The counterfactual narrative of the worst left on the Yugoslavian invasion of the Italian border regions and the subsequent massacre and ethnic cleansing continues to repeat, as mentioned in a previous post, the usual justificationist nonsense. The premise is that of the fascist aggression against poor Yugoslavia in April 1941. Beyond certain nonsense, let's see how things turned out. With the fall of Yugoslav Prime Minister Stojadinović, it seemed that the friendship between Rome and Belgrade, strengthened by the Italo-Yugoslav pacts of 1937, would come to an abrupt end: however, relations with Belgrade seemed to soon clear up, so much so that Mussolini, visiting the Greek front for the failed March offensive, on March 20, 1941, declared to Cavallero, Jacomoni, Gambara, Geloso, Messe and the other generals present: "When I came to Albania, I pointed out an important fact to you: Bulgaria's accession to the Axis. Today I point out another of even greater importance: Yugoslavia's accession to the Tripartite Pact. It seems that the relevant document will be signed on the 23rd in Vienna. The important fact is that Yugoslavia does not refuse its possible participation in the war. When this becomes known in Greece, people will be convinced that the last hour has struck, especially since fourteen German divisions are approaching. Yugoslavia's accession to the Tripartite Pact is particularly significant, as it comes after Roosevelt's speech, the harshest, most brutal and threatening of all those he has ever given (« We will be the arsenal of democracies »). It is worth considering in this regard that if the Danubian and Balkan situation turned out in favor of the Axis, it was due to Italy having declared war on Greece. Only as a result of this fact, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria felt bound to us, as they were attracted to share in the spoils. Both will now face the Mediterranean: Bulgaria at Cavala, Yugoslavia at Salonika.” The Italo-Yugoslav alliance was a done deal, or at least so it seemed. The Italian, German and Yugoslav general staffs planned an offensive against Greece which envisaged a simultaneous attack by two Italian armies in Epirus, and by German armies (12. Armee, von List), Bulgarian and Yugoslavian in Macedonia, with the promise that Thessaloniki would become Belgrade's outlet to the Aegean Sea. Only two days later, however, a coup organized by the British intelligence brought to power the faction of anti-Axis politicians, led by generals Borivoje Mirković and Dusan Simović, overthrowing the legitimate government of Dragiša Cvetković. After the Kingdom of Yugoslavia joined the Tripartite Pact on 25 March, the British intelligence began talks with potential Serbian dissident groups, in particular with a group of air force officers led by general Borivoje Mirković who pledged their support for a coup to seize the capital. At 2.20 am on 27 March Mirković went into action. Tanks and artillery rolled out of their barracks to occupy all the major road junctions in Belgrade. The capital was cut off from the rest of the country. General Simović, escorted by air force officers, occupied the Ministry of War and deposed the government. A proclamation issued at dawn on the radio announced the fall of the government and the end of the regency. The regent, Prince Pavel Karageorgević, was removed from office and sovereign powers were assumed by Peter II, who was not yet of age, supported by Simović, who ordered a general mobilization. Cvetković was arrested and Prince Pavel captured while he was in the north of the country and was forcibly taken back to Belgrade to hand over the regency to the young Peter II. Simović proclaimed the political majority of the seventeen-year-old sovereign and ordered the mobilization, but not everyone in the country responded to the call: in Croatia only half of those called up showed up at the barracks, and the underground communist party boycotted the call to arms, given that Germany was a signatory to the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union.The Communists would take up arms only in June 1941, after the German invasion of the USSR, as decided by a meeting of the politburo of the KPJ held on June 27. Furthermore, what worried Italy and Germany was the knowledge by Yugoslavia of the plan to attack Greece, in whose planning, before the pro-British coup, the officers of the Yugoslav General Staff had participated and were preparing to communicate it to Athens and London. On 1 April the Yugoslav minister was in Moscow in the hope of reaching the conclusion of a military pact. On 6 April the representatives of the two countries signed a treaty of friendship and non-aggression. At British instigation, the Yugoslav General Staff immediately began planning an offensive action against the Italian enclave of Zara and the invasion of Albania from the area of ​​Lake Ohrid to seize the Italian weapons and reserves stored on the border with Yugoslavia which had become the third Italian line or rear of the Greek front, believing the Italians were too busy fighting Greece to react adequately. Contrary to what is too often claimed, therefore, the first to begin hostilities against the Kingdom of Italy, even if not officially declared, it was the Yugoslavs who placed the land blockade at theenclave Italian garrison of Zara, and who crossed the Albanian border at Lake Ohrid with some units. The Italian garrison of Zara, after the coup d'état in Belgrade, immediately found itself on the front line. In the stronghold there were about 9.000 men under the command of Brigadier General Emilio Giglioli. The Italian intelligence services had reported since March 28 the presence of considerable enemy forces grouped at the border, and located several artillery positions in the surroundings of the city, with all due respect to those who, pretending to ignore the reality of the facts, attribute the beginning of hostilities to the Axis. On April 2, the evacuation of the civilian population from Zara was arranged and therefore the defense works were reinforced. The division Jadranska and the divisions are ready to intervene Mostar e Sibenik. Yugoslavia thus became a target for the Axis forces, whose reaction was immediate. The invasion, operation Marita, which in addition to the Germans and Italians also included Bulgarians and Hungarians, began on April 6. Belgrade was heavily bombed by the Air force. On April 10, two Croatian armies mutinied, going over to the Germans and Italians, opening the gates of Zagreb to them, where the Axis soldiers were welcomed as liberators. Only the Serbian units tried to oppose the enemy advance, and a part of these units, after the disintegration of the Yugoslav forces, organized the Chetnik resistance movement. The Yugoslav campaign ended in less than two weeks; the Yugoslav army, undermined by the refusal of the Croatian units to fight, was overwhelmed by the German columns that penetrated both from the northern border and from Romania, and by the advance of the Italian units along the Adriatic coast. The advance turned into a rush to try to catch up with the Yugoslavs who had given themselves up to an inglorious escape. Pierluigi Romeo di Colloredo Mels – 12/02/2021 Source: History On The Net