Завршетак Другог свјетског рата и питање повраћаја југословенског ријечног бродовља
The end of the Second World War and the Issue of Return of Yugoslav River Shipping

Summary/Abstract: The strategic importance of Yugoslavia as a state which occupied the central position on the Danube and borders almost 600 kilometers of the river flow, with both banks in the largest part of that flow, as well as its dominant position on the Danube in terms of number of vessels, made it an inevitable target of the powerful armed forces of the Third Reich. Its ambition to transform the Danube into the inner Reich River and a kind of „backbone“ of the German „living space“ created the need to master the Yugoslav part of the Danube and the Yugoslav fleet. For exactly three and a half years, German flag fluttered in many Yugoslav ports on the Danube, and the Yugoslav boats cruised along the Danube for the needs of German war economy. The collapse of the German armed forces in Europe found the Yugoslav boats across the Danube, from the Black Sea to Regensburg. Then the struggle of the new Yugoslav government for their return began. Most of these vessels came in the Soviet and American hands, so the negotiations with those two powers that won the war became intense in order to put the vessels on the Danube, which „means life“ for Yugoslavia, as the President of the Provisional National Assembly Dr Ivan Ribar put it, into operation for the purpose of renovation and reconstruction of the wartorn country. Alliance with the Soviet Union has led to return of the boats that were in its hands mostly without major difficulties, but the issue of return of the boats that were located in the American occupation zone of Austria and Germany was far more complex and depended on the relations between the United States and Yugoslavia, and even more on the EastWest relations. Complexity of interbloc confrontation fully reflected the issue of return of Yugoslav vessels, which was open for two years.

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