Belgrade Offensive

Part of the Yugoslav and Eastern fronts of World War II

Destroyed Soviet Red Army T-34/85 tank in Belgrade (Palace Albanija in the background)

Date	28 September 1944 – 20 October 1944
Location	Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Result	Partisan-Soviet victory

Belligerents

Allies:

Axis:

Government of National Salvation

Commanders and leaders

Fyodor Tolbukhin

Vladimir Zhdanov

Peko Dapčević

Savo Drljević

Danilo Lekić

Vladimir Stoychev

Kiril Stancev

Maximilian von Weichs

Wilhelm Schneckenburger †

Units involved

1st Army Group

Strength

580,000 troops
3,640 artillery pieces
520 tanks and assault guns
1,420 aircraft
80 ships

150,000 troops (mostly 2nd tier infantry and non-German support troops)
2,100 artillery pieces
125 tanks and assault guns
350 aircraft
70 ships

Casualties and losses

Soviets:
4,350 dead or missing
14,488 wounded or sick
18,838 overall

Yugoslavs:
2,953 dead (assault on Belgrade only)

45,000

Soviets:
4,350 dead or missing
14,488 wounded or sick
18,838 overall

The Belgrade Offensive or the Belgrade Strategic Offensive Operation (Serbo-Croatian: Beogradska operacija, Београдска операција; Russian: Белградская стратегическая наступательная операция, Belgradskaya strategicheskaya nastupatel'naya operatsiya) (14 September 1944 – 24 November 1944) was a military operation in which Belgrade was liberated from the German Wehrmacht through the joint efforts of the Soviet Red Army, Yugoslav Partisans, and the Bulgarian People's Army. Soviet forces and local militias launched separate but loosely cooperative operations that undermined German control of Belgrade and ultimately forced a retreat. Martial planning was coordinated evenly among command leaders, and the operation was largely enabled through tactical cooperation between Josip Tito and Joseph Stalin that began in September 1944. These martial provisions allowed Bulgarian forces to engage in operations throughout Yugoslav territory, which furthered tactical success while increasing diplomatic friction.

The primary objectives of the Belgrade Offensive centered on lifting the German occupation of Serbia, seizing Belgrade as a strategic holdout in the Balkans, and severing German communication lines between Greece and Hungary. The spearhead of the offensive was executed by the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front in coordination with the Yugoslav 1st Army Group and XIV Army Corps. Simultaneous operations in the south involved the Bulgarian 2nd Army and Yugoslav XIII Army Corps, and the incursion of the 2nd Ukrainian Front northwards from the Yugoslav-Bulgarian border placed additional pressure on German command. There were additional skirmishes between Bulgarian forces and German anti-partisan regiments in Macedonia that represented the campaign's southernmost combat operations.

By the summer of 1944, the Germans had not only lost control of practically all the mountainous area of Yugoslavia but were no longer able to protect their own essential lines of communication. Another general offensive on their front was unthinkable, and by September it was clear that Belgrade and the whole of Serbia must shortly be free of them. These summer months were the best the movement had ever seen; there were more recruits than could be armed or trained, desertions from the enemy reached high numbers; one by one the objectives of resistance were reached and taken.

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Wikipedia