Aircraft of the Aces 049 - Croatian Aces of WWII (2002).pdf

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OSPREY AIRCRAF T OF THE ACES

• 49

Croatian Aces

of World War 2

Dragan Savic

& Boris Ciglic

SERIES EDITOR: TONY HOLMES

OSPREY AIRCRAF T OF THE ACES

• 49

Croatian Aces

of World War 2

Dragan Savic & Boris Ciglic

SPREY

PUBLISHING

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE 6

CHAPTER ONE

DEATH OF AN AIR FORCE 9

CHAPTER TWO

THE EASTERN FRONT 14

CHAPTER THREE

THE SECOND COMBAT TOUR 43

CHAPTER FOUR

SAME TASKS, NEW MEN 51

CHAPTER FIVE

WAR RETURNS

TO YUGOSLAVIA 59

CHAPTER SIX

CROATIAN ACES:

THE HALL OF FAME 74

APPENDICES 88

C O L O U R P L AT E S C O M M E N TA R Y 9 2

INDEX 96

PROLOGUE

he creation of Yugoslavia in 1918 was, historians said, a shotgun

wedding. Indeed, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was

often an uneasy and at times turbulent place almost from the

moment of its formation.

Besides Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, the Kingdom was also comprised

of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia, together with two

large autonomous Serbian provinces, Vodjvina and Kosovo. This disparate

collection of nationalities, cultures and creeds, which for good measure also

included Hungarians, Germans and Albanians, co-existed in the shadow of

the often tense relationship between the two largest ethnic groups, the

Serbs and the Croats.

Although there are no obvious racial differences between them, the

divisions between Serbs and Croats have dominated the region’s history.

The Serbs had thrown off the Ottoman yoke in the 19th century, while

the Croats had been associated with the Austro-Hungarian Habsburg

Empire until 1918. And although Serbs and Croats speak virtually the

same language, the Serbs use the Cyrillic alphabet and the Croats the

Latin. Finally, the Serbs predominantly worship in the Orthodox

Church, whilst the Croats are mainly Catholics.

Between the two world wars, these differences were exacerbated by a

weak economy and by the territorial claims of neighbouring states –

particularly Italy – which had designs on parts of Slovenia and Croatia.

Tensions reached a peak after the Croat leader Stjepan Radic and other

deputies were gunned down in parliament in June 1928 by a Montenegrin

assassin, at Italy’s instigation, as has recently been established.

To stabilise the situation, King Alexander dissolved Parliament in

January 1929 and imposed a centralised and repressive dictatorship. Some

of the more radical Croats emigrated, and one of them, Ante Pavelic, with

the support of Italy and Hungary, formed the

Ustasa

terrorist organisation,

which sought the creation of an independent Croat state.

In 1934, while on a state visit to France, the King was assassinated in

Marseille. Although the perpetrators were Macedonian nationalists and

Ustasa

gunmen, it was not difficult to discern the hand of Mussolini

behind the murder. A final, but ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to pull

the country together came with the 1939 Serb-Croat agreement, which

set up an autonomous province, or

Banovina,

under which Croatia would

be governed by a crown appointee or

ban.

Yugoslav foreign policy had previously been aligned towards France,

but under Prince Paul, Alexander’s Oxford-educated cousin who became

regent on the King’s death, it shifted towards Germany. In the early

1930s a series of trade agreements with Berlin helped pull Yugoslavia out

of the depression.

Franco-British appeasement of German ambitions also pushed the

country reluctantly towards the Axis camp. Yet when World War 2

started in September 1939, Yugoslavia attempted to remain neutral.

However, the pressure mounted with Italy’s botched attack on Greece,

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