March 1, 1941 – World War II: Bulgaria joins the Axis Powers
On March 1, 1941, Bulgaria joined the Axis by signing the Tripartite Pact. Germany had long pressured Bulgaria into allying with the Axis, but the Bulgarian government balked at getting involved in the war. However, with the Italian offensive into Greece being turned back, Adolf Hitler decided to intervene, and demanded the passage of German forces into Bulgaria for the invasion of Greece (and later including Yugoslavia). Recognizing futility to stop a German attack into its territory, the Bulgarian government acquiesced, and joined the Tripartite Pact with assurances of being given Greek territory and continued diplomatic relations with its neighbors Turkey and the Soviet Union. At that time, Germany and the Soviet Union had a ten-year non-aggression pact.
(Taken from The Balkan Campaign – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)
In August 1940, Hitler gave secret instructions to hismilitary high command to prepare a plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union, to be launched in the spring of 1941. In October 1940-January 1941, the Germanslaunched fierce air attacks on Britain,which failed to force the latter to capitulate as Hitler had hoped. Hitler then suspended his planned invasion ofBritainand instead focused on other ways to bring it to its knees. He turned to the Mediterranean Sea, whosecontrol by Germany and Italy would have the effect of cutting off Britain from its colonies in Africa and Asia viathe Suez Canal. In this plan, German forces would captureGibraltar through Spain,thus sealing off the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, while the ItalianArmy in Libya would captureBritish-controlled Egypt aswell as the Suez Canal, sealing off the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. German forces wouldjoin in the final stages of the Italian offensive.
As the German military formulated the invasion plan of theSoviet Union and the means to knock Britain out of the war, Hitler wasdetermined that no complications arose that would interfere with theseobjectives. Foremost, Hitler had noappetite for turmoil to break out in southeastern Europe,especially the highly volatile Balkan region, the “powder keg” that had sparkedWorld War I. Politically andstrategically, Hitler wanted stability in the Balkans to keep away the SovietUnion, with whom Germanyhad a tenuous non-aggression pact. Conflict in the Balkans would most likely prompt intervention by Russia, whichtraditionally held a strong influence there.
Hitler had long stated that he had no territorial ambitionson the Balkans. Instead, Germany’s main interest there was purelyeconomic, as the Balkan countries were Germany’s biggest partners,supplying the latter with food and mineral resources. But of the greatest importance to Hitler werethe Ploiesti oil fields in Romania, whichprovided the German military and industry with vital petroleum products.
Germanyand Italy mediated twoterritorial disputes involving Romaniaand its neighbors: on August 21, 1940, Romaniawas persuaded to cede Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria,and on August 30, 1940, it also relinquished one-third of Transylvania to Hungary. A few weeks earlier, in late June-early July1940, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had used strong-arm tactics to force Romania to cede its northeastern regions ofBessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, Hitler strove to convince Mussolini to stall thelatter’s territorial ambitions in the Balkans. Mussolini had long viewed that in the German-Italian partition ofEurope, southeastern Europe and the Balkansfell inside the Italian sphere of control. Italian forces had invaded Albaniain April 1939 (separate article), and after the fall of France in June 1940, Mussolini exerted pressureon Greece and Yugoslavia, andthreatened them with invasion. At thattime, Hitler was able to convince Mussolini to suspend temporarily his Balkanambitions and instead focus Italian efforts on defeating the British in North Africa.
But on October 7, 1940, at the request of Romanian dictatorIon Antonescu, German forces entered Romaniato guard against a Soviet invasion; for Hitler, it was to protect the vital Ploiesti oil fields. Mussolini was outraged by this German action,as he believed that Romaniafell inside his zone of control. Alsofor Mussolini, Hitler’s move into Romania was only the latest in along list of stunts that had been made without previously consulting him, andone that had to be reciprocated, or as Mussolini put it, “to repay him [Hitler]with his own coin”. Hitler had invaded Poland, Denmark,Norway, France, and the Low Countries without informing Mussolini beforehand.
On October 28, 1940, Mussolini, without notifying Hitler,launched the invasion of Greece(previous article), despite insufficient military preparation and against thecounsel of his top generals. Theoperation was a disaster, as the motivated Greek Army threw back the Italiansto Albania,and then launched its own offensive. Within three months, the Greeks occupied a quarter of Albanianterritory. Greece had declared its neutralityat the start of World War II. Butbecause of the Italian invasion, the Greek government turned to Britain forassistance. In early November 1940,British forces had arrived, and occupied two strategically important Greekislands, Crete and Limnos.
The unexpected Italian attack on Greece and likelihood of Britishintervention in the Balkans shocked Hitler, seeing that his efforts to try andmaintain peace in the region had failed. His prized Ploesti oil fields and the whole southeastern Europe were now vulnerable. On November 4, 1940, Hitler decided to becomeinvolved in Greecein order to bail out his beleaguered ally Mussolini and to forestall the British. On November 12, 1940, the German High Commandissued Directive No. 18, which laid out the German plan to contain the Britishin the Mediterranean: German forces would invade northern Greece and Gibraltar in January 1941, and thenassist the Italians in attacking Egypt in the fall of 1941. However, Spain’spro-Axis dictator General Francisco Franco refused to allow German troops into Spain, forcing Germanyto suspend its invasion of Gibraltar. On December 13, 1940, the German militaryissued Directive No. 20, which finalized the invasion of Greece undercodename Operation Marita. In the finalplan, German forces in Bulgaria would open a second front in northeasternGreece and capture the whole Greek northern coast, link up with the Italians inthe northwest, and if necessary, push south toward Athens and seize the rest ofGreece. Operation Marita was scheduledfor March 1941; however, delays would cause the invasion to be launched onemonth later.
For the invasion of Greece,Hitler considered it necessary to bring into the Axis fold the governments of Hungary, Romania,Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia,notwithstanding their stated neutrality at the start of the World War II. With their cooperation, German forces wouldcross their territories through Central and Eastern Europe,as well as control their military-important infrastructures, such as airfieldsand communications systems. Hungary, which had benefited territorially inthe German seizure of Czechoslovakiaand Axis arbitration of Transylvania, was drawn naturally to Germany. On November 20, 1940, the Hungariangovernment joined the Tripartite Pact . Three days later, Romaniaalso joined the Pact, as Romanian leader Antonescu was motivated to do so byfear of a Soviet invasion. In succeedingmonths, large numbers of German forces and weapons, passing through Hungary, would assemble in Romania, mainly for the planned invasion of the Soviet Union (whose operational plan would be finalizedin December 1940 under the top-secret Operation Barbarossa).
Bulgariabalked at joining the Pact and thus be openly associated with the Axis, andalso was concerned that participating in the invasion of Greece would leave its eastern border vulnerableto an attack by Turkey,which was allied with Greece. The Bulgarians also were aware of a Sovietplan to capture Varna, Bulgaria’s Black sea port, which the Sovietswould use to seize control of the Turkish Straits, which was a source of along-standing dispute between the Soviet Union and Turkey.
However, Hitler exerted strong diplomatic pressure on Bulgaria andalso promised to protect Bulgarian territorial integrity. Bulgaria acquiesced and agreed toallow German troops to enter Bulgarian territory. On February 28, 1941, German engineeringcrews bridged the Danube River at the Romanian-Bulgarian border, and the firstGerman units crossed into Bulgariaand continued to that country’s eastern border. The next day, March 1st, Bulgariajoined the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis. On March 2, 1941, German forces involved inOperation Marita entered Bulgariaand proceeded south to the Bulgarian-Greek border.
To assure Turkey of German intentions, Hitler wrote to theTurkish government to explain that the German presence in Bulgaria was directed at Greece. To further allay the Turks, German troopswere positioned far from the Turkish border. The Turkish government accepted the German clarification, and agreed tostand down its forces during the German attack on Greece.
Meanwhile, Greecewas aware of German plans, and in the previous months, held talks with Britain and Yugoslavia to formulate a commonstrategy against the anticipated German attack. The dilemma for Greece was that by March 1941, the greater part of itsmilitary forces were still tied down against the Italians in southern Albania,leaving insufficient units to defend the rest of the country’s northernborder. At the request of the Greekgovernment, Britain and itsdominions, Australia and New Zealand, sent 58,000 troops to Greece; this force arrived in March 1941 anddeployed in Greece’snorth central border.
With regards to Yugoslavia, Hitler exerted greateffort to try and persuade the officially neutral but Allied-leaning governmentof Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisha Cvetkovic to join the Axis. In a series of high-level meetings between thetwo countries which even included Hitler’s participation, the Germans offeredsizable rewards to Yugoslaviafor joining the Axis, including Greek territory that would include Salonicawhich would give Yugoslaviaaccess to the Aegean Sea. Talks went nowhere until Hitler met withPrince Paul on March 4, 1941, which led two weeks later to the Yugoslavgovernment agreeing to join the Axis. OnMarch 25, 1941, Yugoslaviasigned the Tripartite Pact, motivated by a secret clause in the agreement thatcontained three stipulations: the Axis promised to respect Yugoslaviansovereignty and territorial integrity, the Yugoslavian military would not berequired to assist the Axis, and Yugoslavia would not be required toallow Axis forces to pass through its territory. But two days later, March 27, the pro-AlliedSerbian military high command deposed the Yugoslav government and installeditself in a military regime, arrested Prince Paul, and named the 17-year oldminor crown prince as King Peter II. Thenew military government assured Germanythat Yugoslaviawanted to maintain friendly ties between the two countries, albeit that itwould not ratify the Tripartite Pact. Anti-German mass demonstrations broke out in Belgrade and other Serbian cities.
As a result of the coup, a furious and humiliated Hitlerbelieved that Yugoslavia hadtaken a stand favoring the Allies, despite the new Yugoslav government’sconciliatory position toward Germany. On March 27, 1941, just hours after the coup,Hitler convened the German military high command and stated his intention to“destroy Yugoslaviaas a military power and sovereign state”. He ordered the formulation of an invasion plan for Yugoslavia, which was to be carried out togetherwith the attack on Greece. Despite the time constraint (the attack onGreece was set to be launched in ten days, April 6, 1941), the German militaryfinalized a lightning attack for Yugoslavia, code-named Operation 25, to beunder taken in coordination with the operation on Greece.
Hitler invited Bulgariato participate in the attack on Yugoslavia,but the Bulgarian government declined, citing the need to defend itsborders. As well, Hungary demurred, as it had just recently signeda non-aggression pact with Yugoslavia,but it agreed to allow the German invasion forces to mass in its southwesternborder with Yugoslavia. Romania was not asked to join theinvasion.
Mussolini, after conferring with Hitler, agreed toparticipate, and the Italian forces were to undertake the following:temporarily cease operations at the Albanian front; protect the flank of theGerman forces invading from Austriato Slovenia; seize Yugoslavterritories along the Adriatic coast; and link up with German forces for theinvasion of Greece.
On April 3, 1941, Yugoslaviasent emissaries to Moscow to try and arrange amutual defense treaty with the Soviet Union. Instead, on April 5, the Soviet governmentagreed only to a treaty of friendship and non-aggression with Yugoslavia,which did not promise Soviet protection in case of foreign aggression. As a result, Hitler was free to invade Yugoslaviawithout fear of Soviet intervention. OnApril 6, 1941, Germany and Italy launched the invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece, discussed separately in thenext two chapters.
