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The Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia

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  Air Force badge The NDH Air Force was established on April 19, 1941, with the appointment of Vladimir Kren as Commander of the Air Force Department. In June 1941, an agreement was reached with the Germans on the establishment of permanent airports and the takeover of captured aircraft from the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a result of this agreement, the NDH Air Force established two airports: Zagreb and Sarajevo. On September 14, 1943, Adalbert Rogulja became the head of the Battalion, who remained in that position until the disintegration of the Independent State of Croatia. During its existence, the NDH Air Force was reorganized several times, and during the reorganization, the name was also changed, so that from February 1943 it was called the Croatian Air Force (HBZ). The command published the semi-monthly magazine Hrvatska krila. The Breguet 19 was a French-designed aircraft built under license in Yugoslavia for the Royal Yugoslav Air Force. The ZNDH made use of some 50 capt
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Navy of the Independent State of Croatia

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  Naval Ensign of the Independent State of Croatia 1941 (from 1944 Naval Jack). The Navy of the Independent State of Croatia was the navy of the Independent State of Croatia during its existence. Right from the start, it was limited by the provisions of the Treaties of Rome and the Italian occupation of Dalmatia and Kvarner. Most of the navy spent the first half of the war on the eastern battlefield as the Croatian Naval Complex - the Black Sea. A somewhat better situation arose after the capitulation of Italy in 1943. However, the presence of a much stronger Kriegsmarine on the Adriatic ruled out the need for a separate Croatian navy, and the British navy and partisans dealt it heavy blows. After frequent desertions, the Germans abolished it and took over a small fleet. After 1943, it was called the Croatian Navy. designation Navy of the Independent State of Croatia On April 18, 1941, a decision on the organization of the army and navy of the Croatian Home Guard was published in the
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Ground Forces of the Independent State of Croatia

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  Home Guard on St. Mark's Square, October 1942 The Army (initially the Land Forces) was a land component of the armed forces of the NDH (Home Guard) from 1941 to 1945. The Home Guard also included the Navy and the Air Force. At the beginning of the creation of the Independent State of Croatia, various names appeared - Croatian Army, Land Forces, Croatian Land Army. However, with the establishment of the Ministry of Home Guard and the General Staff, the name Ground Forces began to be used. With the establishment of the Ministry of the Armed Forces (MINORS) in January 1943, the name Home Guard was increasingly used for the Army, while only members of the Army were called Home Guard, initially unofficially and later more and more officially. That is why even today the name home guard is often misused only for the army. Panzer I tank of the Croatian Home Guard In the first months of the Independent State of Croatia, the headquarters and then the command of the land forces were est
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The Croatian Home Guard Part I

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  Croatian Trefoil, a symbol of the Home Guard The Croatian Home Guard (since November 1942 the Home Guard) was the name for the regular armed forces of the Independent State of Croatia. The task of the Home Guard was to defend the new state from domestic and foreign enemies. It was divided into the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The National Protection and the State Labor Service also operated under the command of the Ministry of Home Guard. The Home Guard failed to play a significant role during the war due to several factors - poor motivation, frequent desertion, sympathy for the partisans, rivalry with the Ustashas, incompetent, mostly older officers, and lack of heavy, especially armored weapons. The ground army with a classical organization could not adequately respond to the guerrilla, partisan mode of warfare. In November 1944, after the open division of entire Home Guard units to the partisan side, the Home Guard and Ustasha units were merged into a single Croatian Armed Forces.
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Attacks on garrisons Independent State of Croatia

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  Fighters of the Mostar Battalion on the move towards Kupres, 1942. Attacks on garrisons were, along with attacks on communications, an integral part of partisan strategy and tactics developed on the territory of occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. These attacks had multiple meanings: They enabled the formation and expansion of free territory They were a way of supplying troops and people in the free territory They were an important part of the effort to weaken the enemy militarily, politically, and morally. The uprising in occupied Yugoslavia in September 1941. The Independent State of Croatia was formed with the help of occupation troops, but as a puppet creation without sufficient support among the people, it failed to gain control over its territory during the entire war. The administrative system of the NDH was very shaken by the uprising of the NDH in 1941. Later during the war, especially from the middle of 1942, the NOVJ managed to force the NDH to strategically defend it
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First Czechoslovak National Liberation Brigade "Jan Žiška"

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  Flag of the Czechoslovak Brigade After the collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the April war in 1941, most of the Czech and part of the Slovak people found themselves within the borders of the Ustasha Independent State of Croatia. With the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia, the position of the Czechs significantly deteriorated, considering that the Ustashas considered them members of the enemy people. Monument to the fallen partisans of the First Czechoslovak Brigade in Jiržice near Miroslava in southern Moravia. Unlike the Czechs, the position of the Slovaks was somewhat better because the Ustashas and the Germans treated them as members of the allied people. Such treatment, however, did not prevent the Slovaks from opting for the People's Liberation Struggle. The mass accession of Czechs and Slovaks to the National Liberation War followed in 1942, which the Ustashas and the Germans could not prevent despite threats and promises. Deputy Commander of the 6t
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The Allied Balkan bombing campaign chronology of World War II PART II

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  Artwork Fire Over Ploesti by Roy Grinnell Air Force Art May 31, 1944 - Ploieşti - 32 B-24s of the 450 BG attacked the "Româno-Americană Oil Refinery", but failed due to the smoke screens.153 The 450 BG also bombed the Româno-Americană refinery on June 6, 24, & July 15; and the Concordia Vega refinery on July 9, 22 June 5, 1944 - A May 5 decoded message stated anti-aircraft artillery was being moved to Pölitz and Blechhammer, and one on June 5 indicated the Luftwaffe was short of fuel. British intelligence concluded that the bombing of oil targets would be "crippling" in 3-6 months. Romanian production had been reduced from 200,000 tons in February to 40,000 in June. Allied Air Raids in Europe, WWII. Astra Romana Refinery. This photograph gives a vivid idea of how the Consolidated B-24 “Liberator” flew in bombing the Ploesti Field, August 1, 1943. Office of War Information Collect June 6, 1944 - Ploieşti - In the 1st large-scale American attempt to use a di
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