Jugoslavenska armija neposredno nakon završetka rata 1945. godine
THE YUGOSLAV ARMY IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF WORLD WAR II

Summary/Abstract: This article offers an overview of the first peacetime activities of the Partisan Yugoslav Army in the second half of 1945. The article covers matters such as organisation, numbers, legal regulations, and command, followed by the transition to peacetime life in barracks throughout Yugoslavia as well as border security. The Yugoslav Army was formed on 1 March 1945 from the Partisan People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia. After the formation of the provisional government of Democratic Federative Yugoslavia, the People’s Defence Commission was reformed into the Ministry of People’s Defence headed by Marshal Tito. On 31 May 1945, Marshal Tito signed an order on the formation and location of the highest strategic commands of the six armies of Yugoslavia’s ground forces as well as the Air Force, Navy, military schools, and the internal army – the People’s Defence Corps of Yugoslavia. A separate and new part of the Yugoslav Army was the security service, i.e. the counterintelligence service. This paper examines the first activities of the Partisan army in peacetime – in the barracks – as well as its role in the Trieste crisis and the occupation of a part of Austria. The Army’s role in the first post-war elections on 11 November 1945 is also covered. The demobilisation of excess members of the Army took place only after these elections and the formal change of thesocial order i.e. the abolition of the monarchy.

• Details
• Contents