Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union.
The Serbian Volunteer Corps, also known as Ljotićevci, was the paramilitary branch of the fascist political organisation Zbor, and collaborated with the forces of Nazi Germany in the German-occupied territory of Serbia during World War II.
The Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia was the area of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that was placed under a military government of occupation by the Wehrmacht following the invasion, occupation and dismantling of Yugoslavia in April 1941. The territory included only central Serbia, with the addition of the northern part of Kosovo, and the Banat. This territory was the only area of partitioned Yugoslavia in which the German occupants established a military government. This was due to the key rail and the Danube transport routes that passed through it, and its valuable resources, particularly non-ferrous metals. On 22 April 1941, the territory was placed under the supreme authority of the German military commander in Serbia, with the day-to-day administration of the territory under the control of the chief of the military administration staff. The lines of command and control in the occupied territory were never unified, and were made more complex by the appointment of direct representatives of senior Nazi figures such as Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, and Reichsminister Joachim von Ribbentrop. The Germans used Bulgarian troops to assist in the occupation, but they were at all times under German control. Sources variously describe the territory as a puppet state, a protectorate, a "special administrative province", or describe it as having a puppet government. The military commander in Serbia had very limited German garrison troops and police detachments to maintain order, but could request assistance from a corps of three divisions of poorly-equipped occupation troops.
The 1st Belgrade Special Combat detachment was a special police unit which was established by the German Gestapo in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia during World War II.
The Russian Protective Corps was an armed force composed of anti-communist White Russian émigrés that was raised in the German occupied territory of Serbia during World War II. Commanded for almost its whole existence by Lieutenant General Boris Shteifon, it served primarily as a guard force for factories and mines between late 1941 and early 1944, initially as the "Separate Russian Corps" then Russian Factory Protective Group. It was incorporated into the Wehrmacht on 1 December 1942 and later clashed with the communist-led Yugoslav Partisans and briefly with the Chetniks. In late 1944, it fought against the Red Army during the Belgrade Offensive, later withdrawing to Bosnia and Slovenia as the Germans retreated from the Balkans. After Shteifon′s death in Zagreb, the Independent State of Croatia, on 30 April 1945, Russian Colonel Anatoly Rogozhin took over and led his troops farther north to surrender to the British in southern Austria. Unlike most other Russian formations that fought for Nazi Germany, Rogozhin and his men, who were not formally treated as Soviet citizens, were exempt from forced repatriation to the Soviet Union and were eventually set free and allowed to resettle in the West.
Serbia's capital city of Belgrade is divided into 17 municipalities.
The Belgrade offensive or the Belgrade strategic offensive operation was a military operation during World War II in Yugoslavia in which Belgrade was liberated from the German Wehrmacht through the joint efforts of the Soviet Red Army, Yugoslav Partisans, and the Bulgarian Army. Soviet forces and local militias launched separate but loosely cooperative operations that undermined German control of Belgrade and ultimately forced a retreat. Martial planning was coordinated evenly among command leaders, and the operation was largely enabled through tactical cooperation between Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin that began in September 1944. These martial provisions allowed Bulgarian forces to engage in operations throughout Yugoslav territory, which furthered tactical success while increasing diplomatic friction.
During World War II, several provinces of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia corresponding to the modern-day state of Serbia were occupied by the Axis Powers from 1941 to 1944. Most of the area was occupied by the Wehrmacht and was organized as separate territory under control of the German Military Administration in Serbia. Other parts of modern Serbia that were not included in the German-administered territory were occupied and annexed by neighboring Axis countries: Syrmia was occupied and annexed by the Independent State of Croatia, Bačka was occupied and annexed by Hungary, southeastern Serbia was occupied and annexed by Bulgaria, and southwestern Serbia was occupied and annexed by Italy and included in the Italian protectorates of Albania and Montenegro.
The Belgrade Football Subassociation, commonly known by its initials, BLP was one of the regional football governing bodies under the tutorial of the Football Association of Yugoslavia. It was formed on 12 March 1920, and included the clubs from the geographical territories of Vojvodina, Central Serbia, Old Serbia (Kosovo) and South Serbia (Macedonia). The increase of number of clubs made that progressively other subassociations become formed by separating them from Belgrade's one. By 1932 its territory included beside Belgrade metropolitan area only the districts of Kolubara, Braničevo, Podunavlje and Jasenica-Kosmaj.
The Operation Draufgänger was a German Wehrmacht military operation against the Yugoslav Partisans at the Montenegrin-Serbian border area, aimed at breaking the Partisan foothold on the Lim river which was a potential penetration point into Serbia. In turn, it was a Partisan counter-operation, known as the Andrijevica Operation. The operation began on 18 July on the Čakor–Gusinje–Andrijevica–Berane line, when Kampfgruppe E burnt down at least 16 villages and killed several hundreds inhabitants. From different directions, German troops attacked villages and a part approached Andrijevica, pushed out parts of two Partisan brigades, and then took over the town on 19 July and continued attacking. The staffs of the Partisan brigades assessed the combined German forces as inadequate and self-initiatively decided to attacks, resulting in great German losses. With the possibility to surround and destroy, the II Assault Corps gave the operational command on 23 July on general attack. From different directions the German troops were surrounded in the wider region of Murino on 24 July. On 28 July the Partisan 2nd, 5th and 17th divisions were ordered to move across the Ibar, which gave the opportunity for the 14th Regiment SS to break through Čakor towards Peć, while larger part of the 21st Division SS broke and many Albanians deserted. The German troops were decisively defeated, and the Partisans moved for action in Serbia. Operation Rübezahl followed.
The 1st Proletarian Corps was a Yugoslav Partisan corps that fought against the Germans, Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and Chetniks in occupied Democratic Federal Yugoslavia during World War II.
The First Proletarian Division of the NOVJ was formed on November 1, 1942 from the First Proletarian Brigade, the Third Proletarian Brigade and the Third Krajina Brigade in Bosanski Petrovac, under command of Koča Popović. It was considered one of the elite units of the NOVJ.
The 6th Proletarian Assault Lika Division "Nikola Tesla" was a Yugoslav Partisan division formed on 22 November 1942. It was formed from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Lika Brigades. On 11 November 1943, it became part of the 4th Corps and later a part of the 1st Corps. It operated in Dalmatia until November 1943 when it crossed into Bosnia, later it fought in Serbia and on the Syrmian Front. From October 1944, the 22nd Serbian Kosmaj Brigade also fought as part of the division, and in December 1944 an Artillery Brigade was formed within the division.
The 17th East Bosnia Assault Division was Yugoslav Partisan division formed on 2 July 1943. The division was formed from the 6th East Bosnia Brigade, the 1st Majevica Brigade and Majevica Detachment. Gligorije Mandić was a commander of the division while its political commissar was Branko Petričević. The division was under the direct command of the Supreme Headquarters until 20 September 1943 when it came under the command of the 3rd Corps. During a brief time in May and June 1944, it was again under the command of the Supreme Headquarters, following that it became a part of the 2nd Corps. The division mostly fought in Bosnia and Serbia.
The 22nd Serbia Division was a Yugoslav Partisan division formed on 22 May 1944 as the 2nd Serbia Division. It was formed from three brigades, those being the 8th, 10th and 12th Serbia Brigades whose total strength was around 2,000 fighters. Commander of the division was Živojin Nikolić Brka while its political commissar was Vasilije Smajević. The division fought mostly in Serbia but it also participated in battles of Syrmian Front and Final Operations.
The 23rd Serbia Division was a Yugoslav Partisan division formed on 6 June 1944 as the 3rd Serbia Division in Toplica. It was formed from the 7th and 9th Serbia Brigades. On 17th June 1944, the 14th Serbia Brigade was added to the division which at the time numbered around 2,000 soldiers. The division was under the direct command of the Supreme Headquarters until 6 September 1944 when it became part of the 14th Corps. On 9 December 1944, it came under the command of the Southern Operational Group and in January 1945 it became part of the 2nd Army.
The 24th Serbia Division was a Yugoslav Partisan division formed on 10 June 1944 as the 4th Serbia Division in Jablanica. It was formed from the 11th and 17th Serbia Brigades which numbered around 2000 fighters in total. Soon after the formation the 13th and the 15th Serbia Brigades were also added to the division. The division was under the direct command of the Supreme Headquarters until 6 September 1944 when it became a part of the 13th Corps. Its commander was Mile Čalović while its political commissar was Dimitrije Vrbica.
The 25th Serbia Division was a Yugoslav Partisan division formed on 10 June 1944 in Jošanica. It was formed from the 16th, 18th and 19th Serbia Brigades. Upon formation it had around 3,000 soldiers, it grew to around 12,000 by December 1944. The division was direct command of the Supreme Headquarters until 6 September 1944. It became a part of the 2nd Army in January 1945.
The 5th Krajina Division was a Yugoslav Partisan division formed in Glamočko polje on 9 November 1942.
