Bombing of Belgrade in World War II

Operation Retribution

Bomb-damaged buildings in Belgrade in April 1941

Date	6–7/8 April 1941
Location	Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Result	Paralysis of Yugoslav command and control Widespread destruction and civilian casualties

Belligerents

Germany

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Units involved

Luftflotte IV
Fliegerkorps VIII

Royal Yugoslav Air Force

Casualties and losses

see Aftermath section

Operation Retribution (German: Unternehmen Strafgericht) also known as Operation Punishment, was the April 1941 German bombing of Belgrade, the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It occurred in the first days of the World War II German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. The operation commenced on 6 April and concluded on 7 or 8 April, resulting in the paralysis of Yugoslav civilian and military command and control, widespread destruction focused on the centre of the city, and significant civilian casualties. The bombing of Belgrade was preceded by the commencement of the ground invasion a few hours earlier, and also coincided with air attacks on a large number of Royal Yugoslav Air Force airfields and other strategic targets across Yugoslavia.

The British Royal Air Force carried out two bombing raids on Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, in retaliation for the attacks on Yugoslavia. The invasion resulted in the surrender of Yugoslav forces on 17 April. The senior Luftwaffe officer responsible for the bombing was captured by the Yugoslavs at the end of the war, and was tried and executed for war crimes, in part for his involvement in the bombing of Belgrade.

After the 1938 Anschluss by Germany with Austria, Yugoslavia shared a border with the Third Reich and came under increasing pro-Axis political pressure as her neighbours fell into line with the Axis powers. In April 1939, Yugoslavia gained a second frontier with the Kingdom of Italy when that country invaded Albania. Between September and November 1940, Hungary joined the Tripartite Pact, Italy invaded Greece, and Romania also joined the Pact. From that time, Yugoslavia was almost surrounded by Axis powers or their client states, and her neutral stance toward the war was under tremendous pressure. On 14 February 1941, Adolf Hitler invited the Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragiša Cvetković and his foreign minister Aleksandar Cincar-Marković to Berchtesgaden and requested that Yugoslavia also join the Pact. Two weeks later, Bulgaria joined the Pact. The next day, German troops entered Bulgaria from Romania, closing the ring around Yugoslavia.

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