The Grand Alliance (35 page)

Actual military support against Yugoslavia is to be requested of Italy, Hungary, and in certain respects of The Grand Alliance

214

Bulgaria too. Rumania’s main task is the protection against Russia. The Hungarian and Bulgarian Ambassadors have already been notified. During the day a message will be addressed to the Duce.

Politically it is especially important that the blow against Yugoslavia is
carried out with unmerciful
harshness
and that the military destruction is done in a lightning-like undertaking. In this way Turkey would become sufficiently frightened and the campaign against Greece later on would be influenced in a favourable way. It can be assumed that the Croats will come to our side when we attack. A corresponding political treatment (autonomy later on) will be assured to them. The war against Yugoslavia should be very popular in Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria, as territorial acquisitions are to be promised to these States: the Adriatic coast for Italy, the Banat for Hungary, and Macedonia for Bulgaria. This plan assumes that we speed up the schedule of all preparations and use such strong forces that the Yugoslav collapse will take place within the shortest time…. The main task of the air force is to start as early as possible with the destruction of the Yugoslav Air Force ground installations and to destroy the capital, Belgrade, in attacks by waves.

On the same day the Fuehrer signed “Directive No. 25”: My intention is to invade Yugoslavia by powerful thrusts from the area of Fiume and Sofia in the general direction of Belgrade and farther to the south, with the objective of inflicting on the Yugoslav Army a decisive defeat, as well as to cut off the southern part of Yugoslavia from the rest of the country and to turn it into a base for further operations of German-Italian forces against Greece.

In detail I order the following:

(a)
As soon as the concentration of sufficient forces is concluded and meteorological conditions permit, all Yugoslav surface installations and Belgrade must be destroyed by continuous day and night air attacks.

(b)
If possible simultaneously, but under no circumstances sooner, Operation “Marita” must be started, The Grand Alliance

215

with the primary limited objective of seizing the harbour of Salonika and the Dios Mountains.

He now telegraphed to Mussolini:

Duce, events force me to give you, by this, the quickest means, my estimate of the situation and the consequences which may result from it.

From the beginning I have regarded Yugoslavia as a dangerous factor in the controversy with Greece.

Considered from the purely military point of view, German intervention in the war in Thrace would not be at all justified as long as the attitude of Yugoslavia remained ambiguous and she could threaten the left flank of the advancing columns on our enormous front.

2. For this reason I have done everything and have honestly endeavoured to bring Yugoslavia into our community bound together by mutual interests. Unfortunately these attempts did not meet with success, or they were begun too late to produce any definite result.

Today’s reports leave no doubt of the imminent turn in the foreign policy of Yugoslavia.

3. I do not consider this situation as being catastroph-ic, but nevertheless it is a difficult one, and we on our part must avoid any mistake if we do not want, in the end, to endanger our whole position.

4. Now I would cordially request you, Duce, not to undertake any further operations in Albania in the course of the next few days.

Hitler saw as clearly as we did the one chance of the Yugoslavs to strike a deadly blow.

I consider it necessary that you should cover and screen the most important passes from Yugoslavia into Albania with all available forces. These measures should not be considered as designed for a long period of time, but as auxiliary measures to prevent for at least fourteen days to three weeks a crisis arising.

I also consider it necessary, Duce, that you should reinforce your forces on the Italian-Yugoslav front with all available means and with the utmost speed.

The Grand Alliance

216

… If silence is maintained, Duce, on these measures I have no doubt we shall both witness a success that will not be less than that of Norway. This is my granite conviction.

The night was spent by the generals in drafting the operation orders. Keitel in his evidence confirms our view that the greatest danger to Germany was “an attack upon the Italian Army from the rear.” Jodl testified as follows: “I worked all night at the Reich Chancellery [which also shows the surprise nature of the case]. At 4 A.M. on the twenty-eighth I put an
aide-mémoire
into the hands of General von Rintelen, our liaison officer with the Italian General Staff.”

Keitel records: “The decision to attack Yugoslavia meant completely upsetting all military movements and arrangements made up to that time. ‘Marita’ had to be completely readjusted. New forces had to be brought through Hungary from the north. All had to be improvised.”

From the time of Munich, Hungary had attempted to extend her post-1920 frontiers in the wake of the German diplomatic victories at the expense of Czechoslovakia and Rumania, while at the same time trying to maintain a neutral position in the international sphere. Hungarian diplomacy sought to avoid precise commitments to the Axis about becoming an ally in the war. Hungary adhered at Vienna to the Tripartite Pact, but, like Rumania, undertook no definite obligations. Neither Hitler nor Mussolini desired a quarrel between the Balkan countries. They hoped to get control of them all at the same time. For this reason they had imposed a settlement upon Hungary and Rumania about Transylvania. Mussolini’s attack on Greece, which Hitler did not favour, brought with it the prospect of British The Grand Alliance

217

intervention in Southeastern Europe. Pressure was therefore brought upon Yugoslavia to follow the example of Hungary and Rumania in joining the Axis bloc. When the Yugoslav Ministers had been summoned to Vienna for this purpose everything seemed settled. The dramatic events of March 27 in Belgrade upset all hope of a united Balkan group adhering to the Axis.

Hungary was directly and immediately affected. Although the main German thrust against the recalcitrant Yugoslavs would clearly come through Rumania, all lines of communication led through Hungarian territory. Almost the first reaction of the German Government to the events in Belgrade was to send the Hungarian Minister in Berlin by air to Budapest with an urgent message to the Hungarian Regent, Admiral Horthy:

Yugoslavia will be annihilated,
for she has just renounced publicly the policy of understanding with the Axis. The greater part of the German armed forces must pass through Hungary. But the principal attack will not be made on the Hungarian sector. Here the Hungarian Army should intervene, and, in return for its cooperation, Hungary will be able to reoccupy all those former territories which she had been forced at one time to cede to Yugoslavia. The matter is urgent. An immediate and affirmative reply is requested.
1

Hungary was bound by a pact of friendship to Yugoslavia signed only in December, 1940. But open opposition to the German demands could only lead to the German occupation of Hungary in the course of the imminent military operations. There was also the temptation of reoccupying the territories on her southern frontiers which Hungary had lost to Yugoslavia by the Treaty of Trianon.

The Hungarian Premier, Count Teleki, had been working consistently to maintain some liberty of action for his

The Grand Alliance

218

country. He was by no means convinced that Germany would win the war. At the time of signing the Tripartite Pact he had little confidence in the independence of Italy as an Axis partner. Hitler’s ultimatum required the breach of his own Hungarian agreement with Yugoslavia. The initiative was, however, wrested from him by the Hungarian General Staff, whose chief, General Werth, himself of German origin, made his own arrangements with the German High Command behind the back of the Hungarian Government.

Details regarding the passage of troops were being arranged on this basis.

Teleki at once denounced Werth’s action as treasonable.

On the evening of April 2, 1941, he received a telegram from the Hungarian Minister in London that the British Foreign Office had stated formally to him that if Hungary took part in any German move against Yugoslavia she must expect a declaration of war upon her by Great Britain. Thus the choice for Hungary was either a vain resistance to the passage of German troops or ranging herself openly against the Allies and betraying Yugoslavia. In this cruel position Count Teleki saw but one means of saving his personal honour. Shortly after nine o’clock he left the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and retired to his apartments in the Sandor Palace. There he received a telephone call. It is believed that this message stated that the German armies had already crossed the Hungarian frontier. Shortly afterward he shot himself. His suicide was a sacrifice to absolve himself and his people from guilt in the German attack upon Yugoslavia. It clears his name before history. It could not stop the march of the German armies nor the consequences.

The Grand Alliance

219

The news of the revolution in Belgrade naturally gave us great satisfaction. Here at least was one tangible result of our desperate efforts to form an Allied front in the Balkans and prevent all falling piecemeal into Hitler’s power. I received the earliest telegrams only half an hour before I had to address the Conservative Central Council for the first time as leader of the party. I ended as follows: Here at this moment I have great news for you and the whole country. Early this morning the Yugoslav nation found its soul. A revolution has taken place in Belgrade, and the Ministers who but yesterday signed away the honour and freedom of the country are reported to be under arrest. This patriotic movement arises from the wrath of a valiant and warlike race at the betrayal of their country by the weakness of their rulers and the foul intrigues of the Axis Powers.

We may, therefore, cherish the hope – I speak, of course, only on information which has reached me –

that a Yugoslav Government will be formed worthy to defend the freedom and integrity of their country. Such a Government in its brave endeavour will receive from the British Empire, and, I doubt not, in its own way, from the United States, all possible aid and succour.

The British Empire and its Allies will make common cause with the Yugoslav nation, and we shall continue to match and strive together until complete victory is won.

Mr. Eden had reached Malta on his way home, but on the news of the Belgrade revolution I thought he should change his plans and be upon the spot with Generals Dill and Wavell.

Prime Minister to

27 March 41

Mr. Eden

The Grand Alliance

220

In view of coup d’état in Serbia it would surely be
well for you both to be on the spot in Cairo so as to
concert events. Now surely is the chance to bring in
Turkey and form a joint front in the Balkans. Can you
not get a meeting in Cyprus or Athens of all concerned?