– Arso Jovanović –
The army of the former Yugoslavia possessed no coherent military doctrine. It existed solely to maintain our peoples in subjugation. It was constructed upon a foundation of national chauvinism, poorly organised and internally divided. Such an army was bound to experience the April catastrophe and complete disintegration.
The liberationist and patriotic forces of our peoples, led by the Communist Party, initiated a war of liberation in 1941, thereby directly aligning themselves with the great anti-fascist bloc of democratic nations. Our peoples entered this struggle unarmed, yet their faith in victory remained unshaken, for they knew they were fighting for a just cause. This struggle yielded significant results for our peoples, not only on the military front but also in internal and international spheres.
Numerous offensives by superior enemy forces, supported by all the traitors within our country, failed to shake or break the ranks of our fighters. From one engagement to the next, the army was tempered and continuously expanded, until it ultimately developed into a large force in which not only the fraternal solidarity and combat unity of our peoples were manifested, but also their great martial traditions were revived, alongside heroism, self-sacrifice and a devotion to freedom and independence.
It was a long, arduous, yet glorious path in the development of our army. It began with small partisan detachments. This military formation allowed for broad participation of the popular masses in the struggle, which was crowned at the very outset by the liberation of a considerable portion of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as by the establishment of strong operational bases in Bosnia and in the mountainous regions of south-western Croatia. The enemy was taken by surprise by partisan actions and popular uprisings. Feeling threatened, it began to regroup, gather reinforcements and mobilise domestic collaborators in the struggle against us. The form of partisan detachments, as the fundamental mode of military organisation, could no longer suffice. New and significant tasks were placed before our army. It was necessary to withstand major enemy forces and domestic traitors seeking to suppress the popular uprising. The struggle had to be extended to distant regions and intensified where it was only just emerging. It was necessary to attack key enemy bases and lines of communication in order to seize the initiative. Weak points in the occupiers’ deployment had to be identified and exploited. Consequently, by the end of 1941 and the beginning of 1942, Comrade Tito carried out the first reorganisation of the main body of our army, forming shock brigades as a higher level of military organisation. With these shock brigades, the centre of operations was transferred to the western part of our country. In this way, we came to dominate the formidable terrain of the Dinaric mountain ranges. Supported by this powerful backbone, our forces advanced, as from a springboard, into the Sava basin and towards the Adriatic coast. From this period onward, the Dinaric ridge became a strategic fulcrum which, on the one hand, connected the forces in Slovenia with our forces in the eastern regions of Montenegro and Serbia. This fulcrum functioned as a kind of instrument for weighing forces and directing them in accordance with the development of the military-political situation in our country.
In the western part of our country, our army expanded rapidly, and by the end of 1942 it advanced to a higher level of military organisation with the formation of divisions and corps. In this way, the Supreme Commander acquired strong operational groupings capable of manoeuvring over great distances and transferring operations across the entire Yugoslav theatre of war. With these powerful strike formations, important operational tasks were accomplished, substantial territories of our country were liberated, and the conditions were created for the development of people’s liberation authority and the establishment of a new state community. These combat formations secured victory in the renowned Battle of the Neretva in the winter of 1943, defeated the treacherous bands of Draža Mihailović in Herzegovina and Montenegro, withstood encirclement during the summer enemy offensive in Montenegro, exploited the capitulation of Italy, and repelled two major enemy offensives in the winter and spring of 1944. Finally, in the summer of 1944, our forces emerged as the second arm of the strategic pincer that liberated Belgrade — the capital of our fatherland. The Belgrade operation thus represented the expression of joint actions by the Red Army and our National Liberation Army, crowned by the greatest victory in our war of national liberation. The results of this victory were of immense importance for the further conduct of our liberation struggle. It not only opened up broad operational prospects, but also transformed the previous tactics of our warfare. Relying on the fraternal Red Army, we received substantial material assistance. The outcome was the rapid liberation of the entirety of Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Dalmatia, as well as large parts of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Croatia. In this manner, we established, in continuation with the Red Army, a strategic front and, for the first time in this war, obtained a strategic foundation that enabled us to utilise all available resources for the further prosecution of the war.
Following this operation, the final stage of the reorganisation of our army was carried out by grouping units into armies and assigning to the entire force the name of the Yugoslav Army. This army forms a link between the forces of the Red Army in the Danube basin and the Anglo-American forces in Italy, that is, it fulfils a strategic role within the framework of the overall plan of the Allied coalition. Our army was tasked with attacking the southern German defensive bastion, which the Germans defended with great tenacity.
It would be erroneous to suppose that the strategic role of our army within the Allied coalition dates only from the formation of armies and the adoption of frontal warfare. It dates back to 1941, when the Germans failed to achieve and realise a “lightning war” against the Red Army. From that point onwards, the entire apparatus of occupation and quisling regimes in Yugoslavia was endangered, and vital lines of communication were severed. The economic exploitation of resources and the deportation of manpower to forced labour in Germany were impeded. The flame of uprising from Yugoslavia gradually spread to other Balkan peoples. In other words, the German order and conquests in Yugoslavia and the Balkans were placed under threat. This was highly dangerous for the Germans, as this region secured the flank of their forces on the Soviet front and protected the southern approaches to the German Reich. However, it is well known that the Germans regarded the occupation of the Balkans as a prerequisite for their expansionist ventures both towards the Soviet Union and the Middle East. Through this region lay the path to their global domination. In Yugoslavia and across the Balkans, they supported and established anti-popular regimes which served as a foundation for their imperialist advances. Thus, our army undermined all those strategic, economic and political advantages that the Germans had previously secured in the Balkans. For this reason, they deployed considerable forces into Yugoslavia against our National Liberation Army, which posed a serious threat to that “living space” of Nazi Germany. In this way, we constituted an active theatre of war that tied down significant enemy forces. Until their capitulation, fascist Italy and fascist Bulgaria each fought against our army with two armies, while the Hungarians committed three divisions. In the autumn of 1941, the Germans deployed 10 divisions against our forces, subsequently increasing this number steadily. In the winter of 1943, during the Fourth Offensive against our army, they committed 13 divisions, and after the capitulation of Italy in the autumn of 1943, 30 divisions. At present, the Germans maintain 25 divisions in our country. To this must be added, as constant collaborators throughout the occupation, all quisling troops of Nedić, Ljotić, Draža Mihailović, Pavelić, Rupnik and others, whose number at one time exceeded 300,000, while today it scarcely amounts to 150,000. In the course of the fighting thus far, we have eliminated more than 750,000 fascist soldiers and destroyed or captured large quantities of enemy war matériel. Thus, the fascist hordes — which subjugated the peoples of Europe by fire and sword — found no peace in Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia became a graveyard for the fascist invaders.
Thanks to the heroic struggle of our army, the peoples of Yugoslavia overcame the most difficult period in their history — the period of fascist occupation. In these battles, the inexhaustible strengths of our peoples, long suppressed over centuries, came to the fore, and those martial qualities that distinguish our people were revived. The virtues of our army are the virtues of our people; it is for this reason that the army fought so selflessly, shed its blood and gave its lives for the salvation of its peoples. Through arduous and bloody struggle, the fighters of our army carried the banner of freedom, brotherhood and unity across our land. Brotherhood and unity were first realised within our army. Each people began to fight for its own freedom, creating its own national combat formations, which ultimately merged into a unified National Liberation Army, to which Marshal Tito gave its proper name: the Yugoslav Army.
Our unified, monolithic army, which emerged from these national units, constitutes the guarantee of a united, federal, democratic Yugoslavia, achieved by our peoples through struggle and the shedding of the blood of their finest sons. It stands as a firm pledge of our new homeland and as the guardian of the achievements of this magnificent struggle, for which our peoples shed seas of blood and sacrificed so much of their material wealth.
It is of particular significance that our army appears as a unified Yugoslav force at the moment of the general offensive against fascist Germany, when fascism stands on the brink of catastrophe. It is entrusted with the role of liberating its own country and of participating, alongside the other Allied armies, in the liberation of mankind from fascist tyranny. It is an equal factor in this great struggle of democratic nations. It fulfils a role equivalent to that of all other armies of the Allied countries, and thereby secures for its people their full international standing. The decree of Marshal Tito concerning the new designation clearly defines the present role of our army and its importance for our country. The visit of Field Marshal Alexander and the agreement on the joint coordination of our armies further confirm the degree of importance that the Allies attach to our army in this final phase of the war. Our army, as before, will honourably fulfil its obligations.
Our new Yugoslav Army, forged through continuous and arduous struggle, has drawn lessons from these experiences. On its own blood-soaked battlefield, it has developed its own military doctrine, reflected in an offensive spirit — something that was absent in the former Yugoslav army. Even in the most difficult moments, our army preserved its freedom of action and striking capability. We were encircled by superior enemy forces, both in numbers and in matériel, yet we consistently took the offensive against the enemy. It was precisely this offensive spirit and momentum that carried our army from victory to victory. Manoeuvre, rapid movement and sudden strikes against the enemy’s wings, flanks and rear consistently yielded significant military results and spread panic and disorganisation within enemy ranks. Experience in war is forged in battle, and no military academy can substitute for it. This is of great importance for our army and for our young officers, who have thus passed through the school of modern warfare. In these difficult struggles, a conscious, new self-discipline was born, one that permanently abolished the brutal methods of training characteristic of the former Yugoslav army. This self-discipline represents one of the greatest moral achievements of our army. Our fighters and officers, who were frequently deployed independently across separate sectors of the battlefield, consistently subordinated themselves, through self-discipline, to the overall plan of operations.
The creation of the Yugoslav Army is the work of the Supreme Commander — Marshal Tito. In the history of warfare, he was the first to succeed in forming a modern army out of unarmed peoples, divided among themselves and oppressed by fascist terror. He established unity of action, organisation and military discipline among the partisan detachments dispersed across our country. With the gradual development of the army, he achieved operational unity across all sectors, without which success would not have been possible. Tito secured command over the entire Yugoslav theatre of war and ultimately forged a powerful, unified army. He constantly watched over his army, strengthening and consolidating its internal stability. The establishment of military schools and the formation of an officer corps constituted one of the most significant stages in the development of discipline and the consolidation of our forces. In the most difficult moments, our army drew strength and energy from its commander, who instilled faith in ultimate victory. The historical path of our army is the path of Comrade Tito, who shared with it both hardship and success. He consistently led the strike group which, across various sectors of Yugoslavia, ignited popular uprisings and resolved major strategic challenges within our country. The enemy itself clearly recognised the sharpness of this strike force and the Marshal was continually subjected to the most severe enemy attacks, culminating in the Fifth Offensive in the Montenegro sector and the airborne assault on Drvar.
The authority and firm leadership of Marshal Tito enhanced the prestige of our army, thereby enabling it to receive tangible assistance from the Allies. He based his entire strategy on a correct understanding of the foreign policy relations of our allies — the USSR, Great Britain and the United States — and utilised this to the fullest extent in strengthening our army. Such a policy elevated the standing of our army abroad as never before. At the head of our forces, he secured for Yugoslavia a dignified place within the international community of nations, to whose freedom we also made a significant contribution.
The formation of the Yugoslav Army represents the summation of a glorious historical epoch and of the military development of our forces. Yet we must not rest upon our achievements. Significant and demanding tasks still lie before our army. The enemy continues to cling tenaciously to our territory, necessitating constant combat. In order to overcome this enemy, our army must master the art of modern warfare, characterised by the deployment of vast forces, the application of advanced military technology, aviation, manoeuvre and the execution of rapid strikes in depth. Our fighters, with bare hands, seized from the enemy every rifle and every machine gun in order to continue the struggle successfully. After so many arduous battles, we now possess the most advanced instruments of war, whose effectiveness must be fully utilised. We must become masters of these weapons.
The modern military organism requires close cooperation among all branches of the armed forces and technical means, and our officers must coordinate these elements in the execution of their tasks. This demands a well-developed staff service, the organisational consolidation of units and the strengthening of combat discipline. Today, self-discipline alone is no longer sufficient; rather, firm combat discipline is required, as it alone can ensure unity of action under the demanding conditions of modern warfare. The moral-political consciousness and courage of the officer have always played an important role in war. However, in the present circumstances, when the enemy is armed to the teeth, this alone is insufficient. In addition to resolve, it is essential to master military technology and the art of command. Without this, there can be no path to victory. An officer of our army who fails to study modern methods of warfare errs in his duty towards his people. A sense of military duty and honour must constitute the highest law for every soldier.
The discipline, military skill and combat experience of the Red Army represent the sources from which our entire command cadre and all fighters must draw both theory and practice for the further development of our young army.
Our reorganised army, equipped with modern technology, will overcome all difficulties and succeed not only in liberating our fatherland but also in fulfilling its Allied duty in the final destruction of Hitlerism. Following victory, it will bear the responsibility of safeguarding the achievements of this struggle, won in blood, and of ensuring the peaceful development and reconstruction of our country on the basis of the principles that emerged from the National Liberation War.
Lieutenant General
Arso R. JOVANOVIĆ
(Translated by Sava Press from the Serbo-Croatian original: “Istoriski put naše armije,” Borba, 3 March 1945, p. 1)