information you might have.

Puno Vam hvala
Zygmunt

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Andy H
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#4

Post by Andy H » 24 Sep 2002, 21:21

Excellent post as seen from the "Other side of the hill". Not much info around concerning the battles fought by the Royal Yugoslav Army, it's usually swept along with the Blitzkrieg scenario.

Thank you

:D Andy from the Shire

Octavianus
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Petrovaradin Fortress in April 1941

#5

Post by Octavianus » 26 Sep 2002, 13:35

Ave Zygmunt,

I was not able to find any records about German or Hungarian planes bombing Petrovaradin Fortress during the fourteen days of fighting in Yugoslavia. In fact, I could find very little about to what purposes was the fortress used by Royal Yugoslav Army in the pre-war period, what might indicate that it was used mainly as a small depot or as an auxuliary location and didn't have any big military value as it did have in the time of Austro-Hungary monarchy. However, I was able to find some information about Petrovaradin Fortress and the "fightings" in and around Novi Sad.
Here it goes:

Since Germany was transporting much of its oil from Romania via Danube River, the Yugoslav High Command decided in autumn 1940 to take some measures to prevent, in the case of an armed conflict of course, the sailing of Axis ships not only via Danube, but also on Tisza and Drava River. The task to prepare these blockade points were given to headquarters of the Timocka, Dunavska and Osjecka Divizija as well as the Command of the Riverine Flotilla, which was based in Novi Sad. As a result of this, on the right bank of Danube River, from Radujevac, Sip, Smederevo, Grocka, Belgrade, Zemun, Slan Kamen, Petrovaradin, Ilok, Vukovar to Dalj, special blockade stations were set up, each armed with two artillery pieces 80 mm M.28 and special armoured grenades, and in addition to this, each station also had about half of infantry company for the protection of the guns and its crews. Their mission was simple: to open fire and to sink any Axis ship on the river if such order would arrive from the High Command. In addition to all this, the fortress was also used as a headquarters of the Potiska Division during the April War 1941.

There has been not much fightings in Novi Sad during the April War 1941. The defence of the Vojvodina and Banat region came under the domain of the 2nd Yugoslav Army Group under General of the Army Milutin Nedic, which was responsible for the defence of the Northern Front against Hungary from Begejski Canal to the River of Cadjavice in Slavonia (Croatia) respectively the 1st Yugoslav Army under the command of General of the Army Milan Radenkovic, which was covering the sector from Begejski Canal to the River of Danube. The headquarters of the 1st Army was situated in Novi Sad as well as some auxiliary units and army units, except for the 56th Artillery Regiment, which was still in Backa Topola and the 1st Army's battalion of engineers which was working on some positions in Srem. The main units of the 1st Army were:
- Sencanski Odred (56th Cavalry Regiment and 2nd Battalion of the 25th Infantry Regiment), which was stationed around Senta with a task to defend the Sencan bridgehead. In addition, this detachment could also count on some units at the border - the 15th Garrison Regiment (two infantry battalions and three artillery batteries), 314th Regiment of the Reserve Army plus some small units of the Border Guard.
- Potiska Divizija was stationed around Backa Topola, and was defending the border sector between the River of Tisza and the village of Bajmoli and to close the directions which lead from Hungary towards Senta, Subotica (Szabadka) and Bajmoli. At the border front, on the sector of this division, a substantial force was positioned, in a form of three garrison regiments (12., 13. and 14.), nine garrison field artillery batteries, while there was also the 16th Garrison Regiment stationed on the bridgehead at Backa Canal.
- Somborski Odred was responsible for the defence from the village of Sanisce to the River of Danube. One garrison regiment (11.) with two infantry battalions and three field batteries from the border front was also securing this sector.
- 3rd Cavalry Division with 3rd Cavarly Regiment and 3rd Squadron of the Cavalry Artillery south of Subotica, 51st and 66th Cavalry Regiments near Novi Sad and Backa Topola, and the 3rd Mechanized and 3rd Motorised Squadron at Senta, with the rest of the division organizing a defence perimeter between Subotica and Kikinda.*
- Zabaljski Odred (7th Infantry Regiment and one squadron of the 7th Artillery Regiment) was positioned near the village of Zabalj ewith a mission to close the communication line Petrovgrad-Novi Sad.

The war on this sector ended quickly, but what does not mean that there were not some exciting moments. On April 11th, the 41st German Army Corps of the 2nd Army launched a full scale attack on Banat, advancing towards Kikinda, Petrovaradin and Pancevo, with Yugoslav Army offering very little resistance. On 12 April 1941, some elements of the 8th German Panzer Division reached Zemun (Semlin) and Novi Sad, then turning south towards Valjevo and Lazarevac, where they then eventually linked up with the 1st Panzer Group.

In the morning, on 13 April 1941, the Royal Hungarian motorised units, with some support of the local Hungarian paramilitary organization "Nemzeter" and the Hungarian paratroopers who had performed some combat drops and took a couple of vital bridges between the Danube and Tisza, reached Novi Sad and occupy it. By then most of Royal Yugoslav Army was already on the other side of the Danube River and Novi Sad and Petrovaradin were abandonded and not defended - to give an example: the Naval Base of the Riverine Flotilla was evacuated from Novi Sad during 6-8 April 1941.

Maybe I should also noted, that when the state of war erupted between Germany and Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the leadership of the Kulturbund Organization (Dr Sepp Janko, Johann Wüscht and Jakob Lichtenberger) with some 150 armed supporters barricaded themselves in the Habag-Haus and there awaited the arrival of the German army (refused internation in Petrovaradin Fortress, so the Yugoslavs put for a while an armed police guard in front of the house), while some other Volksdeutsche were arrested and interned in the Petrovaradin Fortress.

* The 3rd Cavalry Division performed one of rare cavalry charges in World War II at Alibunar.

Hope this helps.

Gratiam,

Octavianus

Zygmunt
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#6

Post by Zygmunt » 27 Sep 2002, 12:54

That is interesting.
Thanks!

The Kulturbund seems to have made lots of enemies... Local legend has it that an RAF raid on oilfields in Ploesti (from Italy) included at least one pilot of Yugoslav origin, who knew firsthand the location of the Kulturbund building in Novi Sad, and kept a few bombs in reserve after bombing the oilfield, and took out the building on his return over Novi Sad.

It seems unlikely to me, but the story is intriguing to me; it's one of the ones I'm gradually looking into. I'll post something about it if I find any evidence.
Zygmunt

Mark V.
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#7

Post by Mark V. » 28 Sep 2002, 15:58

Octavianus, thanks again for another great post. I know I'm pushing my luck, but do you have any info on the Yugoslav Army units stationed in Belgrad during the German attack on the city.
Regards
Mark

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