Issue: 1/2019

SOVIET MILITARY ATTACHE IN BELGRADE ABOUT CAUSES OF YUGOSLAV ROYAL ARMY DEFEAT IN THE 1941 APRIL WAR

Authors:
Aleksandar Životić

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Soviet military attaché Major General Alexander Samohin analyzed the causes of the rapid military breakdown of the Yugoslav Kingdom in April 1941 and saw the main causes of its military defeat in a series of weaknesses of the Yugoslav armed forces, inaccurately assessing its physical strength at fiftyeight infantry, three cavalry and one motorized division, The technical inferiority of the Yugoslav Army, doctrinal weaknesses, inadequate war plans, outdated military thought, overt tactical forms, a weak organization of the command system and training, and absolute German dominance in the airspace determined the fate of the Yugoslav Army. In addition, he considered ‐ Yugoslavia a country where there was no unity of purpose in either the ‐ government or the people, which was considered an agrarian country that had been under the dominant French and British political, military, and economic influence for many years. There was no strong military industry and an insufficient the amount of modern weapons and military equipment to effectively counter the well‐equipped and organized German Army and operations of a widespread "fifth column" element