German bombing of Belgrade

• 1. Background And Political Context

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  Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragiša Cvetković and Foreign Minister Aleksandar Cincar-Marković traveled to Berchtesgaden on the 14th of February 1941. Adolf Hitler invited them there to request that Yugoslavia join the Tripartite Pact. By March, Hungary had joined the pact while Italy invaded Greece. Romania also signed the agreement, leaving Yugoslavia almost surrounded by Axis powers or their client states. The neutral stance of the country faced tremendous pressure as neighbors fell into line with Germany. On the 25th of March, the Yugoslav government finally complied with Hitler's demands. Two days later, a group of officers led by Brigadier General Borivoje Mirković deposed Prince Paul in a coup d'état. King Peter assumed full power at age seventeen. This sudden political shift changed the entire strategic landscape of the Balkans overnight.

• 2. German Strategic Planning

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  Hitler issued Directive 25 on the day of the coup stating that Yugoslavia must be destroyed quickly. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring transferred about 500 fighter and bomber aircraft from France and northern Germany to airfields near the Yugoslav border between 27 and the 28th of March. Generaloberst Alexander Löhr allocated these aircraft to attack the capital in waves by day and night. Major Vladimir Kren flew a Potez 25 aircraft to Graz on the 3rd of April and defected to the Germans. He disclosed locations of many dispersal airfields and codes used by the Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force. The information included troop mobilization centers and air-raid shelter positions within Belgrade. A British colonel visited VVKJ base in Zemun on the 5th of April to warn them an attack would begin at 06:30 the next day. German propaganda later branded the city Fortress Belgrade despite its lack of defenses.

• 3. The First Wave Assault

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  German ground forces crossed the Yugoslav border at 05:15 on the 6th of April 1941. Joseph Goebbels announced Germany's declaration of war at 06:00. The first wave closed on Belgrade between 06:30 and 06:45 with 74 Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. They were escorted by Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighters and 100 Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighters. The entire Yugoslav 6th Fighter Brigade scrambled to intercept the Germans from Zemun and Prnjavor. Just as the first wave departed, Hawker Hurricane Mk1s arrived over Belgrade and engaged some dive bombers. The Yugoslavs claimed fifteen German aircraft shot down while losing five of their own. The pilots of Jagdgeschwader 77 claimed ten Yugoslav machines shot down and another six destroyed on the ground. The first wave hit the power station, post office, and military academy among other targets.

• 4. Escalation And Civilian Impact

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  Belgrade was targeted four times on the first day of the invasion alone. The third wave struck at 14:00 consisting of 94 twin-engined bombers flying from airfields near Vienna. A fourth attack approached Belgrade at 16:00 comprising 97 dive bombers and 60 fighters. German bombers dropped 218 to 365 tonnes of bombs and incendiaries on the capital. The most important cultural institution destroyed was the National Library of Serbia which burned to the ground with hundreds of thousands of books lost. Also struck was the Belgrade Zoo sending frightened animals running through streets. Sources vary regarding civilian casualties from 1,500 to 17,000 killed. The official figure released by occupation authorities soon after was 2,271 killed. Later estimates ranged even higher before historians settled on a realistic figure between 3,000 and 4,000 fatalities. Almost 50 percent of housing in Belgrade was destroyed according to historian Stevan K. Pavlowitch.

• 5. Postwar Accountability And Trials

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  Löhr was captured by Yugoslav Partisans on the 9th of May 1945 but escaped and was recaptured on the 13th of May. He was tried before a Yugoslav military court on war crimes charges related to his command of Luftflotte IV during Operation Retribution. Löhr was convicted and sentenced to death before being executed on the 26th of February 1947. Major Vladimir Kren was appointed head of the Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia following the invasion. He was arrested in Italy in March 1947 and extradited to Yugoslavia for trial. Kren was found guilty on all counts and executed in 1948. His conviction stemmed from unrelated charges of war crimes involving targeting civilians while serving with the ZNDH. Both men faced justice decades after their actions in April 1941 had paralyzed Yugoslav resistance.

• 6. Cultural Memory And Commemoration

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  The bombing of Belgrade was depicted in the 1980 Yugoslav feature film Who's Singin' Over There? A monument commemorating Yugoslav pilots killed during Operation Retribution was inaugurated in Zemun on the 6th of April 1997. It was designed by sculptor Miodrag Živković. On the 6th of April 2016, the 75th anniversary of the bombing, a memorial service was held for victims. The Serbian Minister for Labour Employment Veteran and Social Policy Aleksandar Vulin attended the event. In June 2017, it was announced that the site containing ruined foundations of the National Library would become a memorial garden. Charles Simic wrote a poem titled Cameo Appearance recounting his experiences as a survivor of the bombing. The ruins remain visible today as unexploded German bombs continue to be unearthed in the 21st century.