Chapter 19: War with Yugoslavia April 28 - May 19, 1938
Franco gave the order and the units began their attacks.
Within 13 hours, the first battles were won, with the Yugoslavs being taken by complete surprise.
By the 29th, intelligence from our allies who had common borders with Yugoslavia told us that the forces were streaming south to meet our troops in combat. Thus, we needed to consolidate our battle lines quickly. In order to have more strength to defend against the attack coming from the north, the 8th, 9th, and 10th infantry divisions were redeployed north of the rest of the II. Corps.
On the 30th, the IV. Corps was ordered to fan out . . . 3 divisions were attacked by a weak Yugoslavian counterattack at Tetovo. The Yugoslavs broke off their attack quickly, however.
On May 1, Spain won both a naval battle, sinking a destroyer group, and won a land battle at Metkovic, we engaged with an enemy unit in the mountains of Nevesinje. The Yugoslavs had yet to mobilize their troops effectively, thus the Spaniards had a couple of weeks of easy fighting. The 4th and 5th infantry divisions that had arrived at Podgorica were ordered north and west to further extend the line.
On the 2nd, a couple of failed counterattacks were rebuffed at Podgorica and at Metkovic.
On May 3, Franco was informed that his troops were getting bombed heavily and it was decided to push to Beograd as quickly as possible to take the airfields there. While Franco could send his interceptors, his battle planners were afraid that they would take too much supply to be able to maintain the infantry. Thus, the infantry would have to take heavier losses than otherwise necessary.
Three divisions (11th, 12th, 13th) were engaged to take Skopje, Macedonia, the first of cities deemed important to securing a surrender of Yugoslavia.
On May 4th, the government decided to nationalize the private sector, increasing industrial capacity, but also increasing dissent. Franco was informed that his troops had won the battle of Pristina in Kosovo. The 19th infantry was engaged at Cevo, and while other troops were nearby and able to assist, Mola, in command of the theatre, decided to allow the 19th to continue on its own for two reasons. The first was that any commitment by the available division (the 18th) would render it useless for another 90+ hours for it to reorganize. The second reason was to give General Alonso more battle experience.
On the 5th, the troops had almost linked up the two fronts, and two battles raged, in Cevo and Skopje.
On the 6th, two more battles opened up, the 16th Infantry division at Mostar, and the 20th at Nevesinje. The battle of Skopje was finally won, although many more Spanish lives were lost than Yugoslavian.
By May 7th, Spain had advanced technologies in industrial production, and had linked the Dubrovnik and Albanian sections of the front. By taking only one important province, Franco had the Yugoslavians about 25% of the way to surrender. It was proposed that he need only take Belgrade, Split and Sarajevo to finish the job. Ultimately, the 4th Infantry was called in to assist the 19th. The battles of Stip and Cevo were won, but not without significant Spanish casualties.
On the 9th, the 2nd infantry division engaged a severely depleted Yugoslavian mountain division at Kraljevo. That battle ended within a couple of hours. The 17th infantry division had arrived at Korcula and was ordered on to Split.
On the 10th, the 3rd Infantry had won at Pozega and were nearing the outskirts of Belgrade, and 16th won at Mostar, near Sarajevo.
On the 11th, Nevisinje fell.
On the 12th, under heavy bombing, the 18th infantry division was ordered into Sarajevo.
On the 13th, the Yugoslavians had arranged a counterattack at Foca to stall the 18th’s movement to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Almost immediately, the counterattack was broken off. It turned out that the counterattack was more of a feeler and was ended quickly in order to more efficiently defend.
At 5 AM on the 14th, the attack (with 2 divisions) on the Yugoslavian capital of Belgrade began.
On the 15th, two divisions in the east were ordered onto trains to get to the west to plug holes.
Early on the 16th, there was good news and bad news. Beograd had been taken, but Konjic had been lost. Split had also been taken, and only Sarajevo was left before Yugoslavia would capitulate.
On the 18th, Sarajevo was won, and when the surrender message came into General Mola early on the 19th of May, the 18th Infantry Division was sitting on the city.
Franco was so delighted with the division that caused the final surrender of the Yugoslavians, that he renamed the division the 18th “Sarajevo” Division.