Balkan war history

  Comrade Tito inspected a battalion of the 3rd Krajina Brigade after the battles for Bihać, Bihać in November 1942. The Bihać operation is one of the greatest victories of the People's Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia in 1942. In it, eight brigades of the People's Liberation Army under the command of the Operational Headquarters for the Bosnian Krajina destroyed the Ustasha Home Guard garrison in Bihać and the surrounding areas and inflicted significant losses on the enemy. The battle for the city lasted from November 2 to 4, 1942, and continued with the ensuing march of the People's Liberation Army units against the remnants of broken units and demoralized surrounding garrisons. The Ustasha 4th (Brigade) and parts of the 12th Home Guard Infantry Regiment were defeated. This was one of the greatest in a long series of victories of the People's Liberation Army over the forces of the NDH, which shook the NDH and greatly limited the scope of its inst...

  Until the mid-1950s, Yugoslav People's Army units were equipped with air defense equipment of trophy origin, along with air defense equipment of Soviet and American origin. In the mid-fifties, the modernization of the first LPAA LPAA (light anti-aircraft artillery) began, which is most represented in the units of the Yugoslav People's Army. A 20/3 mm PAT license was purchased from the Swiss company Hispano. At the end of the fifties, a license for PAT 40 mm L70 with ammunition was purchased from the Swedish company Bofors. However, that program was abandoned at that time. As the speed of fighter jets increased significantly in the early 1960s, the focus of LPAA modernization shifted to new targets as well as devices to increase the ability to track fast targets. With old devices, it was simply no longer possible to follow fast planes, especially in sweeping flights. A mechanical sighting device for AA gun 40 mm M1 was developed, followed by a sighting device of the same t...

  The offensive of proletarian and strike brigades in western Bosnia and the Bihać operation in 1942. The campaign of proletarian brigades to Western Bosnia was carried out in the period from the end of June to the middle of August 1942. On June 24, 1942, the majority of units of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (First and Second Proletarian, Third Sandzak, and Fourth Montenegrin Brigades) and the Supreme Headquarters of the National Liberation Army left Zelengora for western Bosnia. Along the way, battles were fought with the enemy (Konjic, Bugojno, Prozor, Livno, Kupres) and a newly liberated territory was created. At the end of July, the Fifth Montenegrin Brigade joined these forces with the Herzegovinian NOP Detachment, from which the Tenth Herzegovinian Brigade was formed. The campaign in Bosnian Krajina was not intended as a march, but to strike at the enemy, expand free territory in western Bosnia and create favorable conditions for further development of the upris...

  Supreme Commander Tito inspects the First Proletarian Brigade in 1942 The first proletarian People's Liberation Strike Brigade was the first partisan brigade in occupied Yugoslavia. During the war, it was considered an elite unit of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia.   It was formed on December 21, 1941, in Rudo, by partisan insurgents, after retreating to Sandzak. The decision to form the First Proletarian Brigade was made by the Central Committee of the CPY. On the day of its formation, it had six battalions (four from Serbia and two from Montenegro) with a total strength of 1,200 fighters. The first commander of the brigade was Koca Popovic, political commissar Filip Kljajic Fica. The First Proletarian Brigade had 530 major and minor battles in 1,240 war days, that is, it spent almost every other day in battle. The other days were mostly spent in exhausting marches.   Koča Popović The First Proletarian Brigade covered more than 20,000 kilometers on...

Stjepan Filipović a few moments before his death   May 9 - Second Italian Army renamed the Main Command of Slovenia - Dalmatia (Supersloda), Commander Mario Roatta. May 10 - The occupier announces that there are no more Jews in Belgrade (since 2015, Holocaust Remembrance Day in Belgrade). May 10 - Operation Trio, Operation Foca: Italians capture Foca. Fighters of the 4th Kraljevo Battalion of the First Proletarian Brigade on the road Foča - Goražde, May 1, 1942. Operation "Foca" was a joint operation of the Wehrmacht, the Italian army, and the NDH forces against partisans and Chetniks in the area of Foca. It was held from May 5 to 12, 1942. May 15 - June 3 - Operation Forstrat: unsuccessful German attempt to capture Draža Mihailović - goes to Montenegro. Operation Forester was a German search operation in the Ibar Valley, in order to capture the Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović, who was then hiding with his headquarters on Mount Golija. May 16 - Prijedor liberated....