Formation A group of high-ranking officers led by the
Prime Minister and
Army General Dušan Simović, the Minister of the Army and Navy
Bogoljub Ilić and the Commander of the Air Force,
Brigadier General Borivoje Mirković together with members of the
government and
King Peter II left the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 15 April 1941 from
Nikšić via
Greece for
Palestine and Egypt. The break-up and collapse of the
Yugoslav Army in April 1941, disorganization and devastation forced the airmen to cope on their own in difficult circumstances. Several planes flew over the territory of the
Soviet Union. A number of airmen left the mainland from
Macedonia to Greece and further by ships to the Middle East. On 17 April,
seaplanes flew eight flights from the
Bay of Kotor to Greece. They flew to
Alexandria via
Corfu,
Athens and
Crete on 23 April 1941. Twenty three more aviators and passengers evaded capture aboard four
SM.79 trimotor aircraft which flew Northeast from
Mostar to
Bessarabia in the
Soviet Union. Following
Operation Barbarossa, this group was sent from
Moscow to
Jordan to rendezvous with their countrymen. Individuals and smaller groups of the land army withdrew from Macedonia on their own initiative. The gathering was held in the territories of Egypt and Jordan. From that day on, the evacuated army that escaped capture during the capitulation was named the Yugoslav Army Outside the Homeland. On 21 July 1941, General Ilić submitted a report to Prime Minister Simović, on the number of members of the exiled army in
Cairo. The number of evacuated members by army consisted of the army: 38 officers, 16 non-commissioned officers, 26 corporals and ranks, and from the navy: 15 officers, 1 mechanical officer, 1 civil engineering officer, 1 medical officer, 67 non-commissioned officers, 9 corporals and ranks. There were the most members of the aviation: 103 officers, 100 non-commissioned officers, 37 corporals and ranks.
Development and operations , February 1942 , February 1942 During 1941, a Yugoslav air squadron, consisting of 3 squadrons (fighter, bomber and marine squadron), was to be formed from the fleeing airmen with the help of the British. Only marine and fighter squadrons were formed, and the bomber was not. At the request of the British, the hunting squadron was disbanded after about 15 days. Later, an air force command was formed. A marine squadron was formed in
Aboukir from aviators who fled from the Bay of Kotor in April 1941. It joined the British
No. 230 Squadron, which defended the wider region of Alexandria, rescued fallen and stray crews and discovered enemy vessels. Of the weapons, it had eight
Dornier Do 22 and two
Rogožarski SIM-XIV-H seaplanes with which it flew from Yugoslavia to Africa. From April 1941 to April 1942, the squadron carried out 737 combat missions. At the end of April 1942, the hydro squadron ceased combat operations because of the dilapidation of the seaplanes with which they flew in from Yugoslavia, and the new allies did not assign them. The Supreme Command of the Royal Army had a Guards Battalion, composed of prisoners from
Istria and the
Slovenian Littoral, an air force and a naval detachment. The entire Yugoslav Army Outside the Homeland numbered 980 people. Yugoslav pilots and airmen were assigned to a number of squadrons of the
Royal Air Force and served in the North African and
Italian campaigns. The last plane to conduct a bombing during the Italian campaign was a Yugoslav-crewed
Martin Baltimore of the
No. 55 Squadron RAF. In September 1942, it was decided that 108 Yugoslav Air Force personnel were to be sent to the RAF training centre in
Southern Rhodesia and 40 would be sent for training in the
United States. The Yugoslav Navy in exile at the same time consisted of two torpedo boats and one submarine, 26 officers, 28 non-commissioned officers, and 45 seamen, under the command of
Ivan Kern. The three Yugoslav-manned ships,
Durmitor,
Nebojša, and
Kajmakčalan, subsequently saw service as convoy escort vessels along the Egyptian coast. From December 1942, there was a Yugoslav military mission in
Algiers, which focused on recruiting Yugoslav soldiers among the Italian POWs in North Africa. Approximately 2,200 soldiers were recruited to join the Royal Yugoslav Guards Battalion at this mission. However, due to the shift of British support towards Tito and the Partisans, these troops were refused passage to Cairo and were instead organized as Labour Companies 386-388 of the British
Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps. That same month, Royal Yugoslav Air Force personnel in North Africa were transferred to various air ferrying units of the RAF.
Problems and disbandment Mass cancellation of obedience to the elders and defections to the Overseas Brigades of the
National Liberation Army were daily occurrences after 1 January 1944. The disobedient were disarmed and on 15 April 1944, about 1158 officers, non-commissioned officers and fighters gathered, ready to join the
Yugoslav Partisans. A considerable number of royal airmen did not immediately declare themselves for the
National Liberation War. Some waited for the situation to clear up, so individuals and smaller groups declared themselves by the end of 1944, and some even in 1945. A number of officers and soldiers did not want to join the Partisans. They remained abroad, and some of them actively worked against the
Democratic Federal Yugoslavia after the war.
Merchant Marine In addition to the elements of the army, navy, and air force that evaded capture and continued the fight in North Africa, 75 vessels of the Yugoslav Merchant Marine were located outside of the country when the April 1941 invasion occurred. These ships and their crews participated in the allied
convoys transporting war materials across the Atlantic and Pacific for the remainder of the war. 54 ships and 420 seamen of the Yugoslav Merchant Marine were lost at sea by the end of the war. == Notable units ==