Story Highlights
- Historical event
- 6 April 1941
- The main force was the Second Army of the German Wehrmacht with 11 divisions, which attacked from the direction of Klagenfurt, Graz, and Nagykanizsa.
Military units of Hitler’s Third Reich and its allies invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on this day, after Yugoslavia had refused to join their Tripartite Pact.
The Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade during the morning, and reportedly killed 2,271 people, mostly civilians.
At the same time, the German, Italian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian Army were penetrating into Yugoslavia from all sides.
The main invasion force was the Second Army of the German Wehrmacht with 11 divisions, which attacked from the direction of Klagenfurt, Graz, and Nagykanizsa.
The Yugoslav Army was completely disordered, and didn`t manage to resist the attackers.
Actually, Yugoslav headquarters had a plan to stop the attackers. They wanted to destroy bridges on the Sava River and Una River, and organize resistance in the mountainous regions of Bosnia.
However, all these plans failed because the bridges on the Sava River downstream of Sisak had been destroyed.
The young King Peter fled the country, leaving Nikšić airport on 14 April, and brought with him the country’s entire gold reserves. The Yugoslav Army capitulated three days later.
