The 5th Army was a Royal Yugoslav Army formation which commanded five divisions and two independent detachments during the German-led Axis invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941 during World War II. It was commanded by General Vladimir Cukavac, and was responsible for the Romanian and Bulgarian borders between the Iron Gates and the Greek border.

Background

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was created with the merger of Serbia, Montenegro and the South Slav-inhabited areas of Austria-Hungary on 1 December 1918, in the immediate aftermath of World War I. The Army of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was established to defend the new state. It was formed around the nucleus of the victorious Royal Serbian Army, as well as armed formations raised in regions formerly controlled by Austria-Hungary. Many former Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers became members of the new army. From the beginning, much like other aspects of public life in the new kingdom, the army was dominated by ethnic Serbs, who saw it as a means by which to secure Serb political hegemony.

The army's development was hampered by the kingdom's poor economy, and this continued during the 1920s. In 1929, King Alexander changed the name of the country to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, at which time the army was renamed the Royal Yugoslav Army (, VKJ). The army budget remained tight, and as tensions rose across Europe during the 1930s, it became difficult to secure weapons and munitions from other countries. Consequently, at the time World War II broke out in September 1939, the VKJ had several serious weaknesses, which included reliance on draught animals for transport, and the large size of its formations. Infantry divisions had a wartime strength of 26,000–27,000 men, as compared to contemporary British infantry divisions of half that strength. These characteristics resulted in slow, unwieldy formations, and the inadequate supply of arms and munitions meant that even the very large Yugoslav formations had low firepower. Generals better suited to the trench warfare of World War I were combined with an army that was neither equipped nor trained to resist the fast-moving combined arms approach used by the Germans in their invasions of Poland and France.

The weaknesses of the VKJ in strategy, structure, equipment, mobility and supply were exacerbated by serious ethnic disunity within Yugoslavia, resulting from two decades of Serb hegemony and the attendant lack of political legitimacy achieved by the central government. Attempts to address the disunity came too late to ensure that the VKJ was a cohesive force. Fifth column activity was also a serious concern, not only from the Croatian fascist Ustaše and the ethnic German minorities but also potentially from the pro-Bulgarian Macedonians and the Albanian population of Kosovo.

Mobilization and composition

Mobilization The 5th Army was to be organized and mobilized on a geographic basis from the peacetime 5th Army District, which was divided into three divisional districts, each of which was subdivided into regimental regions. The first countrywide mobilization in Yugoslavia commenced in September 1939 after the German invasion of Poland. Between two and four infantry regiments were raised in every divisional district; all cavalry regiments, most artillery divizions and Border Guard units were also raised. This mobilization was unsuccessful as the Yugoslav Army lacked military equipment, especially transport vehicles and animals. The mobilization method also proved to be ineffective and all units were demobilized after several months. The next mobilization in the 5th Army District commenced on 12 November 1940, two weeks after Italy invaded Greece. In the 5th Army District, the 5th Infantry Division Šumadijska and the 46th Infantry Division Moravska were to be completely mobilized while the 22nd Infantry Division Ibarska, the 9th Infantry Division Timočka, the 8th Infantry Division Krajinska, and the 34th Infantry Division Toplička were to be partly mobilized. The Staff of the 5th Army District assessed mobilized units as "usable" but the units lacked transport vehicles and animals.

After unrelenting pressure from Adolf Hitler, Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941. On 27 March, a military coup d'état overthrew the government that had signed the pact, and a new government was formed under the VVKJ commander, Armijski đeneral Dušan Simović. A general mobilization was not called by the new government until 3 April, not to provoke Germany any further following the coup d'état and precipitate war. On the same day as the coup, Hitler issued Führer Directive 25 which called for Yugoslavia to be treated as a hostile state, and on 3 April, Führer Directive 26 was issued, detailing the plan of attack and command structure for the invasion, which was to commence on 6 April. On 4 April, Ministry of the Army and Navy ordered that all units of the 5th Army conduct a forced march to their positions determined by the war plans. On 6 April, when the invasion of Yugoslavia began, the 34th Infantry Division Toplička and the 50th Infantry Division Drinska were completely mobilized, the 2nd Cavalry Division and the 8th Infantry Division Krajinska were partly mobilized and on their assigned positions, while the 9th Infantry Division Timočka was still in the process of mobilization.

Wartime organization The 5th Army was commanded by Armijski đeneral Vladimir Cukavac, his chief of staff was Pukovnik Fran Tomše. The 5th Army consisted of: 8th Infantry Division Krajinska, commanded by Divizijski đeneral Miloje Popadić 9th Infantry Division Timočka, commanded by Divizijski đeneral Antonije Stošić 34th Infantry Division Toplička, commanded by Divizijski đeneral Vladislav Kostić 50th Infantry Division Drinska, commanded by Divizijski đeneral Kosta Đorđević 2nd Cavalry Division, commanded by Divizijski đeneral Dimitrije Predić Detachment Vlasinski, commanded by Brigadni đeneral Pavle Pavlović Detachment Kalnski, commanded by Brigadni đeneral Panta Draškić Army-level support was provided by the 61st and the 113th Artillery Regiments, the 61st Anti-Aircraft Divizion, the 61st Pioneer Battalion, the 61st Pontoon Battalion, the 61st Supplementary Cavalry Divizion, and the 5th Chetnik Battalion. The 2nd Air Reconnaissance Group comprising sixteen obsolete aircraft was attached from the Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force (, VVKJ) and was based at Sorlince near Leskovac.

Deployment plan The 5th Army was an independent formation responsible for the defense of the Yugoslav–Bulgarian border north of Bosiljgrad and Yugoslav–Romanian at the Iron Gates. On the left flank of the 5th Army, across Danube, was the 6th Army, an independent formation that was responsible for the defense of the Yugoslav Banat region east of the Tisza. On the right flank of the 5th Army was the 3rd Territorial Army a unit subordinated to 3rd Army Group responsible for the defense of the Yugoslav–Bulgarian border south of Bosiljgrad. Headquarters of the Staff of the 5th Army was located in hotel "Milenković" in Niška Banja. The planned deployment of the 5th Army from north to south was: 8th Infantry Division Krajinska at borders with Bulgaria and Romania between peak Vrška Čuka and village Brnjica, 10 km east of Golubac 9th Infantry Division Timočka at the border with Bulgaria between Zaječar and Knjaževac Detachment Vlasinski at the border with Bulgaria between villages of Žeravino and Klisura 2nd Cavalry Division with headquarters in Niš and its units in various places in southeastern Yugoslavia 34th Infantry Division Toplička around Pirot, tasked with defending the border with Bulgaria between village Vrapče on Jerma and peak Midžor 50th Infantry Division Drinska at the border with Bulgaria between Gramada and Golaš Detachment Kalnski at the border with Bulgaria between Midžor and Golaš

Operations

5–7 April At 22:00 on 5 April, German Detachment Đerdap began crossing of the Danube at the Yugoslav–Romanian border in two groups. One group landed at the road Kladovo–Sip at around 2:00, the other group landed at the road Tekija–Sip at the same time. Yugoslav units stationed in Sip were attacked by the group that landed at Kladovo–Sip road and after a short fight Germans held the entire Sip Canal at around 5:00. During this fight, 18 German soldiers were killed while Yugoslavs suffered casualties of 30 killed, including the commander of the company in Sip, Kapetan Staniša Mihajlović. After receiving the news of the German capture of Sip Canal, commander of the 8th ID Krajinska Miloje Popadić ordered the commander of the 8th Supplementary Regiment to form Detachment Brzopalanački by uniting his regiment and one battery of the field artillery. The newly formed detachment was tasked with capturing back Sip Canal.

The 4th Battalion of the 20th Infantry Regiment stationed on Vrška Čuka spotted a column of German units moving from Kula towards Vrška Čuka. The artillery of this column opened fire on the 4th Battalion at around 11:00, after this German tanks commenced attack but they were repulsed by the 123rd Anti-Tank Company which destroyed one tank. At the same time, German infantry began the attack but they were stopped by the heavy fire of the Yugoslav infantry supported by the artillery. Skirmishes in this area continued until the night when German units retreated to Kula.

German units attacked border posts in Bosiljgrad, defended by Detachment Vlasinski, at around 5:30. The attack was successful and they managed to push 5–6 kilometers into the Yugoslav territory.

At 5:00 on 6 April, 20 Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109Es attacked Sorlince airport, destroying all aircraft of the 2nd Air Reconnaissance Group attached to the 5th Army. An hour later, Luftwaffe attacked Niš airfield, damaging four aircraft of the 610th Eskadrila. During this attack, German flying ace and a commander of I. (Jagd)/LG 2 Herbert Ihlefeld was hit by small arms fire forcing him to crash-land near the village of Donji Dušnik, after which he was imprisoned by the Yugoslav Army. Bombing of Belgrade in the morning of 6 April resulted in the destruction of communication between the Staff of the 5th Army and the Supreme Command of the Yugoslav Army.

At around 20:00 on 6 April, German units attacked a border post at Vuči Del, Yugoslav historian Velimir Terzić claims that the border post was captured by the Germans and re-captured by the Yugoslavs on 7 April while the Supreme Command had information that border post was not captured on 6 or 7 April. German documents remark that Yugoslav units conducted an attack 3 kilometers northwest of the village of Miloslavtsi in Bulgaria. Another border attack occurred on the front held by 34th ID Toplička, German units supported by Bulgarian border guard attacked the village of Vrapče and were quickly repulsed by the Yugoslav border guard units. Most pressure during 7 April was put on front held by Detachment Vlasinski where German units pushed 2–3 kilometers into Yugoslav territory from Žeravino

8 April