Yugoslavia and Macedonia as victors in World War II
Macedonian historians on the course and results of the war
Generally little is known in the West about Yugoslavia during World War II, and next to nothing about Macedonia. In this respect, Shoa.de hopes for a certain “aha effect” when it publishes several translations from a lengthy documentation that the Skopjе daily newspaper “Utrinski vesnik” published as a supplement to its weekend edition of May 7th and 8th, 2005.
It is about two aspects:
First, about the "tough nut" Yugoslavia, which was apparently easily "cracked" by German, Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops in April 1941, but which afterwards proved to be almost insurmountable thanks to the partisan struggle under Marshal Tito.
And secondly: In the course of this struggle, the oldest cultural nation of the Slavs, the Macedonians - who gave the world the Slavic cultural donors Cyrill and Method, Clement and Naum etc. - after centuries of occupation by Byzantium, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, Serbia etc. achieved their national and national-cultural liberation, which culminated in 1991 with the proclamation of the sovereign Republic of Macedonia.
"Yugoslavia was the hardest nut to crack for the Nazis"
The attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia [1] by Germany on April 6, 1941 took place immediately after the well-known demonstrations of March 27, which were directed against the signing of the Tripartite Pact by the then government.
These protests took place in many cities, including Skopje, and they were most massive in Belgrade. They were organized by pro-British forces from the Yugoslav Agricultural Party, but the Communists also often took part in the demonstrations. Basically, the anti-fascist mood of the Yugoslav democratic forces was evident at the time, which forced the overthrow of the Cvetković-Maček government [2] and the formation of a new government. [3]
After the disgraceful capitulation and the invasion by German troops, the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was divided into a German and an Italian sphere of interest. [4] At the same time, two pro-German political entities were created: the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) under Ante Pavelić and Nedić-Serbia. [5]
Under these circumstances, the communists reorganized and adapted to the war conditions. Four days after the attack, on April 10, the Central Committee of the KPJ (Communist Party of Yugoslavia) met in Zagreb and decided to move the party leadership to Belgrade and to make all preparations for an uprising and integration into the anti-fascist struggle.
On July 4, the decision to start the uprising came and on July 7, the first shot was fired at a Serbian gendarme in Bela Crkva, Serbia, by Žikica Jovanović-Španac. One after another, uprisings broke out in other parts of the country - on July 13 in Montenegro, on July 22 in Slovenia and on July 27 in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Because of the well-known misunderstandings about the then leader of the Macedonian communists, Metodija Šatorov-Šarlo [6], the Macedonian uprising was delayed by a few months and began as the last on October 11th.
In the beginning the partisan units were small, but in the course of a short time they were joined by more and more patriots who were determined to liberate the country. Among them were communists [7], but also ordinary poor citizens, workers and peasants who were dissatisfied with the regime in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at that time.
On December 22nd, 1941, the first major combat unit was formed in Rudo: The First Proletarian Brigade with around 900 fighters. Every year the number of fighters increased everywhere, so that at the time of the liberation a Yugoslav People's Army 800,000 soldiers were under arms.
The four-year struggle was very bloody, during which time the occupying forces launched seven offensives against the partisan units. The battles on the Sutjeska and Neretva rivers were particularly dramatic, when the partisan leadership under Marshal Tito [8] demonstrated the ability to devise appropriate countermeasures against any advance by enemy forces.
During the war, Ante Pavelić had the notorious Jasenovac concentration camp set up in Croatia, about which Serbian and Croatian historians still argue about how many people lost their lives in it. The exact number will certainly never be able to be determined, but what is confirmed is that Yugoslavia suffered around 1.6 million victims in the Second World War.
The largest operation of the Yugoslav partisan units was their breakthrough on the Srem front [9], which was decisive for the final liberation. It was then that the Yugoslav Army deployed its best fighters. Around 180,000 soldiers with 2,276 guns, 55 tanks and 222 aircraft met a 100,000-man army, which consisted of German soldiers and Croatian Ustaša and Domobran units. The enemy troops had around 700 guns.
Around 25,000 Macedonian soldiers took part in the fighting on this front, and they suffered particularly high losses in the fighting around Vrpole, namely 370 killed, around 970 wounded and 100 missing. The Macedonian units also liberated Slavonska Požega, which ended the last major action of the 15th Macedonian Corps, which was subsequently disbanded.
"The struggle waged by the Yugoslav People's Army was a great contribution to the federation of the struggles of the Allies' troops for the final victory over fascism," says the Macedonian historian Vančo Stojčev, who researches the period of the Second World War. The Yugoslav partisan units tied strong German forces for over four years, thereby facilitating the struggle of the allies on other fronts.
It was of fundamental importance for Macedonia and the Macedonian people to participate in the common struggle of the other Yugoslav peoples. At the second session of the AVNOJ [10], the Macedonian people were recognized for the first time as a subject of equal value to the other Yugoslav peoples, i.e. they were given the right to create their own state, which would fit into the existing structure of the newly formed Yugoslav state. Most historians arguably rightly emphasize that if the AVNOJ had not existed, then the ASNOM [11] would not have been possible either.
The birth of the Macedonian state
The national liberation struggle in Macedonia, viewed from a distance of 60 years and on the anniversary of the victory over fascism, looks far more significant than it seems at first glance. Not only because this struggle was part of the anti-Hitler front that fought against the greatest evil in the world, but also because of the fact that at that time the greatest Macedonian dream came true - a Macedonian state was created and the Macedonian nation was preserved worldwide confirmation.
At that time, the Macedonian people had their own allies for the first time in their history and stood together with the other Yugoslav peoples led by the KPJ, which at that time was the only political force in the Balkans with the correct position on the "Macedonian question" [12] and opposite of the Macedonian national identity.
German occupation forces entered Skopje on the afternoon of April 7th, one day after the attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Later, after the capitulation, a treaty was signed in Vienna to divide up the territories of what was then Yugoslavia. Macedonia was divided once more [13]:
Bulgaria got the greater part of Vardar and Aegean Macedonia, Italy moved into the cities of Tetovo, Gostivar, Kičevo, Debar and Struga, where from then on it ruled with the help of Albanian collaboration authorities.
The road of the Macedonian struggle was long, accompanied by many sufferings and sacrifices. Organized freedom efforts began immediately after the occupation, and the first shots rang out on October 11th in Prilep during a raid on a Bulgarian police station.
The next day there was a skirmish between a partisan unit from Kumanovo and occupation troops. The more time passed, the more organized and massive the resistance became. The Bulgarian occupation troops, who had taken over the entire administration in Macedonia and expected the people to receive them with open arms, were surprised by the resistance and met it with strong repression.
According to documents from Bulgarian archives, they arrested 1,537 people in 1941 alone. Many of them were interned in camps in Bulgaria, 134 communists were tried and 38 were sentenced to death.
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| Image: | "Liberated Macedonia", in Völkischer Beobachter May 6, 1941. |
In August 1943 the first Macedonian cities were liberated, Kičevo and Debar. At the same time, the first larger units of the People's Liberation Army were set up. The first battalion "Mirče Acev" was established on August 18, 1943, later the battalions "Strašo Pindžur", "Stiv Naumov" and others.
The First Macedonian-Kosovar Brigade was formed in November 1943, and the Second Macedonian Brigade in December in Aegean-Macedonia. When the final battle began later, the Macedonian army consisted of three corps with seven divisions and 30 brigades. [14]
Because of the massive resistance, the occupiers had to deploy 60,000 soldiers and police officers in Vardar Macedonia alone, 45,000 of whom were Bulgarian and 15,000 Italian, not counting the Albanian Ballistet units in western Macedonia. [15]
That the Macedonian freedom fighters became an increasingly important factor and a serious opponent of the occupiers is also testified by the fact that the German command of Struga negotiated with them about an exchange of prisoners. The negotiations took place near the southern Macedonian village of Botun.
Separate authorities were set up in the liberated territories. At the height of the war, the second AVNOJ meeting was held on November 29, 1943, for which some Macedonian delegates were chosen. However, because of the war situation and bad weather, they were unable to get to the meeting, which was of paramount importance to the Macedonian people.
With their resolutions, the Macedonian people were recognized as equal to the other Yugoslav peoples. Something like this happened for the first time in the tragic history of Macedonia, in which not only did no one recognize a Macedonian identity, but rather the neighbors appropriated the entire Macedonian history.
In order to extend the struggle to all Macedonian regions, the legendary February March [16] was undertaken in the following months, the largest action of the National Liberation Struggle, which was of great military and political importance. The culmination of this struggle was the first ASNOM meeting, which took place on August 2, 1944 in the monastery "Saint Prochor Pčinjski" [17].
The foundations of the Macedonian state were laid on it and the historical decisions were made that would later determine the future of Macedonia.
Macedonian combat units also took part in the fighting on the Srem front. [18] These were the last operations for the liberation of Yugoslavia. In addition to the 15th Macedonian Corps, the Macedonian battalion "Jane Sandanski", which was formed from Macedonians living in Belgrade, also fought. Macedonia provided a total of 25,000 soldiers for the Srem front.
The Macedonians from Pirin and Aegean Macedonia also took part in the anti-fascist liberation struggle. The resistance in Pirin-Macedonia began exactly on June 27, 1941. The Macedonians there reacted with him to their lawlessness and the denationalizing policies pursued by the royal regime in Bulgaria. They fought for their rights and after the liberation they were able to run their own schools until the Cominform resolution [19] and declare themselves as Macedonians without hindrance. Then the regime of Todor Živkov wiped out this national minority by decree, which is the policy of the official Sofia to this day.
The Macedonians in Greece fought as part of the Greek National Liberation Movement and formed their own organizations for this purpose. They also took part in the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949, but after the liquidation of the Democratic Army of Greece, their hope for ethnic equality died. Under the strong pressure of the new regime, which only recognized Greeks, they emigrated en masse and scattered over all countries of the world.
"Why to Srem and not to Thessaloniki?"
Those familiar with the events of World War II occasionally raise the question of why the Macedonian combat units went to the Srem front but did not march to Thessaloniki to reunite Macedonia.
After all, you know the riot of the artillery brigade, which was stationed in the Skopje fortress and marched to the center of Skopje on January 7, 1945 shouting "To Thessaloniki, to Thessaloniki".
The rebels were sent back immediately, some of their leaders even jailed and brought to justice, but released soon after the war ended. Historians researching this period say that the decision to go to the Srem Front was not an individual matter, but was made by the ASNOM Presidium, the highest institution of the newly formed Macedonian state, after an order from Supreme Commander Josip Broz -Tito had arrived.
There were several reasons not to march to Thessaloniki. At that time England had around 200,000 soldiers, 400 planes and 3,000 tanks stationed in Greece. In addition, the combined Greek units had 100,000 men and 10,000 Yugoslav soldiers loyal to the king were in Thessaloniki.
Had the Macedonian army marched on Thessaloniki, it would have practically attacked a major ally from the anti-Hitler coalition and had to fight with the well-armed British army.
SOURCE: Translation in German from the Macedonian and comments: Wolf Oschlies
Literature
- Gligorov, Kiro: Makedonija e sé što imame (Macedonia is all we have), Skopje 2001
- Gligorov, Kiro: Viorni vreminja - Republika Makedonija, realnost na balkanot (Troubled Times - The Republic of Macedonia, a reality in the Balkans), Skopje 2004
- Pavlovski, Jovan (ed.): Sto makedonski godini 1903-2003 (One Hundred Macedonian Years), Skopje 2004
- Petranović, Branko, et al .; Jugoslovenska revolucija i SSSR - 1941-1945 (The Yugoslav Revolution and the USSR), Belgrade 1988
- Todorovski, Tomislav: Makedonija - Nastani, ličnosti, dela 1914-1945 (Macedonia - events, people, deeds), Skopje 2003
Remarks
[1] Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was called the state only from 1929. Before that it was known as Kraljevina S.H.S., i.e. "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes". Its shape and boundaries are shown on the adjacent, Serbian text map from around 1925. There are two interesting aspects to this. Firstly, it does not show the internal borders of the historical countries Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia etc., which were only abolished in 1929. Secondly, it is indirectly clear from the map how much Yugoslavia expanded territorially after the Second World War: in the north, for example, the Istrian peninsula and large parts of Slovenia still belonged to Italy, which only came to Yugoslavia later and through the victories of Tito's partisans.
[2] The Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragiša Cvetković (1893-1963) and the Croatian peasant leader Vlatko Maček (1879-1964) agreed in 1939 to form the Royal Province of Croatia (Banovina Hrvatska), which included large parts of Bosnia and a prelude to the later "state" the Croatian fascists (Ustaše) was. Both signed Yugoslavia's accession to the Three-Power Pact in Vienna on March 25, 1941, which triggered the aforementioned protests.
[3] Josef März: The case of Yugoslavia, in: Journal for Geopolitics No. 5/1941, pp. 245-251
[4] Hans-Ulrich Wehler: “Reichsfestung Belgrade” - National Socialist “Spatial Planning” in Southeastern Europe. In: Quarterly magazine for contemporary history No. 1/1963, pp. 74-86
[5] General Milan Nedić (1882-1946) became premier of German-occupied Serbia, which was also greatly reduced in terms of territory due to territorial cedings to Hungary and others.
[6] Metodija Šatorov-Šarlo (1897-1944) was actually a Bulgarian party functionary who saw in the resolutions of the Tito communists a promotion of the Greater Serbian hegemony and therefore incorporated the Macedonian KPJ organization into the Bulgarian KP in April 1941. In August he was expelled from the KPJ and withdrew to Bulgaria.
[7] In numerical terms, the communists did not play a major role in the uprising, as only about ten percent of the partisans belonged to the JCP. And ideologically they came into ever greater opposition to Stalin and the Comintern, as they did not give them any help and, out of consideration for the Western Allies and the royal Yugoslav government in exile in London, constantly tried to limit the political independence of the partisans. The laboriously disguised break followed at the end of 1943 when the partisans in the Bosnian Jajce issued their program on the post-war order in Yugoslavia, which was neither coordinated with Moscow or the West, nor received foreign approval.
[8] Tito (Josip Broz, 1892-1980) was born during the so-called “5. Offensive ”in May 1943 during the Battle of the Sutjeska. This resulted in the picture below, which shows him sitting in the foreground.
[9] Srem (formerly also called Syrmia) is an area that stretches from the Croatian East Slavonia to the Serbian Vojvodina and is one of the most fertile regions in the Balkans. The fighting began in October 1944, when there was basically no longer any question of a "partisan fight": Yugoslavia had for the most part already been liberated, the Bulgarian occupying army was now an ally, some Soviet units were present, and the new one was in the country Order established and it intervened with regular troops in the final battles against Germany and its last allies.
[10] Abbreviation of Anti-Fascist Council for the National People's Liberation of Yugoslavia, the highest political body of the partisans, which at the above-mentioned meeting on November 29th in Jajce made the relevant resolutions for a federal restart of Yugoslavia after the war. This also gave Macedonia, which had been part of Serbia until then, the opportunity to exercise political and cultural competence.
[11] ASNOM was the Macedonian equivalent of AVNOJ. On August 2, 1944, the ASNOM passed the necessary resolutions for the formation of the Macedonian state (in the Yugoslav federation), which also made the “Macedonian vernacular” an official and standard language.
[12] For almost a century and a half, the “Macedonian question” has been a bizarre dispute over whether there is (firstly) a Macedonian people at all (because the Macedonians are called “West Bulgarians”, “South or Old Serbs” by their neighbors "," Slavophonic Hellenes "etc.), and (second) whether there is also a Macedonian language among all Slavic languages (because, according to popular opinion, a" West Bulgarian "or" South Serbian dialect "is spoken in the" geographical region of Macedonia " and the Macedonian language, which was proclaimed in 1944, is basically an “artifact” intended to break the “unity of the Bulgarian language”). Serious scientists, especially Germans, never took part in this dispute, but for some circles, including in the German-speaking area, it is not over yet.
[13] What is meant is the first division of Macedonia (68,451 km²) after the Balkan Wars of 1912/13, with the southern Aegean Macedonia (34,411 km² or 50.3%) falling to Greece, the northwestern Vardar-Macedonia (26,440 km² or 38, 6%) to Serbia, eastern Pirin-Macedonia (6,798 km² or 9.9%) and the south-western Prespa region (802 km² or 1.2%) to Albania. This division was "cemented" in the First World War, but the Macedonians were lucky: The majority of the Macedonian ethnic group has always lived in Vardar-Macedonia, which currently makes up the Republic of Macedonia.
14] The adjacent map comes from W. Koppen: Liberated Macedonia, in: Völkischer Beobachter, May 6, 1941. It is interesting in that it legitimizes the new Bulgarian territorial gains with the borders of the Bulgarian national church exarchate from 1870 and also (dotted Lines) lists the tripartite division of Macedonia from 1913. The map partially uses the old Turkish city names of Macedonia (Üsküb = Skopje, Monastir = Bitola etc.)
[15] What is meant is the Balli Kombëtar, an extremely nationalist Albanian terrorist organization that was set up in Tirana in autumn 1942 with German and Italian help.
[16] Macedonian Fevruarski pohod, which lasted from January 31 to February 25, 1944 and brought two brigades to central Macedonia in a forced march of 440 kilometers, which supported the local partisan units here.
[17] The monastery is located in the extreme south of Serbia, practically within sight of the border with Macedonia. In earlier times this region had always been Macedonian, but after World War II it suddenly belonged to Serbia. As Kiro Gligorov, first President of the Republic of Macedonia, explained in a lecture in August 2004, no document has been found to date that could provide information about the reasons and circumstances of this change of territory, see Kiro Gligorov: End of War 1944 in Macedonia, in: Westkreuz No. 1/2005, pp. 6-8
[18] As stated above, these fights could no longer be considered part of the partisan struggle, which did not reduce their severity. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary, the daily newspaper “Dnevnik” from Novi Sad recalled some details on April 13, 2005: “For a full 172 days, from October 21, 1944 to April 13, 1945, fights were fought in the Srem plain, on which around 250,000 soldiers took part on both sides. In addition to the troops of the Yugoslav Army, units of the Red Army, the Bulgarian Army and the "Italia" brigade also took part. The heavy fighting, fought in snow and wind, killed 13,500 Yugoslav soldiers, mostly young men from Serbia and Montenegro, as well as 1,100 Red Army soldiers, 630 Bulgarian soldiers and 163 Italians. A memorial complex near the Belgrade-Zagreb motorway was built in their honor on May 8, 1988 ”.
[19] What is meant is the Stalin-Tito conflict, which began in 1947/48 with an escalating exchange of notes and continued with the exclusion of Yugoslavia from the "Communist Information Office" (Cominform), the successor organization to the COMINTERS, which Tito and the KPJ still did not moved to give in, see Vladimir Dedijer: Izgubljena bitka Stalina (The lost battle of Stalin), Sarajevo 1969
