ABSTRACT
Germany’s Yugoslav campaign, launched on April 6, 1941, was short and sharp. Yugoslavia’s forces, only partially mobilized, were no match for the mechanized might of the Third Reich. It was in Serbia that the revolts would develop into full-blown resistance. This resistance was divided and would soon diverge so drastically that civil war was added to the tragedy that had befallen Yugoslavia. Joining the spontaneous Serbian rising after Stalin’s appeal for all to take part in the anti-fascist struggle, Tito and the CPY initially interpreted that appeal as the signal to foment social revolution. Interpreting the summer risings as a continuation of the April campaign, the Special Operations Executive infiltrated a British-Yugoslav mission in September 1941. Partisan contact with the Comintern was re-established and a desperate appeal made for help, but the Soviets were in no better position to supply materiel aid to the Partisans than the British were to Mihailovic.
