The 27th Infantry Division Savska was an infantry formation of the Royal Yugoslav Army that formed part of the 4th Army during the German-led invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers in April 1941. It was raised from the Savska divisional district, and like all Yugoslav infantry divisions of the time, was a very large and unwieldy formation almost entirely reliant on animal transport for mobility. Commanded by August Marić, the division was largely made up of ethnic Croat troops, many of whom saw the Germans as potential liberators from Serbian oppression during the interwar period. It also lacked modern arms and sufficient ammunition.
Along with the rest of the Yugoslav Army, the 27th Infantry Division Savska began mobilising on 3 April 1941, and was still engaged in that process three days later when the Germans began an air campaign and a series of preliminary operations along the Yugoslav frontiers. These attacks ignited rebellion within the Croat troops of the division. The chief of staff of the division became involved, countermanding orders for the sabotage of a key bridge over the Drava river at Zákány. The division briefly established a defensive line on the Yugoslav side of the river, but German troops began crossing on 7 April, forcing the division to begin withdrawing. A counterattack delayed the German advance during the night of 8/9 April, but the division began to disintegrate due to fifth column actions, rebellion and desertion. When the German 14th Panzer Division broke out of the bridgehead at Zákány on 10 April, the 27th Infantry Division Savska numbered only 2,000 men, mostly Serbs. In a single day, the German panzers, with overwhelming air support, brushed aside the remnants of the division and captured Zagreb, covering nearly and meeting little resistance. On that day the divisional headquarters was captured, and the division effectively ceased to exist.
Background
The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was created with the merger of Serbia, Montenegro and the South Slav-inhabited areas of Austria-Hungary on 1 December 1918, in the immediate aftermath of World War I. The Army of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was established to defend the new state. It was formed around the nucleus of the victorious Royal Serbian Army, as well as armed formations raised in regions formerly controlled by Austria-Hungary. Many former Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers became members of the new army. From the beginning, much like other aspects of public life in the new kingdom, the army was dominated by ethnic Serbs, who saw it as a means by which to secure Serb political hegemony.
The army's development was hampered by the kingdom's poor economy, and this continued during the 1920s. In 1929, King Alexander changed the name of the country to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, at which time the army was renamed the Royal Yugoslav Army (, VKJ). The army budget remained tight, and as tensions rose across Europe during the 1930s, it became difficult to secure weapons and munitions from other countries. Consequently, at the time World War II broke out in September 1939, the VKJ had several serious weaknesses, which included reliance on draught animals for transport, and the large size of its formations. Infantry divisions had a wartime strength of 26,000–27,000 men, as compared to contemporary British infantry divisions of half that strength. These characteristics resulted in slow, unwieldy formations, and the inadequate supply of arms and munitions meant that even the very large Yugoslav formations had low firepower. Generals better suited to the trench warfare of World WarI were combined with an army that was neither equipped nor trained to resist the fast-moving combined arms approach used by the Germans in their invasions of Poland and France.
The weaknesses of the VKJ in strategy, structure, equipment, mobility and supply were exacerbated by serious ethnic disunity within Yugoslavia, resulting from two decades of Serb hegemony and the attendant lack of political legitimacy achieved by the central government. Attempts to address the disunity came too late to ensure that the VKJ was a cohesive force. Fifth column activity was also a serious concern, not only from the Croatian nationalist Ustaše but also from the country's Slovene and ethnic German minorities.
Structure Peacetime organisation According to regulations issued by the VKJ in 1935, the 27th Infantry Division Savska was to be raised from the Savska divisional district, which was headquartered in Zagreb. The Savska divisional district was under the control of the 4th Army district, also headquartered in Zagreb. The division was named for the Sava river, a tributary of the Danube that flows along the northern border of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. In peacetime, the Savska divisional district included: 35th Infantry Regiment, based in Zagreb 36th Infantry Regiment, based in Varaždin 53rd Infantry Regiment, based in Karlovac 14th Artillery Regiment, based in Varaždin 30th Artillery Regiment, based in Zagreb
Wartime organisation
The wartime organisation of the VKJ was laid down by regulations issued in 1936–1937, which set the strength of an infantry division at 26,000–27,000 men. A total of 11,200 horses and other pack and draught animals were required to provide mobility for each infantry division. The theoretical wartime organisation of a fully mobilised Yugoslav infantry division was: headquarters divisional infantry headquarters, with three or four infantry regiments divisional artillery headquarters, with one or two artillery regiments a cavalry battalion with two horsed cavalry squadrons, a bicycle squadron and a machine gun platoon a pioneer battalion of three companies an anti-tank company, equipped with twelve or anti-tank guns a machine gun company an anti-aircraft machine gun company a signals company logistics units
Each infantry regiment was to consist of three or four infantry battalions and a machine gun company. The divisional artillery regiments were animal-drawn and largely equipped with World WarI vintage pieces. An artillery regiment consisted of four battalions, one of light howitzers, one of or mountain guns, and two of 75mm or field guns. The 36th Infantry Regiment and the 14th and 30th Artillery Regiments, which were administered by the Savska divisional district in peacetime, were earmarked to join other formations when they were mobilised, and the division was to be brought up to its wartime strength by the 104th Infantry Regiment and the 27th Artillery Regiment from the VKJ reserve.
Planned deployment
The 27th Infantry Division Savska (27th ID) was a component of the 4th Army as part of the 1st Army Group, which was responsible for the defence of north and northwestern Yugoslavia. In the event of mobilisation, the 4th Army was to deploy in a cordon along the western sector of the Hungarian border, with the 27th ID positioned opposite the Hungarian village of Gyékényes, between the confluence of the Mura at Legrad and Kloštar Podravski. In this disposition, the divisional headquarters was planned to be located at Kapela, north of Bjelovar. On the left flank of the division it was planned that the 42nd Infantry Division Murska (42nd ID) would be positioned opposite the Hungarian city of Nagykanizsa, and on the right flank the 40th Infantry Division Slavonska (40th ID) was to establish itself opposite the Hungarian town of Barcs. Border guard units in the division's area of responsibility would consist of the 3rd Battalion of the 393rd Reserve Regiment and the 576th Independent Battalion.
Operations Mobilisation After unrelenting pressure from Adolf Hitler, Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941. On 27 March, a military coup d'état overthrew the government that had signed the pact, and a new government was formed under the Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force commander, Armijski đeneral Dušan Simović. A general mobilisation was not called by the new government until 3 April 1941, out of fear of offending Hitler and thus precipitating war. The day of the coup, Hitler issued Führer Directive 25, which called for Yugoslavia to be treated as a hostile state; on 3 April, Führer Directive 26 was issued, detailing the plan of attack and command structure for the invasion, which was to commence on 6 April.
As the Axis invasion began, the 27th ID had only commenced mobilisation, and was largely in its mobilisation centres or moving to its concentration areas. On 4 April, the commander of the 4th Army, Armijski đeneral Petar Nedeljković, had reported that the division could not move for another 24 hours due to lack of vehicles. Only a small proportion of the division was in its planned positions on 6 April: the divisional commander Divizijski đeneral August Marić and his headquarters staff were mobilising in Zagreb the 35th Infantry Regiment (less its 3rd Battalion) was marching from Zagreb to Križevci, with its 3rd Battalion still in Zagreb the 53rd Infantry Regiment, with about 50 percent of its troops and 15 percent of its animals, was moving by rail from its mobilisation centre in Karlovac via Križevci to Koprivnica, with its 1st Battalion detraining in Koprivnica the 104th Infantry Regiment was marching from its mobilisation centre in Sesvete via Dugo Selo to Bjelovar Two battalions of the 27th Artillery Regiment were in position in Novigrad Podravski near Koprivnica, with the rest of the 27th Artillery Regiment still mobilising in Zagreb and Varaždin the divisional cavalry battalion was mobilising in Čakovec but had no horses, and the divisional machine gun battalion was mobilising in Zagreb but also had no animal transport the remainder of the divisional units were at their mobilisation centres in and around Zagreb
6 April Early on 6 April 1941, the German XXXXVI Motorised Corps of General der Panzertruppe Heinrich von Vietinghoff launched preliminary attacks along the Drava between Ždala and Gotalovo in the 27th ID sector with the intention of securing crossings over the river, but they were unsuccessful. By the evening, German successes elsewhere along the Hungarian border made it clear to the Germans that the Yugoslavs would not be resisting stubbornly at the frontier. The XXXXVI Motorised Corps was then ordered to begin seizing bridges over the Drava along the length of the 4th Army front, including at Zákány near Gyékényes. These local attacks were sufficient to inflame dissent within the largely Croat 4th Army, who refused to resist the Germans who they considered their liberators from Serbian oppression during the interwar period.
The continuing mobilisation and concentration of the division and of the whole of the 4th Army was hampered by escalating fifth column activities and propaganda fomented by the Croatian nationalist Ustaše. Some units stopped mobilising, or began returning to their mobilisation centres from their concentration areas. During the day, Yugoslav sabotage units attempted to destroy the bridge over the Drava at Zákány. This attempt was only partially successful, due to the influence of Ustaše propaganda and the countermanding of the demolition orders by the chief of staff of the 27th ID, Major Anton Marković. The Yugoslav radio network linking the division with the 4th Army and flanking divisions was sabotaged by the Ustaše on 6 April, and radio communications within the 4th Army remained poor throughout the fighting.
7 April