Adolf Hitler hardly imagined that just a few months after the defeat of the royal army of Yugoslavia (April 6-17, 1941), with its very weak armored units, it would be necessary to reinforce the German troops in Yugoslavia with tanks.
On July 7, 1941, a general popular uprising broke out in Serbia. Partisans and Chetniks (communists and monarchists) launched joint operations against the invaders. Already on October 5, 1941, the partisans (more precisely, the joint forces of partisans and Chetniks, it was during the period of short-term cooperation of ideological opponents in the struggle against a common enemy) were the owners of the first tank. It was the "Hotchkiss" N-39 from the "French" battalion of the Wehrmacht, which the Germans hastily transferred to Serbia.
French light tank "Hotchkiss" N-39
Under pressure from superior forces, the communist partisans had to shift the focus of their actions to the mountainous regions of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Krajina. In these regions, from the R-35, CV-33, CV-35 and S-35 captured from the Croats and Italians, the first tank platoons and companies of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOAJ) were formed.
In turn, the Germans also used a wide variety of antiques against the partisans, ranging from captured Yugoslav Renault FT-17s and ending with these antediluvian Italian armored vehicles Lancia IZM (made already in 1918).
Italy surrendered in September 1943, after which the Yugoslav partisans had the opportunity to form an armored battalion, which was armed with Italian tanks, tankettes, self-propelled guns and armored vehicles.
Captured Italian medium tanks М15 / 42
Yugoslav partisans at captured Italian light tanks L6 / 40
Captured Italian armored car AB 43 (Autoblinda 43) on the streets of liberated Belgrade
At the Tehran conference, the allies decided to provide NOAJ with significant assistance with military equipment. On July 16, 1944, the first Yugoslavian tank brigade was formed with the assistance of the British. It numbered 2003 people, 56 tanks, 24 armored vehicles. 56 M3A1 / M3A3 "Stuart" tanks entered its armament (a total of 107 tanks passed through the brigade during the war). British generals considered these lightly armored and weakly armed light tanks to be sufficient to combat the armored vehicles of the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska, NDH) and Panzerwaffe units.
Yugoslavian tank M5 Stuart of American production near the city of Mostar in 1945
In addition to tanks, 24 British armored vehicles AES Mk II were delivered.
Yugoslavian armored car A. E. C.
In early September 1944, parts of the brigade were transported by British ships to about. Vis near the Croatian Adriatic coast. The units are transferred under the direct command of Marshal Tito. From this moment, the brigade is split into several smaller parts, formally remaining a single unit. Units operate in Dalmatia, participating in the liberation of coastal cities. So, the northern group consisted of a 3 tank battalion, a company of a 2 tank battalion, and a company of armored vehicles. The southern group included the remaining armored vehicles and tank companies.
The northern group was landed in Dalmatia on the night of November 23-24, 1944. It took part in the battle for Sibenik and Knin. The enemy concentrated on this sector 12,500 soldiers and 20 tanks. The partisans had 25 tanks and 11 armored vehicles. The first experience of a tank war was unsuccessful. The tankers were poorly supported by the infantry. As a result, 4 Yugoslavian tanks and 1 car burned down. The Germans and Croats did not suffer losses in armored vehicles. However, they were forced to retreat under the pressure of superior enemy forces.
At the same time, the southern group of the brigade participated in a major operation of the Yugoslav army to liberate the Mostar region in Bosnia. The partisans tried to block the retreating German units from Montenegro. The tanks of the northern group of the brigade, 60 tanks and 25 armored cars, also took part in these battles. The losses were significant. The fighting continued until February 1945. Despite their bloody and very brutal nature, the German units were not only able to retreat, but also held the Mostar area for three months.
The commander-in-chief of the NOAU, Josip Broz Tito, hoped to receive Sherman tanks with which to equip another brigade, but his belief in unlimited British help turned out to be a delusion. Help came from the other side: on September 7, 1944, the State Defense Committee of the USSR decided to organize training in the operation and combat use of T-34 tanks of 600 Yugoslav tankmen and mechanics at the Tesnitskoye training ground near Tula.
For this, 16 repaired T-34-76 from the 32nd Guards Tank Brigade of the Red Army were involved.
Thus, while the British were pondering how much the Sherman brigade would strengthen the position of the communists in the Balkans, the USSR presented its closest allies with the T-34 brigade! The brigade was formed on October 6, 1944, but due to the time required for personnel training, it entered the battle only in the spring of 1945. "The gift of the people of the USSR to the first ally in the Balkans" included 65 brand new T-34-85s with three ammunition and three armored vehicles BA-64, not counting other "little things".
Paradoxically, the first T-34s that appeared on the land of Yugoslavia did not fight on the side of the liberators. Since the summer of 1944, the Germans have used captured T-34 747 (r) from the 5th police company, subordinate to the command of the SS troops in Trieste, in battles.
Due to the peculiarities of the terrain and the nature of the war with the partisans, the occupying forces never used this unit in full force, most often tank platoons acted independently. A platoon of T-34-76 modified by the Germans (model 1941/1942) at first successfully acted against lightly armed partisan groups in Italy and Slovenia, but at the beginning of 1945, military happiness changed the Germans. The 4th Yugoslav Army launched a rapid offensive in the western direction. The tanks of the 1st brigade, in which the 4th battalion was formed by that time, managed to pass through the hard-to-reach areas of Dalmatia, but in the vicinity of Rijeka, the German corps of General Kibler was waiting for them. Near Ilirskaya Bystrica, in the area of the modern Italo-Slovenian border, T-34 SS troops inflicted significant damage on the 20th strike division of the NOAU. Of course, the “Stuarts” were not a serious opponent for the “thirty-fours”, but they also had their own “pair of aces up their sleeve”. Two "Stuarts", which received serious damage to their towers in battles, were converted into improvised tank destroyers by the forces of the partisan workshop in Sibenik. The alteration was supervised by the technical officer of the 1st Yugoslavian tank brigade, Kurot Anton. Instead of towers on fixed carriages, German 75-mm Pak 40 anti-tank guns were mounted.
These "Stuart-Pak'ami" destroyed one German T-34. Four German crews abandoned their cars, which went to the partisans.
Improvised Yugoslav self-propelled guns "Stuart-Pak"
Quadruple anti-aircraft guns 20 mm Flakviering 38 and 82-mm mortars were also installed. In total, 7 "Stuarts" were subjected to such alteration.
But the Yugoslavs carried out the deepest modernization with the captured Somua S-35 - instead of a 47-mm gun, they slightly modified the front of the turret and installed an English 57-mm gun from the AES armored car.
During the fighting directly near Trieste, another German T-34-76 was hit by three shots from a cannon of an AES armored car.
Armored vehicles AES and self-propelled guns "Stuart-Pak" of the 1st Yugoslavian tank brigade
In total, six T-34 747 (g) trophies became NOAU trophies, including two in good condition. These tanks entered service with the 1st Brigade, where red stars were applied to their armor. On May 1-2, 1945, the 1st Tank Brigade entered Trieste.
T-34 747 (r) of the SS police company, which was captured by the Yugoslav partisans and entered Trieste on it
There may have been other cases of clashes in the Balkans with German T-34s, but they are not known for certain. In the memoirs of partisans, they often talk about battles with "Panthers", but the Germans in the Balkans never had tanks of this type. It can be assumed that tanks of a different type with a similar silhouette were taken for "Panthers". In 1946, Yugoslavia ordered ten additional 76-mm cannons to repair operational tanks and river armored boats. One T-34-76 was used by the tank school in Banja Luka, now it is exhibited in the Museum of the Patriotic War of the Army of the Republika Srpska (Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina). The rest of the T-34-76 were transferred to the 2nd tank brigade. At the end of their service life, they were used as targets at landfills, and then cut into scrap metal. The T-34-76 tank was in the tank platoon of the First Partisan Detachment NOAU, formed in the USSR in January 1944. The Detachment consisted mainly of Croatian prisoners from the 369th NDK Regiment destroyed at Stalingrad. But to reinforce Tito's troops in Serbia (after "re-education" in the Soviet camps), the detachment was sent without tanks.
On March 26, 1945, the Second Yugoslav Tank Brigade, created in the USSR, arrived in Belgrade from Tula. At dawn on April 12, the main forces of the brigade began the decisive breakthrough of the Sremsk front. Radio communication between the tanks worked poorly, so many tanks acted individually. Of the 20 advancing tanks, the enemy destroyed seven. Nevertheless, the enemy could not hold the front. Due to the delay in the delivery of summer oil, the brigade stopped the next day, although the conditions for the offensive were ideal. In the end, on May 5, the tankers received new oil and replenished the ammunition load. According to some historians, the delay in the supply of summer oil was caused by Tito's reluctance to develop an offensive against Zagreb. The troops stopped immediately in front of Zagreb. An ultimatum was sent to the armed forces of the NDH - to leave the city and thereby save the capital of Croatia from destruction. The Ustash retreated without a fight on May 7, but small Ustash groups remained on the outskirts of Zagreb in Sesveta. These groups were destroyed as a result of a fierce battle for many hours. Paradox: the enemy knew about the death of Hitler and the capture of Berlin by the Red Army, but fought to the end. Zagreb was completely liberated on 9 May. To eliminate small groups of Ustasha, ten T-34s were left in Zagreb.
2nd TBR NOAU during the liberation of the capital of Croatia - Zagreb. The picture shows the 2nd tank brigade through Belgrade, advancing to the front. On the turret of the T-34-85 tank, an inscription in Latin in Croatian is visible: Na Berlin, Yugoslavia
The rest of the brigade's forces moved to Celje and Ljubljana, and from there to Trieste to join the First Armored Brigade. The brigade did not meet with resistance, since the enemy had already retreated to the Austrian border. Historical circumstances developed in such a way that the capitals of Croatia and Slovenia practically did not suffer during the war. Probably, everything could have turned out differently, if the command of the NDKh troops were not aware of the technical superiority of the NOAU, especially the T-34 brigade. On May 17, 1945, the brigade entered Trieste.
Column T-34-85 from the 2nd brigade of NOAU advances towards Trieste. Tank tactical number 208. Yugoslavia, May 1945
The total losses of the 2nd tank brigade were 14 destroyed and 9 damaged T-34s and one destroyed BA-64 armored car. For the manifestation of mass heroism and special services in the struggle against the enemies of the people and the liberation of the country, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal Tito awarded the brigade with the Order of Merit to the People.
But, describing the Second World War in Yugoslavia, one cannot but dwell on the armored units of the main enemy of Tito's partisans - the Independent State of Croatia.
In October 1941, the Croats received 18 Polish TKS tankettes from the Germans.
Trophy Polish TKS wedge in Belgrade
In addition to Polish tankettes, the Croats also used Italian equipment: L3 tankettes, L6 / 40 light tanks (26 units), French: H-39 light tanks (10-16 units), S-35 medium tanks, German: Pz. I, Pz. III N (20-25 units), Pz. IV F (10 units), Pz IVG (5 units). However, it is generally difficult to say anything about the use of German NGH tanks.
Tank platoons and companies in the NGKh army were usually attached to brigade and divisional level formations - mountain, fighter, and Ustash. Thus, the tank platoon of the 1st Mountain Brigade on January 1, 1944 had three French S35 medium tanks and two light tanks. The tank platoon of the 1st Ustash brigade in the period from the end of 1941 to almost 1945 was armed with Italian tankettes L3 (originally 6, by September 1944 their number had decreased by half).
Polish-made tankettes - TKS (from 6 to 9 units) were part of the tank platoon of the III corps of the NGH army.
Light tanks L6 / 40, Italian trophies of the German Wehrmacht (26 units), in 1944 were transferred to the armored group of the presidential guard division.
Italian self-propelled gun Semovente Da 47/32 tank unit Ustasha
Croatian tanks took an active part in counter-partisan operations. So, on October 7-13, 1944, Croatian motorized and tank units took part in battles with partisans and suffered heavy losses of 6 tanks. On April 15, 1945, the army of the Independent State of Croatia was reorganized. Its main force was the PTZ Chief's Guard Corps. It consisted of PTD, 1st and 5th shock divisions. On May 13, 1945, a motorized group of the "guard" corps fought with units of Tito's army in Slovenia. On May 14, she had about 30 tanks, unknown brands. In battles with the 8th brigade of the Yugoslav army, 3 tanks were lost. Everything from the fire of hand-held anti-tank weapons. On May 20, the surviving fighters of the motorized group of the division ended up in a British prisoner of war camp in Austria. They were handed over to the partisans, who executed many of them in the Ljubljana region.
It is worth noting that on the Eastern Front one fact was recorded of the use of captured armored vehicles by the Croatian Legion, this was the British "Matilda" supplied to the USSR, captured from the Red Army during the battles in the Kharkov region in the spring of 1942.
In addition to tanks, the Croats were actively used in hostilities. various makeshift armored vehicles based on tractors:
Cars:
This makeshift Croatian armored car, for example, is based on the British Morris truck.
However, this did not help the Croatian fascists …
The Chetniks Drazhe (Dragolyub) Mikhailovich-Serbian monarchists, who first fought against the invaders, together with Tito's partisans, and then turned weapons against them, also used their improvised armored vehicles.
Armored vehicles of Yugoslavia.
Improvised Chetnik armored car based on the French Renault ADK truck
