Belgrade offensive

Belgrade offensive
Part of the Yugoslav and Eastern fronts of World War II

Residents of Belgrade greet Soviet troops, 30 October 1944
Date15 September 1944 – 24 November 1944[2]
Location
Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Result

Allied victory

  • Dissolution of the Serbian collaborationist regime
  • Yugoslav partisan purges and murders of collaborators and anti-communist civilians in the city[3]
  • Serbian collaborationist government moved to exile in Kitzbühel[4]
  • Evacuation of German assets from Belgrade
Belligerents
Allies
 Soviet Union
 Yugoslav Partisans
 Bulgaria

Axis
 Germany

Commanders and leaders
Soviet Union Fyodor Tolbukhin
Soviet Union Nikolai Gagen
Soviet Union Vladimir Zhdanov
Yugoslav Partisans Josip Broz Tito
Yugoslav Partisans Peko Dapčević
Yugoslav Partisans Danilo Lekić
Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) Vladimir Stoychev
Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) Kiril Stanchev
Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) Asen Sirakov		 Nazi Germany Maximilian von Weichs
Government of National Salvation Milan Nedić
Velibor Jonić
Nazi Germany Wilhelm Schneckenburger †
Nazi Germany Hans Felber
Nazi Germany Alexander Löhr
Units involved
Soviet Union 3rd Ukrainian Front
Yugoslav Partisans 1st Corps
Yugoslav Partisans 12th Corps
Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) 1st Army
Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) 2nd Army
Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) 4th Army		 Nazi Germany Army Group F
2nd Panzer Army
Serbian State Guard[5]
Russian Protective Corps
Strength
580,000 troops
3,640 artillery pieces
520 tanks and assault guns
1,420 aircraft
80 ships		 150,000 troops
(mostly 2nd tier infantry & non-German support troops)
2,100 artillery pieces
125 tanks and assault guns
350 aircraft
70 ships
Casualties and losses

Soviets:
4,350 killed and missing
14,488 wounded or sick
18,838 overall[6]
Bulgarian Army:
Over 3,000 killed[7]

Yugoslav Partisans:
2,953 dead
(assault on Belgrade only)[8]		 Unknown

The Belgrade offensive or the Belgrade strategic offensive operation (Serbo-Croatian: Beogradska operacija / Београдска операција; Russian: Белградская стратегическая наступательная операция, Belgradskaya strategicheskaya nastupatel'naya operatsiya) (15 September 1944 – 24 November 1944)[9] was a military operation during World War II in Yugoslavia in which Belgrade was liberated from the German Wehrmacht through the joint efforts of the Soviet Red Army, Yugoslav Partisans, and the Bulgarian Army.[10] Soviet forces and local militias launched separate but loosely cooperative operations that undermined German control of Belgrade and ultimately forced a retreat.[11] Martial planning was coordinated evenly among command leaders, and the operation was largely enabled through tactical cooperation between Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin that began in September 1944.[12][13] These martial provisions allowed Bulgarian forces to engage in operations throughout Yugoslav territory, which furthered tactical success while increasing diplomatic friction.[14]

The primary objectives of the Belgrade offensive centered on lifting the German occupation of Serbia, seizing Belgrade as a strategic holdout in the Balkans, and severing German communication lines between Greece and Hungary.[15] The spearhead of the offensive was executed by the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front in coordination with the Yugoslav 1st Army Corps. Simultaneous operations in the south involved the Bulgarian 2nd Army and Yugoslav XIII Army Corps, and the incursion of the 2nd Ukrainian Front northwards from the Yugoslav-Bulgarian border placed additional pressure on German command.[16] There were additional skirmishes between Bulgarian forces and German anti-partisan regiments in Macedonia that represented the campaign's southernmost combat operations.[17][18]

  1. ^ Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration. 2. San Francisco: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3615-4. pp. 222–228.
  2. ^ Krivosheyev 1997.
  3. ^ "Po kratkom postupku | Ostali članci". Novosti.rs. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  4. ^ History of Tyrol – Kitzbühel
  5. ^ Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945
  6. ^ Glantz (1995), p. 299
  7. ^ Иво Антонов, началник на отдел „Военни паметници и военно-патриотично възпитание“ при МО. В-к „Труд“, 05.11.2016 г.
  8. ^ Biryuzov & Hamović 1964, p. 260.
  9. ^ p.1116, Dupuy; Belgrade itself was taken on 20 October
  10. ^ Ivan Laković, Dmitar Tasić, The Tito–Stalin Split and Yugoslavia's Military Opening toward the West, 1950–1954: In NATO's Backyard, The Harvard Cold War Studies Book Series Authors, Lexington Books, 2016, ISBN 1498539343, p. 203.
  11. ^ p.615, Wilmot "[the Red Army] entered Belgrade ... at the same time as Tito's partisans."; p.152, Seaton; "The Russians had no interest in the German occupation forces in Greece and appear to have had very little interest in those retiring northwards through Yugoslavia...Stalin was content to leave to Tito and the Bulgarians the clearing of Yugoslav territory from the enemy."; Library of Congress Country Studies citing "information from Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1919–1945, Arlington, Virginia, 1976": "...Soviet troops crossed the border on October 1, and a joint Partisan-Soviet force liberated Belgrade on October 20."
  12. ^ Biryuzov & Hamović 1964, p. 83.
  13. ^ Biryuzov & Hamović 1964, p. 270.
  14. ^ Tomasevich 2002, p. 168.
  15. ^ Biryuzov & Hamović 1964, pp. 103–104.
  16. ^ Biryuzov & Hamović 1964, pp. 103, 124.
  17. ^ The Oxford companion to World War II, Ian Dear, Michael Richard Daniell Foot, Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-19-860446-7, p. 134.
  18. ^ Biryuzov & Hamović 1964, p. 124.