Military Historical Institute, Military Archive, AVKJ, book 3, reg. no. 39/1.
COMMAND OF THE REAR OF THE SECOND ARMY
Order No. 100
13th April 1941
at 08:30 hours
Busovača
Situation Report
TO THE COMMANDANT OF THE SUPREME HEADQUARTERS REAR
According to the information received from passing officers, among whom was the commandant of the motorised artillery regiment from Zagreb, who found themselves in the territory of the Banovina Croatia1 on the day of the rebellion,2 the situation is as follows:
The commander of the army group,3 Army General Mr. Milorad Petrović, along with the Chief of Staff, Divisional General Mr. Rupnik,4 and the commander of the VII Army, Divisional General Mr. Dušan Trifunović, have been captured by the rebels – Croats.
All units reinforced with the Croat element have deserted and gone home with their weapons. The desertion was also ordered by Croatian officers. Serbian officers – commandants and commanders, if they failed to escape, were wounded, killed, or captured. Equipment, artillery pieces, other armaments, and vehicles, except for a small part that managed to make a fighting retreat, which was particularly fierce in Zagreb, Petrinja, and Lipik, remained in the hands of the rebels.5
General Petar Nedeljković was in Prijedor on the morning of 12 April 1941.
The commander of the Slavonian Division, General Tešić, was in Banja Luka until the evening of 12th April, from whom the last report was received: for now, all is well, nothing new, the division is on the Sava.
This morning, 13th April, when contact was made with B[anja] Luka from the post office, information was received that in Banja Luka there are no longer any military or gendarmerie forces, and that the town has been evacuated and white flags have been hoisted.
II Army – north of the Sava, the disposition and endeavours of the population remain as previously reported. To illustrate this, consider the fact that the 102nd Motorised Battalion, which was positioned on the immediate left bank of the Sava near the crossing point, barely managed to extract about 20 vehicles from a total of 48; the remainder of the vehicles, officers, and personnel remained north of the Sava as the appearance of an enemy armoured train near Brčko prevented further transfers. According to the commander of the mentioned battalion, the bridges at Brčko and later at Brod were blown up by our forces.
According to statements from officers who retreated and managed to escape via Busovača to Sarajevo, weapons, field kitchens, food, and all other materials discarded by the rebels in large quantities can be seen on the roads.
Communication – the only road – Doboj – Žepče – Busovača – Sarajevo was congested on the 12th of April with convoys of all sorts, among which was a motorised battery. All these convoys continued towards Sarajevo, originating from the territory where the uprising occurred.
In Busovača [village], where this headquarters is currently located and which belongs to the Banovina Croatia, Croatian flags had been displayed before the arrival of this headquarters. These flags were gradually removed so that by the time this headquarters arrived, there were none left. The gendarmerie did not intervene.
Please report the above to the Supreme Command, as this headquarters has no connection with it nor knows its location.
By courier automobile at 9 o’clock.
Representing the Chief of Staff
Captain 1st Class
JOSIP I. ŠIMOKOVIĆ
COMMANDANT, RES.
DIVISIONAL GENERAL
ČEDOMIR JOVANOVIĆ
- Tran. note: Banovina was an organisational unit of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). Banovina Croatia was created on 28.08.1939. by the combining of the Sava and Littoral banovinas, as well as taking areas from the Vrbas, Zeta, Drina and Danube banovinas. It was the first territorial subunit of Kingdom to have a national name and had its own semi-military forces in the Peasant and City Guards, leading to a (con)federalisation of Yugoslavia. ↩︎
- Tran. note: referring to 10.04.1941. when the Ustašas declared the Independent State of Croatia in Zagreb. ↩︎
- Tran. note: 3rd Army Group. ↩︎
- Tran. note: Leon Rupnik (1880-1946), at this point in time Major General, Chief of Staff of the 1st Army Group. Later head of the Slovenian collaborationist government. ↩︎
- Tran. note: Ustaša propaganda greatly hindered the execution of mobilisation and the concentration of troops, and after the attack on Yugoslavia on 6th April 1941, largely due to Ustaša propaganda, many units experienced mutinies and desertions. In the disarming of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia’s army during the brief April war, the Ustašas had assistance from semi-military formations of the Civic and Peasant Guard. After the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), steps were taken to establish bodies of civil and military authorities and the organised disarmament of all members of the Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia who were not of Croatian nationality. Regarding this, Stjepan Sertić, the commander of Karlovac, in his report of 27th April 1941 to the commander of the ground forces, among other things, highlights:
“On the 10th of April of the current year, when the independence of the free State of Croatia was declared in Zagreb, the commander in the Karlovac Military District was a Montenegrin Serb, Colonel Radojica Kovačević, who was also the commandant of the place. A man without scruples and limited. I was on duty in the Military District designated as his assistant and was in my office. He gave me no employment, all out of fear that I might scrutinize and disrupt the Serbian plans and calculations.
On the 10th of April of this year, around 17:30 hours, Mr. Mirko Mikac, the head of the district court in Karlovac, and Milan Lacković, the director of the First Croatian Savings Bank in Karlovac, rushed into my office and informed me of the Field Marshal’s proclamation regarding the independence of Croatia. They requested that I take command of the town to prevent any potential disturbances and bloodshed from undesirable Serb elements. Prior to their arrival, Captain Rudolf Taš had informed me that he had learned from Captain Vladimir Krstić that German troops were entering Zagreb, and that was the last news he had received from Zagreb. Colonel Radojica Kovačević was sent by Captain Krstić to a secure location, and I assumed command of the town, appointing Captain Taš as my aide-de-camp. I immediately issued an order to first inspect all bridges over the Kupa, Korana, and Mrežnica rivers—there are 51 in total—cut all fuses, and remove any explosives. Furthermore, it was ordered to secure all explosives located at Svarča, Udbinja, Mostanje, and Turnj, at various sapper units that had formed there. During the night, I took the same measures for the bridge at Zorkovac, the storage of explosives in Borel, Gradec, and at the railway station.
Captain Nikola Matijević was ordered by me to immediately form a company with the remaining Croat soldiers, to take over the security of the barracks, and to disarm all Serb soldiers and belligerent Slovenes who had fled from the front to Karlovac. According to Captain Matijević, these soldiers have been disarmed and separated from the Croat in distinct parts of the barracks, and are being guarded.
I instructed Captain Tašo to telephone all guard commanders to alert them to the new situation and to order that only Croat soldiers be placed on guard duty, while Serb soldiers should be disarmed and kept under surveillance until morning. Access to weapons, ammunition, and explosives stores must not be allowed under any circumstances to anyone.
I have determined that the officers and soldiers from Serbia, as hostages, are to be immediately disarmed and placed under guard in the Croatian Home.
In the execution of the above orders, I was assisted by the aforementioned officers and also by Lt. Col. Matija Črnko, Police Captain Đuro Rarković, Captain Adalbort Hoppe, Senior Lieutenant Jure Putković, Captain Vladimir Krstić, Lt. Col. Otmar Erdelac, Artillery Captain Velimir Vranković, Captain Gostisa, and others…”
“During a telephone conversation with General Kvaternik, he ordered me to retain all Croat officers and soldiers on duty in Karlovac and not to allow anyone to leave the garrison of Karlovac, and to disarm the Serbs and Slovenes and send them to their homes. The Serbians, however, were to be kept as hostages. He also instructed me to participate in the reception of German troops. Indeed, with the Ustaše detachment, I went out to the customs house ‘Ilovac’ during the night. After a long wait; since the German troops did not arrive, we returned back to the city.
During the night of 10th to 11th April, a large number of officers and soldiers gathered in Karlovac. Serbs and Serbians, as well as Slovenes, were immediately disarmed and sent to designated barracks, while Croats were sworn in and assigned various duties related to securing the vast amounts of materiel that lay scattered throughout the city and its surroundings. I paid special attention to ensuring that this materiel was secured for our future army. To transport this materiel and organise the logistics, I established a motorised command under the leadership of Captain Belošević…”
“For the reception of the German troops, I designated a company with a band, with whom I set out towards the road to Zagreb at 8 o’clock in the morning on the 11th of this month, accompanied by members of the Ustaše headquarters. At the same time, I invited the citizenry to prepare for the reception, so all the streets were festively decorated and filled with citizens. After 9 o’clock, the first tanks arrived, which we greeted. Around noon, a large number of troops arrived, whom Dr. Ante Nikšić and I welcomed, and with whom we ceremoniously entered the city with music and a company as an honour guard. For all these troops, I issued an order, at their request, to provide supplies, including 2500 tins and the same number of loaves of bread…” ↩︎
