German bombing of Belgrade 1941
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate. Wikidata lists more than one location for this battle; the first is shown.
Key facts
| Date | 6 April 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1941 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Serbia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 44.8178, 20.4569 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
Operation Retribution (German: Unternehmen Strafgericht) or Operation Punishment was the April 1941 German bombing of Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, in retaliation for the coup d'état that overthrew the government that had signed the Tripartite Pact. The bombing occurred in the first days of the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia during World War II. The Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force (VVKJ) had only 77 modern fighter aircraft available to defend Belgrade against the hundreds of German fighters and bombers that struck in the first wave early on 6 April. Three days prior, VVKJ Major Vladimir Kren had defected to the Germans, disclosing the locations of multiple military assets and divulging the VVKJ's codes.
Three more waves of bombers attacked Belgrade on 6 April, and more attacks followed in subsequent days. The attacks resulted in the paralysis of Yugoslav civilian and military command and control, the widespread destruction of Belgrade's infrastructure, and many civilian casualties. The ground invasion had begun a few hours earlier, and air attacks were also made on VVKJ airfields and other strategic targets across Yugoslavia.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article German bombing of Belgrade (revision 1370621034), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Fall of Belgrade (1915) 1915 · 0 km
- Siege of Belgrade (1690) 1690 · 1 km
- Siege of Belgrade (1521) 1521 · 1 km
- Siege of Belgrade (1787–1788) 1787 · 1 km
- Siege of Belgrade (1789) 1789 · 1 km
- Siege of Belgrade (1456) 1456 · 1 km
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All 178 battles of the World War II →
Browse more: battles in Serbia · Europe · World War II era battles