Yugoslav Partisans

National Liberation Army and
Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia
Leaders
Dates of operation1941–1945
AllegianceCommunist Party of Yugoslavia
HeadquartersMobile, attached to the Main Operational Group
Active regionsKingdom of Yugoslavia Axis-occupied Yugoslavia
 Romania (refugee purposes)[1]
 Italy (regions of Istria, islands of Cres and Lošinj, Fiume, Zara, parts of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, especially Trieste)
 Hungary (1945; Operation Spring Awakening, Nagykanizsa–Körmend offensive)
 Germany (parts of Carinthia in May 1945 only)
Ideology
Political positionFar-left
Size80,000–800,000 (see below)
AlliesAllies of World War II

Former Axis powers:

Other Allied factions:

Other Allied support:

OpponentsAxis powers:

Other Axis collaborators:

Other opponents:

Battles and warsMontenegrin uprising
Srb uprising
Battle of Serbia
Užice Republic
Bihać Republic
Battle of Neretva
Battle of Sutjeska
Battle of Kozara
Raid on Drvar
Battle of Belgrade
Syrmian Front
Trieste operation
Battle of Odžak
(most notable)

The Yugoslav Partisans,[note 1][11] or the National Liberation Army,[note 2] officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia,[note 3][12] was the communist-led anti-fascist resistance to the Axis powers (chiefly Nazi Germany) in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. Led by Josip Broz Tito,[13] the Partisans are considered to be Europe's most effective anti-Axis resistance movement during World War II.[14][15][16][17]

Primarily a guerrilla force at its inception, the Partisans developed into a large fighting force engaging in conventional warfare later in the war, numbering around 650,000 in late 1944 and organized in four field armies and 52 divisions. The main stated objectives of the Partisans were the liberation of Yugoslav lands from occupying forces and the creation of a federal, multi-ethnic socialist state in Yugoslavia.

The Partisans were organized on the initiative of Tito following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, and began an active guerrilla campaign against occupying forces after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June. A large-scale uprising was launched in July, later joined by Draža Mihailović's Chetniks; this led to the creation of the short-lived Republic of Užice. The Axis mounted a series of offensives in response but failed to completely destroy the highly mobile Partisans and their leadership. By late 1943, the Allies had shifted their support from Mihailović to Tito as the extent of Chetnik collaboration became evident, and the Partisans received official recognition at the Tehran Conference. In Autumn 1944, the Partisans and the Soviet Red Army liberated Belgrade following the Belgrade Offensive. By the end of the war, the Partisans had gained control of the entire country as well as Trieste and Carinthia. After the war, the Partisans were reorganized into the regular armed force of the newly established Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia.

  1. ^ Third Axis Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, by Mark Axworthy, Cornel Scafeş and Cristian Crăciunoiu, page 159
  2. ^ Fisher, Sharon (2006). Political change in post-Communist Slovakia and Croatia: from nationalist to Europeanist. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-4039-7286-6.
  3. ^ Jones, Howard (1997). A new kind of war: America's global strategy and the Truman Doctrine in Greece. Oxford University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-19-511385-3.
  4. ^ Hupchick, Dennis P. (2004). The Balkans: from Constantinople to communism. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 374. ISBN 978-1-4039-6417-5.
  5. ^ Rosser, John Barkley; Marina V. Rosser (2004). Comparative economics in a transforming world economy. MIT Press. p. 397. ISBN 978-0-262-18234-8.
  6. ^ Chant, Christopher (1986). The encyclopedia of codenames of World War II. Routledge. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-7102-0718-0.
  7. ^ PROGLAS POKRAJINSKOG KOMITETA KPJ ZA SRBIJU
  8. ^ PROGLAS POKRAJINSKOG KOMITETA KPJ ZA VOJVODINU
  9. ^ PROGLAS OKRUŽNOG KOMITETA KPJ ZA KRAGUJEVAC
  10. ^ "Partisans: War in the Balkans 1941–1945". BBC. Archived from the original on 28 November 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  11. ^ Curtis, Glenn E. (1992). Yugoslavia: A Country Study. Library of Congress. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-8444-0735-7.
  12. ^ Trifunovska, Snežana (1994). Yugoslavia Through Documents:From Its Creation to Its Dissolution. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-7923-2670-0.
  13. ^ Rusinow, Dennison I. (1978). The Yugoslav experiment 1948–1974. University of California Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-520-03730-4.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference JJR2013_OxfordPress was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference AS_2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ "Partisan | Yugoslavian military force". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  17. ^ Batinić, Jelena (2015). Women and Yugoslav Partisans: A History of World War II Resistance. Cambridge University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-1107091078.


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