March 25, 1941 – World War II: Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers
Adolf 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 betweenthe two countries which even included Hitler’s participation, the Germansoffered sizable 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.
(Taken from The Balkan Campaign – Wars of the 20th Century –Vol. 6)
In August 1940, Hitler gavesecret instructions to his military high command to prepare a plan for theinvasion of the Soviet Union, to be launchedin the spring of 1941. In October1940-January 1941, the Germans launched fierce air attacks on Britain, which failed to force thelatter to capitulate as Hitler had hoped. Hitler then suspended his planned invasion of Britain and instead focused onother ways to bring it to its knees. Heturned to the Mediterranean Sea, whose control by Germanyand Italy would have theeffect of cutting off Britainfrom its colonies in Africa and Asia via the 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.
The Balkan region and nearby Italy, Austria (annexed by Germany), and Hungary.
As the German militaryformulated the invasion plan of the Soviet Union and the means to knock Britainout of the war, Hitler was determined that no complications arose that wouldinterfere with these objectives. Foremost, Hitler had no appetite for turmoil to break out insoutheastern Europe, especially the highlyvolatile Balkan region, the “powder keg” that had sparked World War I. Politically and strategically, Hitler wantedstability in the Balkans to keep away the Soviet Union, with whom Germanyhad a tenuous non-aggression pact. Conflict in the Balkans would most likely prompt intervention by Russia,which traditionally held a strong influence there.
Hitler had long stated thathe had no territorial ambitions on the Balkans. Instead, Germany’smain interest there was purely economic, as the Balkan countries were Germany’sbiggest partners, supplying the latter with food and mineral resources. But of the greatest importance to Hitler werethe Ploiesti oil fields in Romania, which provided the Germanmilitary and industry with vital petroleum products.
Germany and Italymediated two territorial 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 toconvince Mussolini to stall the latter’s territorial ambitions in theBalkans. Mussolini had long viewed thatin the German-Italian partition of Europe, southeastern Europeand the Balkans fell inside the Italian sphere of control. Italian forces had invaded Albania in April 1939 (separate article), and after the fall of France in June 1940, Mussolini exerted pressureon Greece and Yugoslavia,and threatened them with invasion. Atthat time, Hitler was able to convince Mussolini to suspend temporarily hisBalkan ambitions and instead focus Italian efforts on defeating the British in North Africa.
But on October 7, 1940, atthe request of Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu, German forces entered Romania to guard against a Soviet invasion; forHitler, it was to protect the vital Ploiestioil fields. Mussolini was outraged bythis German action, as he believed that Romania fell inside his zone ofcontrol. Also for Mussolini, Hitler’smove into Romaniawas only the latest in a long list of stunts that had been made withoutpreviously consulting him, and one that had to be reciprocated, or as Mussoliniput it, “to repay him [Hitler] with his own coin”. Hitler had invaded Poland,Denmark, Norway, France,and the Low Countries without informingMussolini beforehand.
On October 28, 1940,Mussolini, without notifying Hitler, launched the invasion of Greece (previous article), despite insufficientmilitary preparation and against the counsel of his top generals. The operation was a disaster, as the motivatedGreek Army threw back the Italians to Albania, and then launched its ownoffensive. Within three months, theGreeks occupied a quarter of Albanian territory. Greece had declared its neutralityat the start of World War II. Butbecause of the Italian invasion, the Greek government turned to Britainfor assistance. In early November 1940,British forces had arrived, and occupied two strategically important Greekislands, Crete and Limnos.
The unexpected Italian attackon Greeceand likelihood of British intervention in the Balkans shocked Hitler, seeingthat his efforts to try and maintain peace in the region had failed. His prized Ploesti oil fields and the wholesoutheastern 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 theBritish. On November 12, 1940, theGerman High Command issued Directive No. 18, which laid out the German plan tocontain the British in 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 under codename OperationMarita. In the final plan, German forcesin Bulgaria would open a second front in northeastern Greece and capture thewhole Greek northern coast, link up with the Italians in the northwest, and ifnecessary, push south toward Athens and seize the rest of Greece. Operation Marita was scheduled for March1941; however, delays would cause the invasion to be launched one month later.
For the invasion of Greece, Hitler considered it necessary to bringinto the Axis fold the governments of Hungary,Romania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia, notwithstanding theirstated 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[1]. Three days later, Romania also joined the Pact, asRomanian leader Antonescu was motivated to do so by fear of a Sovietinvasion. In succeeding months, largenumbers 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).
Bulgaria balked at joining the Pact and thus be openly associatedwith the Axis, and also 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 exertedstrong diplomatic pressure on Bulgariaand also 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, Bulgaria joined the TripartitePact, officially joining the Axis. OnMarch 2, 1941, German forces involved in Operation Marita entered Bulgariaand proceeded south to the Bulgarian-Greek border.
To assure Turkey of Germanintentions, Hitler wrote to the Turkish government to explain that the Germanpresence in Bulgaria wasdirected 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, Greece was aware of German plans, and in theprevious months, held talks with Britainand Yugoslaviato formulate a common strategy against the anticipated German attack. The dilemma for Greece was that by March1941, the greater part of its military forces were still tied down against theItalians in southern Albania, leaving insufficient units to defend the rest ofthe country’s northern border. At therequest of the Greek government, Britainand its dominions, Australiaand New Zealand, sent 58,000troops to Greece; this forcearrived in March 1941 and deployed in Greece’s north central border.
With regards to Yugoslavia,Hitler exerted great effort to try and persuade the officially neutral butAllied-leaning government of Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisha Cvetkovic to jointhe Axis. In a series of high-levelmeetings between the two countries which even included Hitler’s participation,the Germans offered sizable 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, afurious and humiliated Hitler believed that Yugoslaviahad taken 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.
[1] The Tripartite Pact was a mutual-defense treaty originally signedby Germany, Italy, and Japan on September 27, 1940.
