The 38th Infantry Division Dravska was a short-lived Royal Yugoslav Army infantry formation raised prior to the German-led Axis invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941. It was largely mobilised from the Dravska divisional district, and, like all Yugoslav infantry divisions of the time, was a very large and unwieldy formation which was almost entirely reliant on animal transport for mobility. Commanded by Divizijski đeneral Čedomir Stanojlović and largely manned by Slovene and ethnic German troops, the division also lacked modern arms and sufficient ammunition to meet the German onslaught.
Part of the Yugoslav 7th Army, it was to be deployed in the Pohorje mountains around Maribor, responsible for the German frontier from the Savinja Alps in the west to Radgona in the east, including the roads running south through Dravograd and Maribor, with its main positions on the southern bank of the Dravinja river. When the invasion commenced on 6 April, much of the division was deployed forward at Dravograd and Maribor, where, along with the border guard units along the frontier, it briefly held a defensive line. German penetration on its right flank soon resulted in withdrawal to the Dravinja and subsequent attempts to form a defensive line failed. Undermined by fifth column activities and faced with German thrusts by two German corps through Dravograd and Maribor, the division fell back in disarray and surrendered with the rest of the 7th Army on 12 April.
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 War I 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 38th Infantry Division Dravska (38th ID) was to be raised from the Dravska divisional district, which was headquartered in Ljubljana. The Dravska divisional district was under the control of the 4th Army district, headquartered in Zagreb. The division was named for the Drava river, which runs through the Styria region, and was largely manned by Slovene and ethnic German troops. In peacetime, the Dravska divisional district included: 37th Infantry Regiment, based in Ribnica 39th Infantry Regiment, based in Celje 40th Infantry Regiment, based in Ljubljana 45th Infantry Regiment, based in Maribor 16th Artillery Regiment, based in Ljubljana 32nd Artillery Regiment, based in Maribor
Wartime organisation
The wartime organisation of the VKJ was laid down by regulations issued in 1936–37, 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 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 to four infantry battalions and a machine gun company. The divisional artillery regiments were animal-drawn and largely equipped with World War I-vintage pieces. An artillery regiment consisted of four battalions, one of light howitzers, one of or mountain guns, and two of or field guns. The 37th, 39th and 40th Infantry Regiments and the 16th and 32nd Artillery Regiments, which were administered by the Dravska 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 38th and 112th Infantry Regiments and 38th Artillery Regiment from the VJK reserve.
Planned deployment
The 38th ID was a component of the 7th Army, a part of the 1st Army Group, which was responsible for the defence of north and north-western Yugoslavia. According to the final war plan developed by the Yugoslav General Staff, "Defence Plan R-41", the 7th Army was to deploy in a cordon along the Italian and German borders. The 38th ID was to deploy in the Pohorje mountains around Maribor, responsible for the German frontier from the Savinja Alps in the west to Gornja Radgona in the east, including the roads running south from the German border through Dravograd to Celje and Maribor to Ptuj. Both Dravograd and Maribor are on the Drava river, a major obstacle. The 38th ID was to establish its main positions on the southern bank of the Dravinja river, some south of the Drava. On the left flank of the division was Mountain Detachment Triglavski (MD Triglavski), and on its right flank was Detachment Ormozki of the 4th Army. Both of these flanking formations were ad hoc groupings of brigade-strength. Border guard units in the divisional sector consisted of the 6th, 7th and 8th Border Regiments supported by three border artillery battalions fielding a total of eight batteries.
Prior to the invasion, significant fortifications known as the Rupnik Line were constructed along the German border. In what became the 38th ID sector, the Yugoslavs concentrated on preparing to block the passes through the Karawank and Savinja Alps, and built bunkers behind obstacles along the routes leading south from the border towards Dravograd and Maribor. Preparations were also made to block routes north of the Drava and along the southern banks of the Drava. These fortifications were to be manned by border guard units, and were not the responsibility of the 7th Army.
Operations Mobilisation Following unrelenting political pressure from Adolf Hitler, Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941. Two days later, 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. This hesitation was in vain, for on the same day as the coup Hitler had issued Führer Directive 25 which called for Yugoslavia to be treated as a hostile state, and 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.
According to a post-war U.S. Army study, by the time the invasion began, the 38th ID had only commenced mobilising, and was largely in its mobilisation centres or moving to concentration areas. On 6 April, the elements of the division were located as follows: the divisional commander Divizijski đeneral Čedomir Stanojlović, his chief of staff Major Ivan Babić, and their headquarters staff were mobilising in Slovenska Bistrica the divisional infantry headquarters and 45th Infantry Regiment were mobilising around Maribor the 38th Infantry Regiment was mobilising in Maribor, Slovenska Bistrica and Ptuj the 112th Infantry Regiment (less its 1st Battalion) was marching west towards Slovenj Gradec from Slovenska Bistrica. The 1st Battalion of the 112th Infantry Regiment had already deployed near Dravograd, supporting the 6th Border Regiment the 128th Infantry Regiment, which had been allocated to the 38th ID from the VKJ reserve at mobilisation, was concentrating near Ptuj the 38th Artillery Regiment (less its 2nd Battalion) was near Ptuj, while its 2nd Battalion was marching west from Maribor to its planned position at Slovenj Gradec the divisional machine-gun battalion, which had only 50 percent of its establishment of men and animals, was marching south from Maribor to Ptuj the remainder of the divisional units were mobilising in Slovenska Bistrica, Maribor, Ptuj and Ljubljana
5–6 April
The border between Germany and Yugoslavia was largely unsuitable for motorised operations due to the mountainous terrain. Due to the short notice of the invasion, the elements of Generaloberst Maximilian von Weichs's invading German 2nd Army that would make up LI Infantry Corps and XXXXIX Mountain Corps had to be transported from Germany, German-occupied France and the Nazi puppet Slovak Republic, and nearly all encountered difficulties in reaching their assembly areas on schedule. In the interim, the Germans formed a special force under the code name Feuerzauber (Magic Fire). This force was initially intended to merely reinforce the 538th Frontier Guard Division, which was guarding the German border. On the evening of 5 April, a particularly aggressive Feuerzauber detachment commander, Hauptmann Palten, led his Kampfgruppe Palten across the Mura river from Spielfeld and, having secured the bridge, began attacking bunkers and other Yugoslav positions on the high ground, and sent patrols deep into the Yugoslav border fortification system. Due to a lack of Yugoslav counter-attacks, many of these positions remained in German hands into 6 April.