Figure 1.-- The two major occupying powers in the Balkans were Germany and Italy. It was the Germans who quicjly defeated the Yugoslavs and Italians, but Hitler's eyes were fixed east and thus the Italians were givn a substantial occupation zone. Cooperation between the Germans ad Italians varried. The Italiand did not round up Jews for the Germans. The photograph here looks to have been taken in 1942. We are not sure precisely where, perhaps Kosovo. We are not sure who the boy here uis, perhaps the son of the peasant in the background.

Various parts of Yugoslsavia were occupied by different Axis invading armies. The bulk of the actual fighting was done by the German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. But Germany's Axis parners were awarded a share of defeated Yugoslavia. The Germans occupied Serbia and Slovenia. The Italians took parts of Croatia (Dalmatia), Montenegro and Slovenia. The Bulgarians took Macedonia. The Hungarians occupied Vojvodina. The later tried to enter Croatia but were expelled. The Croatians declared their independence (April 10) and occupied much of Bosnia. A Fascist Croatia was acceptable to the NAZIs and Italian Fascists. The Italians in particular had been supporting the Croatian Ustache before the War against the Yugoslav government. The NAZIs did the same in Czechoslovakia where they recognized Slovakia as another slavisly pro-NAZI puppet state. Thus the occupation of Yugoslavia, Greece, and Albabia by the different Axis armies was a complicated unndertaking. Each of the different countries had their own national interests and persued a range of policies in the occupied areas. The Germans attempted toncoordinate policies with varying degrrees of success. The occupation zones changed when Italy suuendered to the NAZIS (September 1943). The Germans had to move into the areas occupied by the Italians.

Created: 1:37 AM 6/28/2007
Last updated: 1:37 AM 6/28/2007