Bojin Simic, the Soviet Treaty of Friendship with Yugoslavia and 22 June 1941

Top Secret Directive No. 21, entered into history as the “Barbarossa Plan”, it was signed by Hitler - the Fuhrer and Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces - 18 December 1940 of the year. According to the plan, the German armed forces were to smash Soviet Russia in a short-term campaign — even before the war against England was over.

The introductory part of the Directive, written from 1, said: “I will give an order on the strategic deployment of armed forces against the Soviet Union eight weeks before the scheduled date of commencement of operations. Preparations that require a longer time, since they have not yet begun, should begin now and finish by 15.05.1941. ”

It was further stated: "The decisive importance should be given to ensuring that our intentions to attack are not recognized."

In its “bold operations” (expression from the Directive), the German army was counting on active participation in the war against the USSR of Romania and Finland.

Known phrase Hitler, he said 3 February 1941, at a meeting in Berchtesgaden. Hitler listened to the report of Brauchitsch and Halder on the plan of war against the USSR and said: “When the Barbarossa plan is implemented, the world will hold its breath and die.”

The Directive on the concentration of troops from February 15 1941 reiterated: "In the event that Russia changes its current attitude towards Germany, it is necessary as a precautionary measure to carry out extensive preparatory measures that would have allowed the defeat of Soviet Russia in a swift campaign before how the war against England will end. ” The Directive on disinformation of the enemy was also adopted, the main purpose of which was to conceal the preparation of Operation Barbarossa.

As you can see, Hitler planned to make a surprise attack on the Soviet Union 15.05.1941. However, we all know that the attack did not occur in May, but on June 22.

The outbreak of World War II was “delayed” thanks to the coup in Belgrade, which was committed on the night from 26 to 27 in March 1941. Already at the end of April 1941, the German leadership set the final date for the attack on the Soviet Union: 22 June 1941. the timing was due to the need to redeploy to the borders of the USSR those military forces that participated in the aggression against Yugoslavia.

N. V. Novikov in “Memoirs of a Diplomat” writes:

“While conducting preparations for the complete transformation of the Balkan Peninsula into a Wehrmacht bridgehead, German diplomacy continued to exert rough pressure on Bulgaria and Yugoslavia in order to force them, like Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, to join the Tripartite Pact.

By the beginning of March, 1941, already four countries from among the subordinate to the Middle East Division were threatened and promises attached to the aggressive Tripartite Pact. March 25 was forced to sign in Vienna a protocol of accession and representatives of the government of Yugoslavia - Prime Minister Cvetkovic and Foreign Minister Tsintsar-Markovic.

The news of the shameful capitulation in Vienna raised all the patriotic forces of Yugoslavia. Under these conditions, patriotic circles of the military led by the commander of the air force, General Dusan Simovich, took the initiative to repel the capitulators. On the night of 26 on 27 March, they carried out a coup d'etat. The Cvetkovic government was overthrown, the regents of the minor king Peter II — his uncle Prince Pavel, Stankovic and Perovic — were deposed and arrested, and King Peter II himself took power into his hands. ”

Demonstrations were held in the country welcoming the new government. Here are the slogans of the Yugoslav demonstrators of the time: “Union with Russia!”, “War is better than a pact!” Better death than slavery! ”,“ Down with Hitler! ”

The government of Yugoslavia, which formed Simovich, who became prime minister, immediately made a statement about the negative attitude towards the Tripartite Pact and denounced the agreement. The new prime minister of Yugoslavia turned to the leadership of the USSR with a proposal to conclude an agreement on mutual assistance. The Soviet government agreed to negotiate. Meanwhile, Hitler signed directive No. XXUMX on the attack on Yugoslavia.

The first meeting with a delegation from Yugoslavia (composed of: Milan Gavrilovich, envoy in Moscow, then Bozhin Simic and Dragutin Savich) took place in Moscow on April 3 1941. According to Novikov, the Yugoslav side insisted on concluding a pact on mutual assistance, but the Soviet government considered him in this situation untimely. The differences were significant, and at first it seemed that the negotiations would end in vain. But on April 4, the Yugoslav delegation received new instructions from Belgrade. Having met Vyshinsky that day, Gavrilovich said that the delegation was ready to sign an agreement of a friendly nature ... ”

Novikov does not believe that the goal of concluding a treaty with the Yugoslavs was thought out by the political leadership of the USSR long before signing the document. In the diplomat’s book, Molotov’s question is given to Novikov: “So what are we going to do with the Yugoslavs?” And then another Molotov phrase was quoted: “But General Simovich dreams of a mutual aid pact, and in these conditions it is unacceptable for us. Or are you also for such a pact? ”And then Molotov said, either assuming or thinking aloud:“ The fact of the matter is that the Yugoslavs were too late with their proposal. But today, ”added Molotov,“ we will probably get along with them. We have the wording of the second article of the draft, which should arrange them. In general, it will be a treaty of friendship and non-aggression. "

On April 5, the Treaty of Friendship and Non-Aggression between the USSR and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was signed. It was signed by V.Molotov from the USSR, from Yugoslavia - by Gavrilovich, Savich and Simic. Article II of the Treaty was formulated very carefully: “In the event that one of the Contracting Parties is attacked by a third state, the other Contracting Party undertakes to observe the policy of friendly relations with it”. As we can see, there is not a word about the military actions rendered with the aim of assisting the "Contracting Party" in attacking a third state. The contract was concluded for a period of five years.

April 6, in the morning, the Germans launched the bombing of Belgrade. However, there is no direct link between the Treaty and the German attack on Yugoslavia (and at the same time Greece): “It turns out that at that very moment, as we, pleasantly agitated banquet participants, left Molotov’s office, the German military machine fell upon the peaceful Yugoslav people ... "(Novikov," Memories ... ").

Now the opinion is circulating that Stalin initiated the signing of the Treaty with Yugoslavia in order to postpone the invasion of the Hitler army in the USSR. Apparently, there is no direct historical evidence of this, but there are indirect evidence.

In the first months of 1941, Mr. Stalin received from intelligence officers a lot of information about Hitler’s preparation for military aggression against the USSR. Undoubtedly, planning the “blitzkrieg”, the Führer was going to finish Russia before the onset of a cold and slushy Russian autumn — and for this purpose to carry out an invasion in the middle of May, when it was already warm and dry. That is why the Barbarossa plan indicated the exact spring date: May 15, 1941. As for Directive No. 21 itself, the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army reported it to Stalin on December 29 of December 1940.

It is believed that at the beginning of 1941, Stalin already had in mind the strategic course that allows the USSR to gain time. It is good if we succeed in delaying the attack of Hitler's troops before 1942, but if this cannot be achieved, any delay will come: after all, it can be used to increase the combat capability of the Red Army. In addition, Stalin understood that the German troops in the fall and winter "Blitzkrieg" is unlikely to succeed. The imminent coup in Yugoslavia could not be more suitable for winning time.

An indirect proof of this is the fact that the former colonel of the Serbian army, Bozhin Simic, appeared in Moscow not in early April 1941, having arrived there as a member of the delegation to sign the Treaty, and at the end of February - and stayed there for at least two and a half weeks.

Simic's biography is very interesting. He was a member of the Black Hand organization (the original name was “Unification or Death”), which in 1914 arranged the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Eleven years earlier, in 1903, Božin Simic was one of the perpetrators of the assassination of the Serbian King Alexander and his wife. In the spring of 1917, the military court in Thessaloniki sentenced Simic in absentia to eighteen (according to other sources, to fifteen) years of imprisonment for terrorist activities. But Simic stayed in Russia until 1918, and then hid in Europe - in Switzerland, Austria, France. In 1925-26 he again appeared in the USSR, where he might have met with the workers of the GPU. At the end of 1930's Simic returned to Yugoslavia. According to historians, he was associated not only with Serbian nationalist officers, but also with Soviet intelligence.

According to reports, in Moscow the Yugoslav envoy Milan Gavrilovich and Bozhin Simic raised the issue of supplying Yugoslavia with the Soviet weapons, but it was not possible to agree: Stalin's Cvetkovich regime did not suit.

However, in the Kremlin by that time there was already information about the anti-fascist coup in Belgrade, which was being prepared with British participation. In London, as in Moscow, they were interested in changing the Yugoslav government: the British needed to gain a foothold in the Balkans and prevent the invasion of German forces in Greece, which reflected Italian aggression.

The German ambassador to Yugoslavia, von Heeren, also on March 24, received information about the impending coup. However, Germany did not have time to do anything. On the night of 26 on 27 in March of 1941, the conspiring officers under the leadership of General Dusan Simovic carried out a coup. Power passed into their hands.

The headquarters of the conspirators was in Zemun, a suburb of Belgrade, in command of the Air Force. Zemun's cavalry school was also involved in the coup. Four regiments of the division of the royal guard also participated in the overthrow of the government of Tsvetkovich tank battalion. It is known that the head of the telegraph, telephone lines and mail of the city of Belgrade interrupted the external communication at the direction of the conspirators.

So, in March 1941, Mr. Simich was in Moscow. When he left there is unknown. But, as it turned out (see, for example, I. Bukharkin’s article: http://www.ogoniok.com/4945/26/), on March 31 Soviet ambassador to Yugoslavia Lebedev received a ciphergram from Molotov: “... Negotiations are better to start in Moscow and graduate in Belgrade. It would be nice to have Bozhin Simic in the delegation. ”

Thus, because of the opening of hostilities in Yugoslavia, Hitler had to postpone the attack on the Soviet Union. The five-week delay did not so much give the USSR the opportunity to better prepare for war, but served as one of the reasons for the collapse of the Nazi Blitzkrieg. The Nazi troops were focused on the seizure of Soviet territory through lightning "bold operations", but were not prepared for a protracted war, especially in the winter Russian conditions.