Today, exactly 79 years ago, without the declaration of war, Germany attacked the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Brutally, with all the markings of a terrorist attack against an open city, Belgrade was bombed mercilessly and largely unselectively, with a clear intention to paralyze the links in the military's command and to inflict as heavy casualties as possible amongst its population... It was the beginning of the operation
Unternehmen Strafgericht.
Unfortunately, until now no book was published which dealt with the bombing of Belgrade, but only selectively with its air defense. The story is much more complex when we consider the catastrophic consequences of the bombing and the number of casualties, which still remain undetermined and are estimated at about 3,000. It was one of the main reasons that the authors were governed by. Especially because of completely unfounded assertions by foreign authors that the number of casualties was even less than 1,000...
The Battle for Belgrade – April 1941 presents a tremendous number of testimonies from direct participants and witnesses to the bombing of Belgrade. These include ordinary citizens, foreign diplomats, aviators from both sides, foreign correspondents from various sides of the world, celebrities of the time, written and verbal statements of the contemporaries to the bombing. The circumstances are presented under which the military coup d'état on 27 March took place, preparation of the city and its population for air defense, heroic defense by Royal Yugoslav fighter pilots from 6. Fighter Regiment and their sacrifice, the destruction of the National Library with the immeasurable cultural treasures of Serbia, and the entrance of Germans into Belgrade and the circumstances which followed. This book contains a complete list of collapsed and damaged buildings and infrastructure. Our wish was to present for the first time ever the scope of this comprehensive tragedy which befell Belgrade and its inhabitants on 6 April 1941.
This book is dedicated to our fellow citizens who perished and to the fearless defenders of the skies above Belgrade and our freedom, with the desire to never forget their suffering and sacrifice!
After almost five years of work, we announce the book Battle for Belgrade – April 1941. Book will be published by "Službeni glasnik", which is also the largest Serbian publishing company. Our book is written in Serbian and English (two-column text) in expanded monographic format (hardcover) measuring 28 x 24 cm with 445 photographs, 600 pages and a weight of approximately 4.5 kg.
We use this opportunity to thank our publisher’s management and their technical support staff, who despite extremely difficult circumstances due to the Covid 19 pandemic and the state of emergency in Serbia completed their job professionally to the very end. We will notify you additionally concerning the exact printing date.
Book content is as follows:
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1 - 27 March 1941
Chapter 2 - The preparations for Belgrade Air Defense
Chapter 3 - Hitler’s Order of the Day
Belgrade Radio during April war 1941
Chapter 4 - The National Library in Belgrade
Chapter 5 - Belgrade Air Defense
32.VG Wartime airfield Krušedol and auxiliary airfield Prnjavor
51.VG Belgrade airport – Zemun
Epilogue
Killed
Wounded
Chapter 6 - Who killed Yugoslavia and Greece?
Chapter 7 - Epilogue and Consequences
Objects in Belgrade struck during the German bombing in 1941
Chapter 8 - Entry of German troops in Belgrade and Zemun
Bibliography
About Authors
You can see the temporary preview at
www.leadenskybooks.com, while the official preview on the website of Službeni glasnik is pending following the publication of this book.
Take care of you and your loved ones!
With best Regards from Serbia and United States,
Aleksandar Ognjević & Djordje Nikolić