title: Ivan III of Russia

text: In Nordic affairs, Ivan III concluded an offensive alliance with John of Denmark and maintained regular correspondence with Emperor Maximilian I, who called him a "brother". He built a strong citadel in Ingria, named Ivangorod after himself, situated on the Russian-Estonian border, opposite the fortress of Narva held by the Livonian Confederation. In the Russo-Swedish War, Ivan III unsuccessfully attempted to conquer Vyborg from Sweden, but this attempt was checked by the Swedish garrison in Vyborg Castle led by Lord Knut Posse.


title: Ivan III of Russia

text: The further extension of the Moscow dominion was facilitated by the death of Casimir IV in 1492, when Poland and Lithuania once again parted company. The throne of Lithuania was now occupied by Casimir's son Alexander, a weak and lethargic prince so incapable of defending his possessions against the persistent attacks of the Muscovites that he attempted to save them by a matrimonial compact, wedding Helena, Ivan's daughter. But the clear determination of Ivan to appropriate as much of Lithuania as possible finally compelled Alexander to take up arms against his father-in-law in 1499. The Lithuanians were routed at the Battle of Vedrosha on 14 July 1500, and in 1503 Alexander was glad to purchase peace by ceding to Ivan Chernihiv, Starodub, Novhorod-Siverskyi, and sixteen other towns.


title: Ivan III of Russia

text: Ivan conquered or brought under his control the lands of north-eastern Rus', marking the beginning of Muscovite dominance over Rus' territory. Ivan arguably became best known for his consolidation of Muscovite rule. His predecessors had increased Moscow's territory from less than 600 square miles under Ivan II (reigned 1353–59) to more than 15,000 square miles at the end of Vasily II's reign. It remained for Ivan III to absorb Moscow's old rivals, Novgorod and Tver, and establish virtually a single rule over what had been appanages of Rus'. Although the circumstances surrounding the acquisitions varied, the results were basically the same: former sovereign or semi-autonomous principalities were reduced to the status of provinces of Moscow, while their princes joined the ranks of the Muscovite service nobility.


title: Ivan III of Russia

text: After the death of his first wife in 1467, Ivan married (1472) Sophia (Zoë) Palaiologina, a Byzantine princess and niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI (killed in battle in 1453). The Vatican sponsored the marriage in hope of bringing Russia under the sway of the Pope and of establishing a broad front against the Turks, a goal that failed. From Ivan's point of view, the marriage fitted well into the general trend of elevating the Muscovite ruler.


title: Ivan III of Russia

text: Following his second marriage, Ivan developed a complicated court ceremonial on the Byzantine model and began to use the title of "Tsar and Autocrat". Also during the reign of Ivan and his son, Vasily III, Moscow came to be referred to by spokesmen as the Third Rome. Philotheos, a monk from Pskov, developed the idea of Moscow as the true successor to Byzantium and, hence, to Rome.


title: Ivan III of Russia

text: An impressive building program in Moscow took place under Ivan, directed primarily by Italian artists and craftsmen. New buildings were erected in the Kremlin, and the Kremlin walls were strengthened and furnished with towers and gates. In 1475, Ivan III established the first cannon foundry of Russia in Moscow, which started the native cannon production. Ivan died on 27 October 1505, and was succeeded by his son, Vasily III.


title: Ivan III of Russia

text: In Herberstein's "Notes on Muscovite Affairs", Ivan III was characterized as a cruel tyrant, drunk, and a misogynist, far from being a ruler of great fairness and equity presented by previous writers.


title: Ivan III of Russia

text: The only biography in English of Ivan is J. L. I. Fennell's "Ivan the Great of Moscow" (1961). The Third Rome concept is discussed in Nicholas Zernov's "Moscow: The Third Rome" (1937). A firsthand account of the 1486–1506 period is Baron Sigismund von Herberstein's "Notes upon Russia", translated and edited by R. H. Major (2 vols., 1851–1852). The most thorough study of this period available to the English reader is George Vernadsky and Michael Karpovich's "A History of Russia, vol. 4" (1959).


title: Amazfit

text: Amazfit is a Chinese smart wearable brand established in September 2015 and headquartered in Hefei. Its products are manufactured and owned by Zepp Health. The brand offers wearable devices including smartwatches, fitness bands, and equipment related to health and sports.


title: Amazfit

text: In January 2020, it attended the Consumer Electronics Show 2020 in Las Vegas. At the middle of October 2021, Amazfit updated its brand identity with the slogan "Up Your Game".


title: Amazfit

text: In 2016, the first smartwatch of Amazfit was introduced. In April 2017, it launched the Amazfit Health Band.


title: Amazfit

text: A self-developed chipset called the "Huangshan-1" was exhibited at Mobile World Congress and applied to Amazfit devices in 2019.


title: Amazfit

text: In July 2019, the lens of the photoelectric module of an Amazfit smartwatch dislodged, causing a user's skin to be burned.


title: Amazfit

text: After the launch of Amazfit GTR series smartwatches, some problems were revealed, such as the screen was easy to be scratched and the positioning was severely shifted, which affected the usage.


title: Amazfit

text: In April 2020, its parent company partnered with a laboratory led by Zhong Nanshan to use wearable devices to track respiratory diseases.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put forward in "Führer Directive No. 25", which Adolf Hitler issued on 27 March 1941, following a Yugoslav coup d'état that overthrew the pro-Axis government.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The invasion commenced with an overwhelming air attack on Belgrade and facilities of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force (VVKJ) by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and attacks by German land forces from southwestern Bulgaria. These attacks were followed by German thrusts from Romania, Hungary and the Ostmark (modern-day Austria, then part of Germany). Italian forces were limited to air and artillery attacks until 11 April, when the Italian army attacked towards Ljubljana (in modern-day Slovenia) and through Istria and Lika and down the Dalmatian coast. On the same day, Hungarian forces entered Yugoslav Bačka and Baranya, but like the Italians they faced practically no resistance. A Yugoslav attack into the northern parts of the Italian protectorate of Albania met with initial success, but was inconsequential due to the collapse of the rest of the Yugoslav forces.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Scholars have proposed several theories for the Royal Yugoslav Army's sudden collapse, including poor training and equipment, generals eager to secure a quick cessation of hostilities, and Croatian, Slovenian, and ethnic German fifth column activities. The latter has been questioned by scholars who have suggested that the fifth column had little effect on the ultimate outcome. The invasion ended when an armistice was signed on 17 April 1941, based on the unconditional surrender of the Yugoslav army, which came into effect at noon on 18 April. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was then occupied and partitioned by the Axis powers. Most of Serbia and the Banat became a German zone of occupation while other areas of Yugoslavia were annexed by neighboring Axis countries, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Albania and Bulgaria. Croatia became the Independent State of Croatia (, or NDH), an Axis puppet state created during the invasion comprising the Srem, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the Croatian lands. Along with Italy's stalled invasion of Greece on 28 October 1940, and the German-led invasion of Greece (Operation Marita) and invasion of Crete (Operation Merkur), the invasion of Yugoslavia was part of the German Balkan Campaign ().


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: In October 1940, Fascist Italy had attacked the Kingdom of Greece only to be forced back into Albania. German dictator Adolf Hitler recognised the need to go to the aid of his ally, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Hitler did this not only to restore diminished Axis prestige, but also to prevent Britain from bombing the Romanian Ploiești oilfields from which Nazi Germany obtained most of its oil.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: In 1940 and early 1941, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria all agreed to adhere to the Tripartite Pact and thus join the Axis. Hitler then pressured Yugoslavia to join as well. The Regent, Prince Paul, yielded to this pressure, and declared Yugoslavia's accession to the Pact on 25 March 1941. This move was highly unpopular with the Serb-dominated officer corps of the military, Serbian organizations such as National Defense and the Chetniks Association, the Serbian Orthodox Church, a large part of the Serbian population as well as liberals and Communists. Military officers (predominantly Serbs) executed a coup d'état on 27 March 1941, forced the Regent to resign, and declared 17-year-old King Peter II to be of age.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Upon hearing news of the coup in Yugoslavia, Hitler called his military advisers to Berlin on 27 March. On the same day as the coup he issued Führer Directive 25, which called for Yugoslavia to be treated as a hostile state. Hitler took the coup as a personal insult, and was so angered that he was determined, in his words, "to destroy Yugoslavia militarily and as a state" ("Jugoslawien militärisch und als Staatsgebilde zu zerschlagen") and to do so "with pitiless harshness" and "without waiting for possible declarations of loyalty of the new government".


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Hungary had joined the Tripartite Pact on 20 November 1940. On 12 December, it also concluded a treaty with Yugoslavia calling for "permanent peace and eternal friendship". The Hungarian leadership was split after Germany's War Directive 25 was delivered on 27 March 1941. Regent Miklós Horthy and the military favoured taking part in the invasion of Yugoslavia and mobilized the following day. Prime Minister Pál Teleki sought to prevent German troops passing through Hungary and cited the peace treaty with Yugoslavia as an impediment to co-operation with the Germans.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 1 April, Yugoslavia redesignated its Assault Command as the Chetnik Command, named after the Serb guerrilla forces from World War I, which had resisted the Central Powers. The command was intended to lead a guerrilla war if the country was occupied. Its headquarters was transferred from Novi Sad to Kraljevo in south-central Serbia on 1 April.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 2 April, the German ambassador having already been recalled for "talks", the remaining embassy staff were ordered to leave the capital and to warn the embassies of friendly nations to likewise evacuate. That sent the unmistakable message that Yugoslavia was about to be invaded.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 3 April, Hitler issued War Directive 26 detailing the plan of attack and command structure for the invasion as well as promising Hungary territorial gains. The same day Teleki killed himself. Horthy, seeking a compromise, informed Hitler that evening that Hungary would abide by the treaty, though it would likely cease to apply should Croatia secede and Yugoslavia cease to exist. Upon the proclamation of an Independent State of Croatia in Zagreb on 10 April, this scenario was realized and Hungary joined the invasion, its army crossing into Yugoslavia the following day.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The invasion was spearheaded by the German 2nd Army with elements of the 12th Army, First Panzer Group, and an independent panzer corps combined with overwhelming "Luftwaffe" support. The 19 German divisions included five panzer divisions, two motorised infantry divisions and two mountain divisions. The German force also included three well-equipped independent motorised infantry regiments and was supported by over 750 aircraft. The Italian 2nd Army and 9th Army committed a total of 22 divisions and 666 aircraft to the operation. The Hungarian 3rd Army also participated in the invasion, with support available from over 500 aircraft.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: During the April War, the "Führer" Headquarters (FHQ) was codenamed "" (Spring Storm) and consisted of the "Führersonderzug" (Special "Führer"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Train) codenamed "Amerika" stationed in Mönichkirchen alongside the special train "Atlas" of the Armed Forces Operations Staff ("Wehrmachtführungsstabes", WFSt). "Atlas" did not arrive at Mönichkirchen until 11 April, well after operations were underway, and "Amerika" only arrived the following day. Mönichkirchen was chosen because a nearby rail tunnel could provide shelter in the event of air attack. Both trains returned to Berlin on 26 April.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: After the Italian invasion in the northwest began, King Victor Emmanuel III moved to a villa owned by the Pirzio Biroli family at Brazzacco, near Moruzzo, in order to be close to the front.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Germany attacked Yugoslavia from bases in three countries besides itself: Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. German troops entered each of these countries under different pretenses and at different times. The first country to receive a German military mission was Romania. Ostensibly to train the Romanian armed forces, its real purpose was to protect Romania's petroleum resources and prepare for an attack on the Soviet Union. The "Wehrmacht" entered Bulgaria more circumspectly, first with the intention of providing aerial defense against any force attacking Romania's oilfields and later with that of invading Greece in support of Italy. German troops did not enter Hungary until the attack on Yugoslavia was already planned and Hungary's participation had been secured.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: King Carol II of Romania, starting from the cession of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union, proposed in a letter to Adolf Hitler on 2 July 1940 that Germany send a military mission to Romania. The Romanian government asked that a mission be sent urgently on 7 September 1940, the day after Carol's abdication. The decision to aid Romania was taken on 19 September, and Hungary was asked to provide transit to German soldiers on 30 September. The first troops entered Romania on 10 October. They entered Bucharest two days later (12 October) to shouts of "Heil!" The official explanation for the presence of German troops was that they were there to train the Romanian army. Hitler's directive to the troops on 10 October had stated that "it is necessary to avoid even the slightest semblance of military occupation of Romania." In the second half of October, the Romanian leader, Ion Antonescu, asked that the military mission be expanded. The Germans happily obliged the request, since the oil fields and refineries at Ploiești were vital to their war effort. Romania was also an important launching point for an attack on the Soviet Union, which made the presence of German troops a violation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: By the middle of November the 13th Motorised Infantry Division had been assembled in Romania, and reinforced by the 4th Panzer Regiment, engineers and signal troops, as well as six fighter and two reconnaissance "Luftwaffe" squadrons, and some antiaircraft artillery. A total of seventy batteries of artillery were moved into Romania. On 23 November, Romania signed the Tripartite Pact. At the time Germany informed Romania that she would not be expected to participate in an attack on Greece, but that Germany wanted to use Romanian territory to provide a base for a German attack. On 24 November, Antonescu met with Wilhelm Keitel, chief of the "Oberkommando der Wehrmacht", to discuss common defense. As a result of this meeting, the 16th Panzer Division was sent to Romania in late December. The 12th Army and First Panzer Group, along with heavy bridging equipment for the planned crossing of the Danube, followed in January 1941. By January 1941 the total number of German effectives in Romania was 170,639. Those elements of the 12th Army that were to invade Yugoslavia from Romania assembled near Timișoara (Temeschwar).


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Between November 1940 and February 1941 the "Luftwaffe" gradually moved 135 fighters and reconnaissance aircraft into Romania (in 22–26 squadrons). In early April 1941 they moved a further 600 aircraft from France, Africa, and Sicily into Romania and Bulgaria in a period of ten days. The fighter and reconnaissance craft were sent to fields in Arad, Deva, and Turnu Severin. On 12 February Britain broke off diplomatic relations with Romania on the grounds that it was an enemy-occupied country.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Two events in early November 1940 convinced Hitler of the need to station troops, especially the "Luftwaffe", in Bulgaria. The first was false reports that the British were constructing an airfield on Lemnos, from which they could bomb Ploiești. The second was the beginning of British air raids originating from Greek bases against Italian shipping on 6 November. Planning for the German invasion of Greece from Bulgaria began on 12 November.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Already on 13 November, the Soviets were (incorrectly) accusing the Germans of having troops in neutral Bulgaria. On 18 November, Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria met with Hitler and promised to participate in an attack on Greece, but only at the last moment. Shortly thereafter a secret German team under Colonel Kurt Zeitzler entered Bulgaria to establish fuel depots, arrange for troop billeting and scout the terrain. They were soon followed by hundreds of "Luftwaffe" personnel to establish air observation stations. By the end of December over a thousand German troops in civilian clothing were active in Bulgaria, although the latter's government continued to deny it. Bombers and dive-bombers were also gradually moved into Bulgaria, beginning in November. By the end of March 1941, the "Luftwaffe" had 355 aircraft in the country.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 17 February 1941, Bulgaria signed a non-aggression pact with Turkey, paving the way for its adherence to the Tripartite Pact, which was signed by Prime Minister Bogdan Filov in Vienna on 1 March. When Ivan V. Petrov, member of the National Assembly from Yablanitsa, asked why the Assembly had not been consulted, Filov pointed out that the constitution only required parliamentary approval prior to ratification. The signing was ratified by a vote in the Assembly of 140 to 20. The first German troops crossed the Danube from Romania on 28 February, a day before Bulgaria joined the pact. The greater part of the 12th Army, augmented by VIII. Fliegerkorps, crossed the Danube on 2 March. They were welcomed by the Russophile population, who believed that Germany and the Soviet Union were allied. The 12th Army was originally deployed solely for an attack on Greece. After receiving Directive No. 25, which projected an invasion of Yugoslavia in the direction of Belgrade on 8 April, the force was redeployed in three groups: one along the Turkish border, one along the Greek border and one along the Yugoslav border. Motorized transport was brought in from Romania to achieve this feat in a few days.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Although German troops had been refused the right to transit Hungary for the invasion of Poland in 1939, they were permitted to pass through Hungary as civilians on their way to Romania in 1940. In September 1940 the Hungarian legation in Berlin had granted over 6,500 transit visas to Germans traveling to Romania. On 30 September, shortly after the signing of the Tripartite Pact, Ribbentrop and General Keitel asked the Hungarian foreign minister, István Csáky, who was in Vienna, to grant the Germans use of transit facilities for German military "study groups" to pass through to Romania. They were still awaiting final confirmation on 3 October. The arrangement agreed was that six trains would pass through Hungary at night carrying German soldiers in sealed cars. They would not be allowed out, and they would not have any rail transportation officers (RTOs) or supply officers with them.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: According to György Barcza, the Hungarian ambassador in London, answering the British government's query, it was Romania that had made the request. In his notes, Barcza indicated that the British had declared that "if Hungary were to permit German troops to pass through Hungarian territory against Yugoslavia, Britain would break off diplomatic relations, indeed might declare war on us." The first German troops began their passage through Hungary on 8 October. Despite some official denials, the troops movements were reported by Reuters and the American ambassador received a full report. According to contemporary British intelligence, three divisions had passed through Hungary to Romania by 2 November. On 20 November, Hungarian Prime Minister Pál Teleki signed the Tripartite Pact after a meeting with Hitler in Berchtesgarden. At the meeting, Hitler spoke of his intention to aid Italy against Greece, thereby preparing the Hungarians for his future demands.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 13 December 1940—the day after the Hungaro-Yugoslav Non-Aggression Pact and the day Hitler issued Führer Directive No. 20—major German troop movements began. The Germans had initially promised to supply 180 locomotives for the transfers, but later the Hungarians were complaining that only 130 had arrived. On 24 December, István Horthy, President of Hungarian State Railways (HSR), demanded negotiations before implementing requested German increases, but Ambassador Otto von Erdmannsdorf informed him that it had all been settled in Vienna by Keitel and Csáky. The German traffic was so large that on 28 December the HSR had to suspend travel on all its trains for several days on account of a shortage of coal. Hungarian officials tried to meet all German demands without going further than the governments had agreed. Even sabotage was used on occasion to prevent having to give the Germans more support than required. On 18 January 1941 an agreement was reached to store German supplies in Hungarian warehouses under Hungarian guard, with only a German officer in Budapest to serve as a liaison. These supplies were to be used in the campaign against Greece.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 27 March 1941, Hitler informed the Hungarian ambassador, Döme Sztójay, and gave an official proposal to Hungary for participation in the attack on Yugoslavia. Hitler confidentially told Miklós Horthy that Germany fully recognizes the Hungarian territorial claims in relation to Yugoslavia and that he can take Bačka and Banat, and added "take as much as you want". Horthy mostly agreed and accepted Hitler's suggestions. A Hungarian response was hammered out in council and delivered the following day (28 March). On 30 March, General Friedrich Paulus arrived in Budapest and met with Henrik Werth, chief of the Hungarian general staff, and Major General László Deseő. The Hungarians proposed they mobilize five divisions for the attack on Yugoslavia. Two were to be held in reserve, while the First, Fifth and Mobile Corps were to conduct the main attack on Subotica ("Szabadka"), with a secondary operation east of the river Tisza. Because of Romania's request that Hungarian troops not operate in the Banat, Paulus modified the Hungarian plan and kept their troops west of the Tisza. This final plan "was put down in map form", according to Paulus' account, and must have been telephoned to Berlin immediately so as to make into Operational Order No. 25, issued by Walther von Brauchitsch that same day.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: This final plan committed one Hungarian corps of three brigades west of the Danube from Lake Balaton to Barcs, and twelve brigades (nine on the front and three in reserve) for an offensive in Bačka ("Bácska"). The Danube Flotilla was to cover the flanks, and the air force was to stand by for orders. The "Carpathian Group", composed of Eighth Corps, the 1st Mountain Brigade and the 8th Border Guard ("Chasseur") Brigade, was mobilized on the Soviet border, with the Mobile Corps held in reserve.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: These arrangements were agreed to by Werth, he later claimed, "on the basis of the authorization received" on 28 April—although this was not the government's view of what had been authorized. Werth applied for permission to mobilize on 1 April, since a mobilization order had to be approved by the cabinet and issued by the regent over the signature of the minister of defense. Werth expected the Germans to begin operations, with the use of Hungarian territory and communications, on 12 April and the Hungarians to complete mobilization by 6 April and begin their offensive on the 15th. A meeting of the Supreme Defense Council was convened for 1 April to discuss Werth's request. After a long debate, it approved his mobilization plan, but refused to place Hungarian troops under German command and restricted Hungarian operations to the occupation of territory abandoned by the Yugoslavs. On 2 April Germany responded that the Paulus–Werth agreement was final, and German staff officers began arriving in Budapest that day. That same day the British informed Hungary that she would be treated as an enemy state if Germany made use of her territory or facilities in an attack on Yugoslavia. On the morning of 3 April, Pál Teleki committed suicide; the regent immediately cancelled the mobilization order already given except for the Border Guard and the Mobile Corps, which prompted Werth to resign. Horthy then authorized the mobilization of the Fourth and Fifth Corps and the Mountain Brigade, and Werth withdrew his resignation. This occurred so late in the day that zero hour for mobilization to begin was given as midnight of 5 April. On the morning of 3 April, German units, including tanks and aircraft, bound for Romania passed openly through Budapest.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The Italian 2nd Army and 9th Army committed a total of 22 divisions to the operation, comprising around 300,000 troops.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The Italian 2nd Army () was commanded by "Generale designato d’Armata" (acting General) Vittorio Ambrosio, and consisted of one fast () corps ("Celere" Corps), one motorised corps (Motorised Corps) and three infantry corps (V Corps, VI Corps, and XI Corps), and was assembled in northeastern Italy, attacking from Istria and the Julian March along the border with Slovenia and Croatia. The 2nd Army was supported by a motorised engineer regiment including three bridging battalions, a chemical battalion, fifteen territorial battalions, and two garrison battalions.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: V Corps support units included three motorised artillery regiments comprising thirteen battalions, four machine gun battalions (two motorised and two pack animal), three Blackshirt legions of battalion size, a motorised anti-aircraft battalion, a sapper assault battalion and a road construction battalion. VI Corps included four motorised artillery regiments with a total of sixteen battalions, two machine gun battalions (one motorised, one pack animal) and a motorised anti-aircraft regiment. XI Corps included one motorised artillery regiment comprising four battalions, three machine gun battalions (one motorised, one pack animal and one static), and six Blackshirt legions of battalion size. The Motorised Corps was supported by a motorised artillery regiment consisting of three battalions, and a motorised engineer battalion.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: In Albania, the elements of the Italian 9th Army () that were involved in the campaign were commanded by "Generale d’Armata" (General) Alessandro Pirzio Biroli, and consisted of two infantry corps and some sector troops assembled in northern Albania.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: XIV Corps was supported by a cavalry regiment, three Border Guard battalions, a Finance Guard battalion and two military police () battalions. The XVII Corps included the "Diamanti" Blackshirt group which incorporated six Blackshirt regiments comprising two battalions each, the Albanian-raised "Skanderbeg" Blackshirt regiment of two battalions, another Blackshirt regiment of two battalions, a cavalry regiment, a "Bersaglieri" motorcycle battalion, three Border Guard battalions, one Finance Guard battalion, a motorised artillery regiment of three battalions, a military police battalion, and a tank company equipped with Fiat M13/40 light tanks. The "Librazhd" Sector included a motorised artillery regiment of four battalions, a bicycle-mounted "Bersaglieri" regiment, a cavalry regiment, the "Biscaccianti" Blackshirt group which incorporated two Blackshirt regiments with a total of five battalions, the regimental-sized "Agostini" Blackshirt Forest Militia, and the "Briscotto" group, a regimental-sized formation consisting of one "Alpini" battalion and two Finance Guard battalions.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The Zara garrison numbered about 9,000 men under the overall command of "Generale di Brigata" (Brigadier) Emilio Giglioli. The garrison consisted of two main groupings and an assortment of supporting units. The two main groupings were the regimental-sized "Fronte a Terra" (Land Front), which comprised three static machine gun battalions and a bicycle-mounted "Bersaglieri" battalion, and the battalion-strength "Fronte a Mare" (Sea Front), which consisted of two machine gun companies, an anti-aircraft battery, a coastal artillery battery and a naval artillery battery. Supporting units consisted of an artillery regiment of three battalions, two independent artillery battalions, a machine gun battalion, a motorised anti-aircraft battalion (less one battery), an engineer battalion, a company of Blackshirts, and a company of L3/35 tankettes.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The Yugoslav forces consisted of more than 33 divisions of the Royal Yugoslav Army (, VKJ), four air brigades of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force (, VVKJ) with more than 400 aircraft, and the small Royal Yugoslav Navy (, KJRM) centred around four destroyers and four submarines based on the Adriatic coast and some river monitors on the Danube. The VKJ was heavily reliant on animal-powered transport, was only partly mobilised at the time of the invasion, and had only 50 tanks that could engage German tanks on an equal basis. The VVKJ was equipped with a range of aircraft of Yugoslav, German, Italian, French and British design, including less than 120 modern fighter aircraft.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Formed after World War I, the VKJ was still largely equipped with weapons and material from that era, although some modernization with Czech equipment and vehicles had begun. Of about 4,000 artillery pieces, many were aged and horse-drawn, but about 1,700 were relatively modern, including 812 Czech 37mm and 47mm anti-tank guns. There were also about 2,300 mortars, including 1600 modern 81mm pieces, as well as twenty-four 220 and 305mm pieces. Of 940 anti-aircraft guns, 360 were 15 mm and 20 mm Czech and Italian models. All of these arms were imported, from different sources; the various models often lacked proper repair and maintenance facilities.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The only mechanized units were six motorized infantry battalions in the three cavalry divisions, six motorized artillery regiments, two tank battalions equipped with 110 tanks, one of which had Renault FT models of First World War origin and the other 54 modern French Renault R35 tanks, plus an independent tank company with eight Czech SI-D tank destroyers. Some 1,000 trucks for military purposes had been imported from the United States of America in the months just preceding the invasion.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Fully mobilized, the Yugoslav Army fielded 28 infantry divisions, three cavalry divisions, and 35 independent regiments. Of the independent regiments, 16 were in frontier fortifications and 19 were organized as combined regiments, or "Odred", around the size of a reinforced brigade. Each Odred had one to three infantry regiments and one to three artillery battalions, with three organised as "alpine" units. The German attack, however, caught the army still mobilizing, and only some 11 divisions were in their planned defense positions at the start of the invasion. The Yugoslavs had delayed full mobilisation until 3 April in order not to provoke Hitler. The units were filled to between 70 and 90 percent of their strength as mobilization was not completed. The Yugoslav Army was about 1,200,000 in total as the German invasion commenced.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The VVKJ had a strength of 1,875 officers and 29,527 other ranks, including some 2,000 pilots, had over 460 front-line aircraft of domestic (notably the IK-3), German, Italian, French, and British origin, of which most were modern types. Organized into 22 bomber squadrons and 19 fighter squadrons, the main aircraft types in operational use included 73 Messerschmitt Bf 109 E, 47 Hawker Hurricane Mk I (with more being built under licence in Yugoslavia), 30 Hawker Fury II, 11 Rogozarski IK-3 fighters (plus more under construction), 10 Ikarus IK-2, 2 Potez 63, one Messerschmitt Bf 110C-4 (captured in early April due to a navigational error) and one Rogozarski R 313 fighters, 69 Dornier Do 17 K (including 40 plus licence-built), 61 Bristol Blenheim Mk I (including some 40 licence-built) and 40 Savoia Marchetti SM-79 K bombers. Army reconnaissance units consisted of seven Groups with 130 obsolete Yugoslav-built Breguet 19 and Potez 25 light bombers. There were also some 400 trainer and auxiliary aircraft. The Naval Aviation units comprised 75 aircraft in eight squadrons equipped with, amongst other auxiliary types, 12 German-built Dornier Do 22 K and 15 Rogozarski SIM-XIV-H locally designed and built maritime patrol float-planes.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The aircraft of the Yugoslav airline Aeroput, consisting mainly of six Lockheed Model 10 Electras, three Spartan Cruisers, and one de Havilland Dragon were mobilised to provide transport services to the VVKJ.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The KJRM was equipped with one elderly ex-German light cruiser (suitable only for training purposes), one large modern destroyer flotilla leader of British design, three modern destroyers of French design (two built in Yugoslavia plus another still under construction), one seaplane tender, four modern submarines (two older French-built and two British-built) and 10 modern motor torpedo boats (MTBs), of the older vessels, there were six ex-Austrian Navy medium torpedo boats, six mine-layers, four large armoured river monitors and various auxiliary craft.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The Yugoslav Army was organized into three army groups and the coastal defense troops. The 3rd Army Group was the strongest with the 3rd, 3rd Territorial, 5th and 6th Armies defending the borders with Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. The 2nd Army Group with the 1st and 2nd Armies, defended the region between the Iron Gates and the Drava River. The 1st Army Group with the 4th and 7th Armies, composed mainly of Croatian troops, was in Croatia and Slovenia defending the Italian, German (Austrian) and Hungarian frontiers.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The strength of each "Army" amounted to little more than a corps, with the Army Groups consisting of the units deployed as follows:


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On the eve of invasion, clothing and footwear were available for only two-thirds or so of the potential front-line troops and only partially for other troops; some other essential supplies were available for only a third of the front-line troops; medical and sanitary supplies were available for only a few weeks, and supplies of food for men and feed for livestock were available for only about two months. In all cases there was little or no possibility of replenishment.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Beyond the problems of inadequate equipment and incomplete mobilization, the Yugoslav Army suffered badly from the Serbo-Croat schism in Yugoslav politics. "Yugoslav" resistance to the invasion collapsed overnight. The main reason was that none of the subordinate national groups, including Slovenes and Croats, were prepared to fight in defence of a Serbian Yugoslavia. Also, so that the Slovenes did not feel abandoned, defences were built on Yugoslavia's northern border when the natural line of defence was much further south, based on the rivers Sava and Drina. The only effective opposition to the invasion was from wholly Serbian units within the borders of Serbia itself. The Germans, thrusting north-west from Skopje, were held up at Kacanik Pass and lost several tanks (P39, Buckley C "Greece and Crete 1941" HMSO 1977). In its worst expression, Yugoslavia's defenses were badly compromised on 10 April 1941, when some of the units in the Croatian-manned 4th and 7th Armies mutinied, and a newly formed Croatian government hailed the entry of the Germans into Zagreb the same day. The Serbian General Staff were united on the question of Yugoslavia as a "Greater Serbia", ruled, in one way or another, by Serbia. On the eve of the invasion, there were 165 generals on the Yugoslav active list. Of these, all but four were Serbs.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Professor Jozo Tomasevich and others divide the invasion and resultant fighting into two phases. The first phase encompasses the "Luftwaffe"'s devastating air assault on Belgrade and airfields of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force of 6 April, and an initial thrust of the German XL Panzer Corps from Bulgaria towards Skopje that commenced the same day. This was followed by the assault of the German XIV Panzer Corps from Bulgaria towards Niš on 8 April. On 10 April, four more thrusts struck the Yugoslav Army; the XLI Panzer Corps from Romania towards Belgrade, the XLVI Panzer Corps from Hungary across the Drava, the LI Infantry Corps from Austria towards Zagreb, and the XLIX Mountain Corps from Austria towards Celje. By the end of that day, the Yugoslav Army was disintegrating, and was in retreat or surrendering right across the country, with the exception of the forces on the Albanian frontier. Italy and Hungary joined the ground offensive on 11 April. The Italian part in the ground offensive began when their 2nd Army attacked from northeastern Italy towards Ljubljana and down the Dalmatian coast, meeting virtually no resistance. On the same day, the Hungarian 3rd Army crossed the Yugoslav border and advanced toward Novi Sad, but like the Italians, they met no serious resistance. On 12 April, German troops captured Belgrade, and Ljubljana fell to the Italians. On 14 and 15 April, King Peter and the government flew out of the country, and the Yugoslav Supreme Command was captured by the Germans near Sarajevo. The surrender was signed on 17 April, and came into effect at noon on 18 April.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Following the Belgrade Coup on 27 March 1941, the Yugoslav armed forces were put on alert, although the army was not fully mobilised for fear of provoking Hitler. The VVKJ command decided to disperse its forces away from their main bases to a system of 50 auxiliary airfields that had previously been prepared. However, many of these airfields lacked facilities and had inadequate drainage which prevented the continued operation of all but the very lightest aircraft in the adverse weather conditions encountered in April 1941.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Despite having, on paper at any rate, a substantially stronger force of relatively modern aircraft than the combined British and Greek air forces to the south, the VVKJ could simply not match the overwhelming "Luftwaffe" and "Regia Aeronautica" superiority in terms of numbers, tactical deployment and combat experience.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The bomber and maritime force hit targets in Italy, Germany (Austria), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Greece, as well as attacking German, Italian and Hungarian troops. Meanwhile, the fighter squadrons inflicted not insignificant losses on escorted Luftwaffe bomber raids on Belgrade and Serbia, as well as upon "Regia Aeronautica" raids on Dalmatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro. The VVKJ also provided direct air support to the hard pressed Yugoslav Army by strafing attacking troop and mechanized columns in Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia (sometimes taking off and strafing the troops attacking the very base being evacuated).


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: After a combination of air combat losses, losses on the ground to enemy air attack on bases and the overrunning of airfields by enemy troops, after 11 days the VVKJ almost ceased to exist. However, continued domestic aircraft production during the invasion supplied the VVKJ with an additional eight Hurricane Is, six Dornier Do 17Ks, four Blenheim Is, two Ikarus IK 2s, one Rogozarski IK-3 and one Messerschmitt Bf 109 from the local aeronautical industry's aircraft factories and workshops.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: At the beginning of the April war, the VVKJ was armed with some 60 German designed Do 17Ks, purchased by Yugoslavia in the autumn of 1938, together with a manufacturing licence. The sole operator was "3 vazduhoplovni puk" (3rd bomber regiment) composed of two bomber groups; the 63rd Bomber Group stationed at Petrovec airfield near Skopje and the 64th Bomber Group stationed at Milesevo airfield near Priština. Other auxiliary airfields had also been prepared to aid in dispersal.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: During the course of hostilities, the State Aircraft Factory in Kraljevo managed to produce six more aircraft of this type. Of the final three, two were delivered to the VVKJ on 10 April and one was delivered on 12 April 1941.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 6 April, Luftwaffe dive-bombers and ground-attack fighters destroyed 26 of the Yugoslav Dorniers in the initial assault on their airfields, but the remaining aircraft were able to effectively hit back with numerous attacks on German mechanized columns and upon Bulgarian airfields. By the end of the campaign total Yugoslav losses stood at four destroyed in aerial combat and 45 destroyed on the ground.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 14 and 15 April, the seven remaining Do 17K flew to Nikšić airfield in Montenegro and took part in the evacuation of King Petar II and members of the Yugoslav government to Greece. During this operation, Yugoslav gold reserves were also airlifted to Greece by the seven Do 17s, as well as by SM-79Ks and Lockheed Electra's but after completing their mission, five Do 17Ks were destroyed on the ground when Italian aircraft attacked the Greek-held Paramitia airfield. Only two Do 17Ks escaped destruction in Greece and later joined the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Kingdom of Egypt.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: At 16:00 on 15 April the C-in-C of "Luftflotte 4", "Generaloberst" Alexander Löhr received orders from Hermann Göring to wind down the air-offensive and transfer the bulk of the dive-bomber force to support the campaign in Greece.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: A total of 18 bomber, transport and maritime patrol aircraft (two Dornier Do 17Ks, four Savoia Marchetti SM-79Ks, three Lockheed Electra's, eight Dornier Do-22Ks and one Rogozarski SIM-XIV-H) succeeded in escaping to the Allied base in Egypt at the end of the campaign.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: "Luftflotte 4" of the Luftwaffe, with a strength of seven Combat Formations ("Kampfgruppen") had been committed to the campaign in the Balkans. At 07:00 on 6 April the Luftwaffe opened the assault on Yugoslavia by conducting a saturation-type bombing raid on the capital, "Operation Retribution" ("Unternehmen Strafgericht"). Flying in relays from airfields in Austria and Romania, 300 aircraft, of which a quarter were Junkers Ju 87 "Stukas", protected by a heavy fighter escort began the attack. The dive-bombers were to silence the Yugoslav anti-aircraft defences while the medium bombers consisting mainly Dornier Do 17s and Junkers Ju 88 attacked the city. The initial raid was carried out at 15-minute intervals in three distinct waves, each lasting for approximately 20 minutes. Thus, the city was subjected to a rain of bombs for almost one and a half hours. The German bombers directed their main effort against the center of the city, where the principal government buildings were located. The medium bomber "Kampfgruppen" continued their attack on the city for several days while the Stuka dive bomber wings ("Stukageschwader") were soon diverted to Yugoslav airfields.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: When the attack was over, some 4,000 inhabitants lay dead under the debris. This blow virtually destroyed all means of communication between the Yugoslav high command and the forces in the field, although most of the elements of the general staff managed to escape to one of the suburbs.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Having thus delivered the knockout blow to the Yugoslavian nerve center, the Luftwaffe was able to devote its maximum effort to military targets such as Yugoslav airfields, routes of communication, and troop concentrations, and to the close support of German ground operations.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The VVKJ put up its Belgrade defence interceptors from the six squadrons of the 32nd and 51st Fighter Groups to attack each wave of bombers, although as the day wore on the four squadrons from the 31st and 52nd Fighter Groups, based in central Serbia, also took part. The Messerschmitt 109E, Hurricane Is and Rogozarski IK-3 fighters scored at least twenty "kills" amongst the attacking bombers and their escorting fighters on 6 April and a further dozen shot down on 7 April. The desperate defence by the VVKJ over Belgrade cost it some 20 fighters shot down and 15 damaged.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The British, Greek and Yugoslav high commands intended to use Niš as the lynch-pin in their attempts to wear down German forces in the Balkans and it is for this reason that the locality was important. When the Germans broke through in this sector – a sector which was essential if stability was to be maintained on the front – The Yugoslav Supreme Command committed numerous forces from its strategic reserves, including the 2nd Cavalry Division, but these were harassed by the "Luftwaffe" during transit to the front and did not get through in any real quantities.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Having reached Niš from its initial attacks from Bulgaria and broken the Yugoslav defences, the German "14th Motorised Corps" headed north in the direction of Belgrade. The German "46th Panzer Corps" had advanced across the Slavonian plain from Austria to attack Belgrade from the west, whilst the "41st Panzer Corps" threatened the city from the north after launching its offensive drive from Romania and Hungary. By 11 April, Yugoslavia was criss-crossed by German armoured columns and the only resistance that remained was a large nucleus of the Yugoslav Army around the capital. On 11 April, a German Officer, Fritz Klingenberg with few men, moved into Belgrade to reconnoitre the city. However, after some scattered combat with Yugoslav troops, they entered the centre of the city, whereupon they bluffed about their size and incoming threats of bombardment. The city, represented by the Mayor, surrendered to them at 18:45 hours on 12 April. Later more forces moved to consolidate the position.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: In the opening days of the invasion, Italian forces on the Slovene border carried out minor actions in the Sava valley and in the Kastav area, capturing some Yugoslav positions on Mount Peč on 7 April, Kranjska Gora, Zavratec and Godz on 8 April, Kastav, the source of the Rječina river, Kalce and Logatec on 9 April, and repelling on 8 April a Yugoslav attack in the Cerkno Hills. On 11 April, the 2nd Army launched its offensive, capturing Ljubljana, Sušak and Kraljevica on the same day. On 12 April the 133rd Armoured Division Littorio and the 52nd Infantry Division Torino took Senj, on 13 April they occupied Otočac and Gradac, while Italian naval forces occupied several Dalmatian islands. A scheduled Yugoslav attack against the Italian enclave of Zara did not materialize, and the city garrison's troops started to advance until they met the "Torino" Division near Knin, which was taken on the same day. Split and Šibenik were taken on 15 and 16 April, respectively, and on 17 April the Motorized Corps took Dubrovnik, after covering 750 kilometers in six days.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: After repelling the Yugoslav offensive in Albania, the 18th Infantry Division Messina took Cetinje, Dubrovnik and Kotor on 17 April, meeting with the Italian units of the Motorized Corps.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 12 April the Hungarian Third Army crossed the border with one cavalry, two motorized and six infantry brigades. The Third Army faced the Yugoslavian First Army. By the time the Hungarians crossed the border, the Germans had been attacking Yugoslavia for over a week. As a result, the Yugoslavian forces confronting them put up little resistance, except for the units in the frontier fortifications, who had held up the Hungarian advance for some time. and inflicted some 350 casualties. Units of the Hungarian Third Army advanced into southern Baranja, located between the rivers Danube and Drava, and occupied the Bačka region in Vojvodina with Hungarian relative majority. The Hungarian forces occupied only those territories which were part of Hungary before the Treaty of Trianon.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: In accordance with the Yugoslav Army's war plan, R-41, a strategy was formulated that, in the face of a massive Axis attack, a retreat on all fronts except in the south be performed. Here the 3rd Yugoslav Army, in cooperation with the Greek Army, was to launch an offensive against the Italian forces in Albania. This was in order to secure space to enable the withdrawal of the main Yugoslav Army to the south. This would be via Albanian territory in order to reach Greece and the Allied forces to be based there. The strategy was based on the premise that the Yugoslav Army would, together with the Greek and British Armies, form a new version of the Salonika front of World War I.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 8 April the hard-pressed VVKJ sent a squadron of fourteen Breguet 19 light bombers to the city of Florina in northern Greece to provide assistance to both the Yugoslav and Greek Armies on the Macedonian front. The squadron performed numerous bombing and strafing missions during the course of the campaign.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The 3rd Yugoslav Army of the 3rd Army Group was tasked with conducting offensive operations against the Italian army in northern Albania. For this purpose the 3rd Army had concentrated four infantry divisions and one combined regiment (Odred) in the Montenegro and Kosovo regions:


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The strategic reserve of the 3rd Army Group, the 22nd Infantry Division "Ibarska", was situated around Uroševac in the Kosovo region.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: In addition, offensive operations against the Italian enclave of Zara (Zadar) on the Dalmatian coast were to be undertaken by the 12th Infantry Division "Jadranska".


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The first elements of the 3rd Army launched their offensive operations in North Albania on 7 April 1941, with the Komski Odred covering the Gusinje-Prokletije mountains area advancing towards the village of Raja-Puka. The Kosovska Division crossed the border in the Prizren area of Kosovo and was advancing through the Drin River valley. The Vardarska Division gained some local success at Debar, while the rest of the army's units were still assembling.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The next day, the 8th, found the Zetska Division steadily advancing along the Podgorica–Shkodër road. The Komski cavalry Odred successfully crossed the dangerous Prokletije mountains and reached the village of Koljegcava in the Valjbone River Valley. South of them the Kosovska Division broke through the Italian defences in the Drin River Valley, but due to the fall of Skopje to the attacks by the German Army, the Vardarska Division was forced to stop its operations in Albania.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: There was little further progress for the Yugoslavs on 9 April 1941, because although the Zetska Division continued advancing towards Shkodër and the Komski Odred reached the Drin River, the Kosovska Division had to halt all combat activities on the Albanian Front due to the appearance of German troops in Prizren.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 10 April 1941 the Zetska Division was still steadily fighting its way towards Shkodër and had advanced 50 km in some places. These advances had been supported by aircraft of the VVKJ's 66th and 81st Bomber Groups, who attacked airfields and Italian troop concentrations around Shkodër, as well as the port of Durrës.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The Komski Odred and the right column of the Kosovska Division advanced along the right bank of the Drin River towards Shkodër in order to link with Zetska Division, but the central and left column of the Kosovska Division were forced to take a defensive perimeter to hold off the increasing pressure by German troops. The Servizio Informazioni Militare contributed to the eventual failure of the Yugoslav offensive in Albania; Italian code breakers had "broken" Yugoslav codes and penetrated Yugoslav radio traffic, transmitting false orders with the correct code key and thus causing confusion and disruption in the movements of the Yugoslav troops.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Between 11–13 April 1941, with German and Italian troops advancing on its rear areas, the Zetska Division was forced to retreat back to the Pronisat River by the Italian 131st Armored Division "Centauro", where it remained until the end of the campaign on 16 April. The Centauro then advanced to the Yugoslav fleet base of Kotor in Montenegro, also occupying Cetinje and Podgorica.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: At the local level infighting by Yugoslav citizens started even prior to the arrival of Axis troops. Croats in the 108th Infantry Regiment of the 40th Infantry Division "Slavonska" rebelled on the evening of 7–8 April near Grubišno Polje, taking command of the regiment from its Serb officers. They were subsequently joined by the 40th Auxiliary Regiment and elements of the 42nd Infantry Regiment (also from the "Slavonska" Division). With the deteriorating situation in the area, the Yugoslav 4th Army's headquarters was moved from Bjelovar to Popovača. The rebellious regiments then entered Bjelovar, with the city's mayor Julije Makanec proclaiming an Independent State of Croatia on 8 April. Vladko Maček and ban Ivan Šubašić sent messages to the city urging the regiments to maintain their positions, but this was disobeyed by the rebel military and civil officials who waited for the arrival of the German army.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 10 April there were clashes between Ustaša supporters and Yugoslav troops in Mostar, the former taking control of the city. Several VVKJ aircraft were damaged and disabled on Jasenica airfield near Mostar, including several Dornier Do 17Ks and Savoia Marchetti SM-79 K bombers.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 11 April domestic Ustaša agents took power in Čapljina. They intercepted Yugoslav troops headed by rail from Mostar to Trebinje and disarmed them. A backup Yugoslav force from Bileća was sent in which retook the town on 14 April, before the arrival of the Germans in the coming days.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: When Germany and Italy attacked Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, The Yugoslav Royal Navy had available three destroyers, two submarines and 10 MTBs as the most effective units of the fleet. One other destroyer, "Ljubljana" was in dry-dock at the time of the invasion and she and her anti-aircraft guns were used in defence of the fleet base at Kotor. The remainder of the fleet was useful only for coastal defence and local escort and patrol work.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Kotor was close to the Albanian border and the Italo-Greek front there, but Zara (Zadar), an Italian enclave, was to the north-west of the coast and to prevent a bridgehead being established, the destroyer "Beograd", four of the old torpedo boats and 6 MTBs were despatched to Šibenik, 80 km to the south of Zara, in preparation for an attack. The attack was to be co-ordinated with the 12th "Jadranska" Infantry Division and two "Odred" (combined regiments) of the Yugoslav Army attacking from the Benkovac area, supported by air attacks by the 81st Bomber Group of the VVKJ. The Yugoslav forces launched their attack on 9 April but by 13 April the Italian forces had counter-attacked and were in Benkovac by 14 April. The naval prong to this attack faltered when the destroyer "Beograd" was damaged by near misses from Italian aircraft off Šibenik when her starboard engine was put out of action, after which she limped to Kotor, escorted by the remainder of the force, for repair. Italian air raids on Kotor badly damaged the minelayer "Kobac", which was beached to prevent sinking.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The maritime patrol float-planes of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force flew reconnaissance and attack missions during the campaign, as well as providing air cover for mine-laying operations off Zara. Their operations included attacks on the Albanian port of Durrës, as well as strikes against Italian re-supply convoys to Albania. On 9 April, one Dornier Do 22K floatplane notably took on an Italian convoy of 12 steamers with an escort of eight destroyers crossing the Adriatic during the day, attacking single-handed in the face of intense AA fire. No Italian ships, however, were sunk by Yugoslav forces; an Italian tanker was claimed to have been damaged by a near miss off the Italian coast near Bari.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The Royal Yugoslav Navy also had at its disposal four large, heavily armed and armoured river monitors in its riverine flotilla. They were used to patrol the Danube, Drava and Sava rivers in the northern parts of Yugoslavia and its border with Hungary. These monitors, "Drava", "Sava", "Morava" and "Vardar", had been inherited from the Austrian Navy at the end of World War I. All were of around 400-500t with a main armament of two 120 mm guns, two or three 66 mm guns, 120 mm mortars, 40 mm AA guns and machine guns. At the start of the campaign they had carried out offensive operations by shelling the airfield at Mohács in Hungary on 6 April and again two days later, but had to begin withdrawing towards Novi Sad by 11 April after coming under repeated attack by German dive-bombers.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Early in the morning of 12 April, a squadron of German Ju 87 dive-bombers attacked the Yugoslav monitors on the Danube. "Drava", commanded by Aleksandar Berić, was hit by several of them but they were unable to penetrate "Drava"'s 300 mm thick deck armour, until, by chance, one put a bomb straight down the funnel, killing 54 of the 67-man crew. During the attack anti-aircraft gunners on the monitors claimed three dive-bombers shot down.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The remaining three monitors were scuttled by their crews later on 12 April as German and Hungarian forces had occupied the bases and the river systems upon which they operated.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: While Romania did not take part in the actual invasion of Yugoslavia, it did provide artillery support for the German forces invading from its territory. Operating on orders from the 3rd Section of the Romanian General Staff, Romanian artillery opened fire against Yugoslav barges on the Danube on 6 April. Romanian and German units from the Romanian bank of the Danube repeatedly exchanged fire with Yugoslav forces between 6 and 11 April. The main Romanian force was at Liubcova, consisting in a battery of 120 mm/L10 naval howitzers in a fortified position. Nearby, there was also a section (2 pieces) of 120 mm/L35 naval howitzers as well as a section of 47 mm light naval guns. The Yugoslavs retaliated with their Air Force. Two Bristol Blenheims raided Arad, badly damaging one of the German fighters stationed there before both were shot down. For its contribution, Romania was rewarded with six ex-Yugoslav aircraft captured by the Germans. These machines, delivered free of charge, were however inoperative. The Romanians cannibalized three of them in order to make the other three operational. The three operational aircraft were all Hawker Hurricanes.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The losses sustained by the German attack forces were unexpectedly light. During the twelve days of combat the total casualty figures came to 558 men: 151 were listed as killed, 392 as wounded, and 15 as missing in action. During the XLI Panzer Corps drive on Belgrade, for example, the only officer killed in action fell victim to a civilian sniper's bullet. The Luftwaffe lost approximately 60 aircraft shot down over Yugoslavia, costing the lives of at least 70 aircrew. The Italian Army took heavier casualties in northern Albania from the Yugoslav offensive there (Italian casualties on all fronts during the invasion amounted to some 800 killed and 2,500 wounded), whilst the Italian Air Force lost approximately 10 aircraft shot down, with a further 22 damaged. The Hungarian Army suffered some 350 casualties (120 killed, 223 wounded and 13 missing in action) from the shelling by Yugoslav riverine forces of its frontier installations and in its attacks upon the Yugoslav frontier forces in Vojvodina, with one quarter of a Hungarian parachute 'battalion' becoming casualties when a transport aircraft filled with 30 troops went down during an abortive drop on 12 April. The Hungarians also lost five Fiat fighters and one Weiss WM-21 Sólyom reconnaissance aircraft during the fighting.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The Germans took between 254,000 and 345,000 Yugoslav prisoners (excluding a considerable number of ethnic Germans and Hungarians who had been conscripted into the Yugoslav Army and who were quickly released after screening) and the Italians took 30,000 more.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Approximately 1,000 army and several hundred VVKJ personnel (including one mobile-workshop unit of six vehicles) escaped via Greece to Egypt.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: In their brief fight, the VVKJ suffered the loss of 49 aircraft to Axis fighters and anti-aircraft fire, with many more damaged beyond repair. These losses cost the lives of 27 fighter pilots and 76 bomber aircrew. 85 more aircraft were destroyed on the ground by air attack, while many others were destroyed or disabled by their own crews or crashed during operations or in evacuation flights.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Despite these losses, more than 70 Yugoslav aircraft escaped to Allied territory, mostly to Greece, but eight Dornier and Savoia Marchetti bombers set course for the USSR, with four making it safely. Several dozen of the escapee aircraft were destroyed in a devastating strafing attack by the Italian air force on Paramitia airfield in Greece, with nine bombers and transports making it to Egypt. More than 300 operational, auxiliary and training aircraft were captured and passed on to the newly created Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia, Finland, Romania and Bulgaria.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: According to the provisions of the surrender document, the Italians took possession of most of the Yugoslav Navy (one of its four destroyers, the "Ljubljana", had spent the campaign in dry dock). However, in defiance of the said provisions, one destroyer, the "Zagreb", was blown up at Kotor by two of its junior officers and one of the British-built submarines and two MTBs escaped to Alexandria in Egypt to continue to serve with the Allied cause. A fourth destroyer was captured while under construction in the Kotor shipyard, the "Split", but the Regia Marina was not able to finish her before the armistice in 1943. Eventually, she was recovered after the war by the Yugoslavs and completed under the original name. Ten Yugoslav Navy maritime patrol float-planes escaped to Greece, with nine making it to Egypt, where they formed a squadron under RAF command.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: The Axis victory was swift. As early as 14 April the Yugoslav high command had decided to seek an armistice and authorised the army and army group commanders to negotiate local ceasefires. That day the commanders of the 2nd and 5th Armies asked the Germans for terms, but were rejected. Only unconditional surrender could form the basis for negotiations they were told. That evening, the high command sent an emissary to the headquarters of the 1st Panzer Group to ask for armistice, and in response General von Kleist sent the commander of the 2nd Army, von Weichs, to Belgrade to negotiate terms. He arrived on the afternoon of 15 April and drew up an armistice based on unconditional surrender.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: On 16 April, a Yugoslav delegate arrived in Belgrade, but as he did not have authority to sign the document, he was given a draft of the agreement and an aircraft was placed at his disposal to bring in authorised representatives of the government. Finally, on 17 April, after only eleven days of fighting, the pre-coup Foreign Minister Aleksandar Cincar-Marković and General Radivoje Janković signed the armistice and unconditionally surrendered all Yugoslav troops. It came into effect the following day (18 April) at noon. At the signing, the Hungarians and Bulgarians were represented by liaison officers, but they did not sign the document because their countries were not officially at war with Yugoslavia. The Italian representative, Colonel Luigi Buonofati, signed the document after noting that "the same terms are valid for the Italian army".


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Some scholars have proposed a number of theories for the Royal Yugoslav Army's sudden collapse, including poor training and equipment, generals eager to secure a quick cessation of hostilities, and a sizeable Croatian, Slovenian and German fifth column. Others state that the fifth column had little effect on the ultimate outcome of the invasion. According to Tomasevich, the insistence of the Yugoslav Army on defending all the borders assured its failure from the start. After the surrender, Yugoslavia was subsequently divided amongst Germany, Hungary, Italy and Bulgaria. Germany took control of most of Serbia. While Ante Pavelić, leader of the fascist Ustaše, declared an Independent State of Croatia before the invasion was even over, Croatia was actually under the joint control of Germany and Italy. Historian Aleksa Djilas states that Croatian desertion is overplayed, as many Croatian units actively fought the Germans and most Croatian officers "remained loyal until 10 April when the NDH was proclaimed" which brought an end to Yugoslavia and in turn, their loyalty to the government. He adds that the army simply reflected the weak Yugoslav political system and the main reasons for the defeat were the lack of leadership, the army's subpar equipment and outdated tactical and strategical techniques.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: Many Serbian nationalists blamed the loss on "fifth columnist" Croats who stood to gain from Italian and German rule, ignoring the primary failure of the Yugoslav Army and its almost entirely Serbian leadership. Many Croatian nationalists blamed Belgrade politicians and the inadequacy of the Serbian-dominated army.


title: Invasion of Yugoslavia

text: When the Yugoslav Army officially surrendered to the Axis forces on 18 April 1941, Royal Yugoslav Army Colonel Draža Mihailović immediately began to organize a resistance to the occupying force in the mountains of Serbia and Eastern Bosnia. Mihailović was made General of this new guerrilla version of the army and Minister for War by King Peter II and his Yugoslavian government in exile in Britain. Though Mihailović tried to insist that the guerrilla forces under his command, and numbering up to 100,000 active soldiers, continue to be referred to as the "Royal Yugoslav Army", American and British intelligence and media reportage consistently referred to them as "Chetniks". This led to confusion, since both quisling Yugoslav guerrilla forces under General Milan Nedić and Royalist guerrilla forces not under Mihailović's command were also referred to as "Chetniks". Once the Soviets fully entered the war on the side of the Allies on 22 June of 1941, the Yugoslav Partisans under Josip Tito also began to fight the Axis powers, and from then on there was continuous resistance to the occupying armies in Yugoslavia until the end of the war. While in the beginning both Yugoslav Partisans and the Chetniks engaged in resistance, the Partisans became the main resistance force after, following Churchill's lead, at the Tehran Conference in 28 November—1 December 1943, British and American governments withdrew all allegiance and support from Mihailović's Royal Yugoslav Army Chetniks, and gave all further assistance to the Communist Partisans who waged a continuous civil war against Mihailović's forces. In the end, devoid of all outside assistance, Mihailović's Royal Yugoslav Army was overcome in Serbia by a combination of well-armed, -supported, and -supplied Partisans and the invading Soviets.


title: Outlawz

text: Outlawz (formerly known as Outlaw Immortalz) are an American hip hop group founded by rapper Tupac Shakur in late 1995 after Shakur's release from prison. Collectively, they were best known for their association with Shakur. Most of the group members are named after political figures.


title: Shit

text: Shit is a word considered to be vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. Shite is a common variant in British and Irish English. As a slang term, "shit" has many meanings, including: nonsense, foolishness, something of little value or quality, trivial and usually boastful or inaccurate talk or a contemptible person. It could also be used to refer to any other noun in general or as an expression of annoyance, surprise or anger.


title: Shit

text: The word is likely derived from Old English, having the nouns "scite" (dung, attested only in place names) and "scitte" (diarrhoea) and the verb "scītan" (to defecate, attested only in "bescītan", to cover with excrement); eventually it morphed into Middle English "schītte" (excrement), "schyt" (diarrhoea) and "shiten" (to defecate), and it is virtually certain that it was used in some form by preliterate Germanic tribes at the time of the Roman Empire. The word may be further traced to Proto-Germanic *"skit"-, and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *"skheid"- "cut, separate", the same root believed to have become the word "shed". The word has several cognates in modern Germanic languages, such as German "Scheiße", Dutch "schijt", Swedish "skit", Icelandic "skítur", Norwegian "skitt" etc. Ancient Greek had 'skōr' (gen. 'skatos' hence 'scato-'), from Proto-Indo-European *"sker"-, which is likely unrelated.


title: Shit

text: The word "shit" (also "shite" in British and Hiberno-English) is considered profanity and is usually avoided in formal speech. Minced oath substitutes for the word "shit" in English include "shoot", "shucks", "sugar", and the euphemistic backronym, "Sugar, Honey, Ice(d) Tea".


title: Shit

text: In the word's literal sense, it has a rather small range of common usages. An unspecified or collective occurrence of feces is generally "shit" or "some shit"; a single deposit of feces is sometimes "a shit" or "a piece of shit"; and to defecate is "to shit" or "to take a shit". While it is common to speak of shit as existing in "a pile", "a load", "a hunk", and other quantities and configurations, such expressions flourish most strongly in the figurative. For practical purposes, when actual defecation and excreta are spoken of, it is either through creative euphemism or with a vague and fairly rigid literalism.


title: Shit

text: When uttered as an exclamation or interjection, "shit" may convey astonishment or a feeling of being favorably impressed or disgusted. Similar utterances might be "damn!", "wow!" or "yuck!".


title: Shit

text: "Piece of shit" may also be used figuratively to describe a particularly loathsome individual, or an object that is of poor quality ("this car is a "piece of shit"", often abbreviated to "P.O.S.").


title: Shit

text: One study published in 2017 argued that "shit studies" is a cross-disciplinary meta-field of rhetorical inquiry about human communication and reasoning. The authors explained, "rhetorical studies has theorized 'shit' in terms of the communication of transformation, style, and textual relations," particularly in relation to claims of expertise to topics such as "anti-semitism" and "wine-tasting." They conclude that bullshit speech is one-sided discourse that is difficult to penetrate because it contains "ideological barriers to the expectation of mutuality," working to deflect critical responses.


title: Shit

text: "Shit" can be used as a generic mass noun similar to "stuff"; for instance, "This show is funny (as) shit" or "This test is hard (as) shit", or "That was stupid shit". These three usages (with "funny", "hard", and "stupid" or another synonym of "stupid") are heard most commonly in the United States. Using "as" denotes a subtle change in the meaning of the expression; however, the overall intent is basically the same.


title: Shit

text: In the expression "Get your shit together!" the word "shit" can refer either to one's wits or composure or to one's things, gear, etc. "He doesn't have his shit together" means that his affairs are disordered, reflecting not bad luck or forces beyond his control, but his personal shortcomings.


title: Shit

text: To "shoot the shit" is to have a friendly but pointless conversation, as in "Come by my place some time and we'll shoot the shit."


title: Shit

text: A "shithole" is any unpleasant place to be, much like a hellhole. This usage originates from a reference to a pit toilet.


title: Shit

text: A "crock of shit" is something (a situation, explanation, argument, etc.) that is nonsense or fabricated as a deception or evasion; i.e. bullshit. Often abbreviated simply as "crock". Example: "You expect me to believe that ?? What a crock!"


title: Shit

text: The phrase "built like a brick shithouse" is used in the United States to compliment a curvaceous woman, but in other English-speaking countries to compliment men with athletic physiques. This meaning originates from the observation that most shithouses are rather ramshackle affairs constructed of plywood or scrap sheets of steel.


title: Shit

text: "The shitter" is a slang term for a toilet, and can be used like the phrase "...down the toilet" to suggest that something has been wasted. Example: "This CD player quit working one friggin' week after I bought it, and I lost the receipt! Twenty bucks right down the shitter!"


title: Shit

text: "Shit on a shingle" is U.S. military slang for creamed chipped beef on toast. In polite company this can be abbreviated as "SOS".


title: Shit

text: "Shit" can be used to denote trouble, by saying one is in "a lot of shit" or "deep shit" (a common euphemism is "deep doo-doo"). A "shitstorm" would be quite a lot of trouble happening all in one place at one time. It's common for someone to refer to an unpleasant thing as "hard shit" ("You got a speeding ticket? Man, that's some hard shit"), but the phrase "tough shit" is used as an unsympathetic way of saying "too bad" to whoever is having problems ("You got arrested? Tough shit, man!") or as a way of expressing to someone that they need to stop complaining about something and cope with it instead (Billy: "I got arrested because of you!" Tommy: "Tough shit, dude, you knew you might get arrested when you chose to come with me.") Note that in this case, as in many cases with the term, "tough shit" is often said as a way of pointing out someone's fault in his/her own current problem. It's also common to express annoyance by simply saying "Shit".


title: Shit

text: A "shitload" of something is a large quantity, especially something unpleasant or disgusting. "The boss dumped a shitload of extra work for me this week." A "shit sandwich" is something (like a situation or state of affairs) unpleasant made triflingly more palatable by packaging it in things less unpleasant, as rotten meat sandwiched in bread. The term shit sandwich originates from an old joke that goes: "Life is a shit sandwich. The more bread (money) you got, the less shit you have to eat."


title: Shit

text: "Up shit creek" or especially "Up shit creek without a paddle" describes a situation in which one is in severe difficulties with no apparent means of solution (this is simply a profane version of the older saying "up the creek without a paddle", profanity added for emphasis or humor).


title: Shit

text: "Shit happens" means that bad happenings in life are inevitable. This is usually spoken with a sigh or a shrug, but can be spoken derisively to someone who complains too often about his ill fortunes, or in an irritating manner.


title: Shit

text: "When the shit hits the fan" is usually used to refer to a specific time of confrontation or trouble, which requires decisive action. This is often used in reference to combat situations and the action scenes in movies, but can also be used for everyday instances that one might be apprehensive about. "I don't want to be here when the shit hits the fan!" indicates that the speaker is dreading this moment (which can be anything from an enemy attack to confronting an angry parent or friend). In polite society, it is often reduced to "when it hits the fan". "He's the one to turn to when the shit hits the fan" is an indication that the person being talked about is dependable and will not run from trouble or abandon their allies in tough situations. The concept of this phrase is simple enough, as the actual substance striking the rotating blades of a fan would cause a messy and unpleasant situation (much like being in the presence of a manure spreader). Whether or not this has actually happened, or if the concept is simply feasible enough for most people to imagine the result without needing it to be demonstrated, is unknown. Another example might be the saying "shit rolls downhill", a metaphor suggesting that trouble for a manager may be transferred to the subordinates. There are a number of anecdotes and jokes about such situations, as the imagery of these situations is considered to be funny. This is generally tied-in with the concept that disgusting and messy substances spilled onto someone else are humorous.


title: Shit

text: For someone to be described as "shitfaced" means that person is essentially incapacitated by alcoholic intoxication (i.e. in a thoroughly drunken state).


title: Shit

text: "Shit" can comfortably stand in for the terms "bad" and "anything" in many instances ("Dinner was good, but the movie was shit." "You're all mad at me, but I didn't do shit!"). A comparison can also be used, as in "Those pants look like shit", or "This stuff tastes like shit". Many usages are idiomatic. "I'm shit out of luck" usually refers to someone who is at the end of their wits or who has no remaining viable options. In polite company the acronym "SOL" is commonly substituted for this. "That little shit shot me in the ass", suggests a mischievous or contemptuous person. Euphemisms such as "crap" are not usually used in this context.


title: Shit

text: The exclamations "oh shit!" and "aw shit!" are used to express displeasure or embarrassment (sometimes facetiously) with oneself when one makes a mistake, especially a stupid or avoidable mistake. When used to comment on the actions of someone else, they can take on a more humorous quality if the mistake does not result in serious consequences.


title: Shit

text: The term "piece of shit" is generally used to classify a product or service as being sufficiently below the writer's understanding of generally accepted quality standards to be of negligible and perhaps even negative value. The term "piece of shit" has greater precision than "shit" or "shitty" in that "piece of shit" identifies the low quality of a specific component or output of a process without applying a derogatory slant to the entire process. For example, if one said "The youth orchestra has been a remarkably successful initiative. The fact that the orchestra's recent rendition of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony in B minor was pretty much a piece of shit should not in any way detract from this." The substitution of "shit" or "shitty" for "pretty much a piece of shit" would imply irony and would therefore undermine the strength of the statement.


title: Shit

text: The phrase "(I don't) give a shit" can be used when one does not care about something, or has a passive attitude toward said thing, as it denotes indifference. In context, one can say: "You're offended? Well, I don't give a shit!" or "You're telling me? Go find somebody who gives a shit." President Richard Nixon said to aide H.R. Haldeman while being tape recorded in the Oval Office, "I don't give a shit about the lira." He meant he was too busy managing the Watergate affair to consider a crisis in the Italian monetary system.


title: Shit

text: The "shit list" is a category of people who are in ill favor with some individual or group of people, perhaps as the managers of a company, and likely to be the targets of special treatment.


title: Shit

text: The phrase "take shit" means to receive bad or frivolous treatment from someone. Such an abused person might say "I'm not taking any more of your shit!" to indicate that they will no longer tolerate such treatment.


title: Shit

text: "Whale shit" is sometimes used to describe a person who inspires displeasure or disgust, as in: "You're lower than whale shit at the bottom of the ocean!"


title: Shit

text: “You can’t polish shit” is a popular aphorism roughly equivalent to "putting Lipstick on a pig" (although "a turd" is more commonly used). However, the TV show "Mythbusters" showed you can, in fact, polish a turd.


title: Shit

text: "Shit" can also be used to establish social superiority over someone else. The most common gibe is "eat shit!" (cf "coprophagy") expressing contempt. Some other personal word may be added such as "eat my shit" implying truly personal connotations. As an aside, the above is actually a contraction of the phrase "eat shit and die!". It is often said without commas as a curse; they command the other party to perform exactly those actions in that order. However, the term was originally "Eat, Shit, and Die" naming the three most basic things humans have to do, and it is common among soldiers.


title: Shit

text: The phrase "You ain't shit", expresses an air of intimidation over the addressee, expressing that they mean nothing or are worthless.


title: Shit

text: "Hot shit" can be a reference to a matter or thing of supreme importance or urgency ("This report is really hot shit!"). It can be used in adjectival form: "This memo's shit-hot!". "Hot shit" can also refer to a person who either overestimates his own worth or ability, or is highly estimated by others ("He thinks he's some hot shit!" or "He's one hot shit!"). In polite company the euphemism "hotshot" may be substituted when referring to a person.


title: Shit

text: A speaker may show dominance through arrogance using the phrase "His shit don't stink". Its grammatical incorrectness highlights the self-importance of the referent relative to the speaker; though "His shit does not stink" may come across as being more emphatic due to the mixed diction between its grammatical correctness and the vulgarity of "shit". This phrase conveys the haughtiness of the referent and that he considers himself beyond reproach. For example: "Those pompous assholes in Finance are the ones who ruined the company – their shit don't even stink!" A variation on this theme might be: "Everything he shits smells just like roses!"


title: Shit

text: The expression "shitkicker" can be used as a pejorative for a menial worker or other low class person.


title: Shit

text: The word "shithead" is a commonly heard insult. A shithead may also be referred to as a "shit-for-brains". Another word for a spectacularly stupid (or contemptible) person is "dipshit". Shithead is also the name of a card game.


title: Shit

text: In North American slang, prefixing the article "the" to "shit" gives it a completely opposite definition, meaning "the best", as in, for example "Altered Beast is the shit". Other slang words of the same meaning, such as "crap", are not used in such locutions.


title: Shit

text: To wear a "shit-eating grin" means the person wearing it may be displaying self-satisfaction, smugness, embarrassment, or mischief. It may also be a playful evasion, as a response to the query "I'll bet you drank the whole bottle of booze yourself, didn't you?"


title: Shit

text: The expression "no shit?" (a contraction of "no bullshit?") is used in response to a statement that is extraordinary or hard to believe. Alternatively the maker of the hard-to-believe statement may add "no shit" to reinforce the sincerity or truthfulness of their statement, particularly in response to someone expressing disbelief at their statement. "No shit" is also used sarcastically in response to a statement of the obvious, as in "no shit, Sherlock".


title: Shit

text: In this form the word can also be used in phrases such as "don't give me that shit" or "you're full of shit". The term "full of shit" is often used as an exclamation to charge someone who is believed to be prone to dishonesty, exaggeration or is thought to be "phoney" with an accusation. For example:


title: Shit

text: The word "bullshit" also denotes false or insincere discourse. ("Horseshit" is roughly equivalent, while "chickenshit" means "cowardly", "batshit" indicates a person is crazy, and "going apeshit" indicates a person is entering a state of high excitement or unbridled rage.) "Are you shitting me?!" is a question sometimes given in response to an incredible assertion. An answer that reasserts the veracity of the claim is, "I shit you not".


title: Shit

text: Perhaps the only constant connotation that "shit" reliably carries is that its referent holds some degree of emotional intensity for the speaker. Whether offense is taken at hearing the word varies greatly according to listener and situation, and is related to age and social class: elderly speakers and those of (or aspiring to) higher socioeconomic strata tend to use it more privately and selectively than younger and more blue-collar speakers.


title: Shit

text: Like the word "fuck", "shit" is often used to add emphasis more than to add meaning, for example, "shit! I was so shit-scared of that shithead that I shit-talked him into dropping out of the karate match!" The term "to shit-talk" connotes bragging or exaggeration (whereas "to talk shit" primarily means "to gossip [about someone in a damaging way]" or to talk in a boastful way about things which are erroneous in nature), but in such constructions as the above, the word "shit" often functions as an interjection.


title: Shit

text: Unlike the word "fuck", "shit" is not used emphatically with "-ing" or as an infix. For example; "I lost the shitting karate match" would be replaced with "...thefucking karate match". Similarly, while "in-fucking-credible" is generally acceptable, "in-shitting-credible" is not.


title: Shit

text: The preterite and past participle of "shit" are attested as "shat", "shit", or "shitted", depending on dialect and, sometimes, the rhythm of the sentence. In the prologue of "The Canterbury Tales", "shitten" is used as the past participle; however this form is not used in modern English. In American English "shit" as a past participle is often correct, while "shat" is generally acceptable and "shitted" is uncommon and missing from the "Random House" and "American Heritage" dictionaries.


title: Shit

text: To shitcan someone or something is to dismiss or dispose of casually or unceremoniously, as into a waste basket. Shitcan can also be used as a noun: "Don't bother; a report like this is gonna go directly into the shitcan." It can also refer to being fired from a job: "The boss is gonna shitcan you if you keep showing up late."


title: Shit

text: The backronym form "S.H.I.T." often figures into jokes, like "Special High Intensity Training" (a well-known joke used in job applications), "Special Hot Interdiction Team" (a mockery on SWAT), and any college name that begins with an S-H (like "South Harmon Institute of Technology" in the film "Accepted" (2006) or "Store High In Transit" in the film "Kenny" (2006)). "South Hudson Institute of Technology" has sometimes been used to describe the United States Military Academy at West Point.


title: Shit

text: In polite company, sometimes backronyms such as "Sugar Honey in Tea" or "Sugar Honey Ice(d) Tea" are used.


title: Shit

text: Satirist Jonathan Swift wrote a controversial poem "The Lady's Dressing Room" containing the following lines (115 through 118):


title: Shit

text: In Canada, "shit" is one of the words considered by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council to be "coarse, offensive language intended for adults", acceptable for broadcast only after 9:00 p.m.


title: Shit

text: On the Canadian Showcase television show "Trailer Park Boys", characters frequently use the term "shit". For example, the fictional trailer park supervisor James "Jim" Lahey employs many metaphors with the negative slang "shit" bizarrely worked in; in one episode, Mr. Lahey likens Ricky's growing ignorance to that of a "shit tsunami", while in another episode, Mr. Lahey tells Bubbles the "shit hawks are swooping in low" due to his deplorable behavior and company. The term "shit" is also used in the titles of that show's episodes, themselves, e.g., "The Winds of Shit", "A Shit Leopard Can't Change Its Spots", and "Never Cry Shitwolf".


title: Shit

text: The first person to say "shit" on British TV was John Cleese of the "Monty Python" comedy troupe, in the late 1960s, according to his own eulogy for Graham Chapman. However, this is not independently verified. The phrase "thick as pigshit" is used in the 1969 BBC play "The Big Flame". The word "shit" also appears in the British film "Cul-de-sac" (1966), which might pre-date John Cleese's use.


title: Shit

text: The word has become increasingly acceptable on American cable television and satellite radio, which are not subject to FCC regulation. In other English-speaking countries, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, the word is allowed to be used in broadcast television by the regulative councils of each area, as long as it is used in late hours when young people are not expected to be watching. It has appeared on ABC News' "20/20".


title: Shit

text: "Shit" was one of the original "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV", a comedy routine by the American comedian George Carlin. In the United States, although the use of the word is censored on broadcast network television (while its synonym "crap" is not usually subject to censorship), the FCC permitted some exceptions. For example:


title: Shit

text: An episode of "South Park", "It Hits the Fan" (original airdate 20 June 2001), parodied the hype over the "Chicago Hope" episode. In it, "shit" is used 162 times, and a counter in the corner of the screen tallies the repetitions (excluding the 38 instances of the word's use in written forms, the raising the total to an even 200). "South Park" airs on American cable networks, which are outside the FCC's regulatory jurisdiction and whose censorship of vulgar dialogue is at the discretion of the cable operators.


title: Shit

text: Since that episode, the word (as well as many on-screen depictions of feces, as well as defecation) has become a mainstay of "South Park". Various episodes also feature a character, Mr. Hankey, who is a sentient turd. Other Comedy Central series, along with programming on other cable networks including FX, TBS, and as of March 2014, Adult Swim, also regularly employ the word shit. Episodes of "Graceland", on the USA Network, do also.


title: Shit

text: Unlike satellite radio, American terrestrial radio stations must abide by FCC guidelines on obscenity to avoid punitive fines. These guidelines do not define exactly what constitutes obscenity, but it has been interpreted by some commissioners as including any form of words like "shit" and "fuck", for whatever use.


title: Shit

text: Despite this, the word has been featured in popular songs that have appeared on broadcast radio in cases where the usage of the word is not audibly clear to the casual listener, or on live television. For example:


title: Shit

text: Using the term "shit" (or other locally used crude words) – rather than feces or excreta – during campaigns and triggering events is a deliberate aspect of the community-led total sanitation approach which aims to stop open defecation, a massive public health problem in developing countries.


title: Rhyming slang

text: Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhyming slang. In the US, especially the criminal underworld of the West Coast between 1880 and 1920, rhyming slang has sometimes been known as Australian slang.


title: Rhyming slang

text: The construction of rhyming slang involves replacing a common word with a phrase of two or more words, the last of which rhymes with the original word; then, in almost all cases, omitting, from the end of the phrase, the secondary rhyming word (which is thereafter implied), making the origin and meaning of the phrase elusive to listeners not in the know.


title: Rhyming slang

text: The form of Cockney slang is made clear with the following example. The rhyming phrase "apples and pears" is used to mean "stairs". Following the pattern of omission, "and pears" is dropped, thus the spoken phrase "I'm going up the apples" means "I'm going up the stairs".


title: Rhyming slang

text: In some examples the meaning is further obscured by adding a second iteration of rhyme and truncation to the original rhymed phrase. For example, the word "Aris" is often used to indicate the buttocks. This is the result of a double rhyme, starting with the original rough synonym "arse", which is rhymed with "bottle and glass", leading to "bottle". "Bottle" was then rhymed with "Aristotle" and truncated to "Aris".


title: Rhyming slang

text: Ghil'ad Zuckermann, a linguist and revivalist, has proposed a distinction between rhyming slang based on sound only, and phono-semantic rhyming slang, which includes a semantic link between the slang expression and its referent (the thing it refers to). An example of rhyming slang based only on sound is the Cockney "tea leaf" (thief). An example of phono-semantic rhyming slang is the Cockney "sorrowful tale" ((three months in) jail), in which case the person coining the slang term sees a semantic link, sometimes jocular, between the Cockney expression and its referent.


title: Rhyming slang

text: The use of rhyming slang has spread beyond the purely dialectal and some examples are to be found in the mainstream British English lexicon, although many users may be unaware of the origin of those words.


title: Rhyming slang

text: Most of the words changed by this process are nouns, but a few are adjectival, e.g., "bales" of cotton (rotten), or the adjectival phrase "on one's tod" for "on one's own", after Tod Sloan, a famous jockey.


title: Rhyming slang

text: Rhyming slang is believed to have originated in the mid-19th century in the East End of London, with several sources suggesting some time in the 1840s. "The Flash Dictionary" of unknown authorship, published in 1921 by Smeeton (48mo), contains a few rhymes. John Camden Hotten's 1859 "Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words" likewise states that it originated in the 1840s ("about twelve or fifteen years ago"), but with "chaunters" and "patterers" in the Seven Dials area of London. Hotten's "Dictionary" included the first known "Glossary of the Rhyming Slang", which included later mainstays such as "frog and toad" (the main road) and "apples and pears" (stairs), as well as many more obscure examples, e.g. "Battle of the Nile" (a tile, a vulgar term for a hat), "Duke of York" (take a walk), and "Top of Rome" (home).


title: Rhyming slang

text: It remains a matter of speculation exactly how rhyming slang originated, for example, as a linguistic game among friends or as a cryptolect developed intentionally to confuse non-locals. If deliberate, it may also have been used to maintain a sense of community, or to allow traders to talk amongst themselves in marketplaces to facilitate collusion, without customers knowing what they were saying, or by criminals to confuse the police (see thieves' cant).


title: Rhyming slang

text: The academic, lexicographer and radio personality Terence Dolan has suggested that rhyming slang was invented by Irish immigrants to London "so the actual English wouldn't understand what they were talking about."


title: Rhyming slang

text: Many examples of rhyming slang are based on locations in London, such as "Peckham Rye", meaning "tie", which dates from the late nineteenth century; "Hampstead Heath", meaning "teeth" (usually as "Hampsteads"), which was first recorded in 1887; and "barnet" (Barnet Fair), meaning "hair", which dates from the 1850s.