page_title: Vladimir Kren
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Vladimir Kren / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Cutaway of a Potez 25 TOE exhibited at the Air &amp; Space Museum of Le Bourget, France. Français&#160;: Potez 25 TOE écorché exposé au Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace du Bourget.
context_page_description: Vladimir Kren was a Croatian major general and commander of the Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. He was an officer in the Royal Yugoslav Air Force before the war. In April 1941, he defected to Nazi Germany and handed over the locations of many of the VVKJ's dispersal airfields and exposed many of its codes. This made it easier for the Luftwaffe to destroy the VVKJ during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, which began shortly after Kren's defection.
  Kren was named the commander of the ZNDH upon returning to Zagreb in mid-April 1941 and served in this capacity until September 1943, when he voluntarily retired. In June 1944, Croatian leader Ante Pavelić ordered that Kren be returned to active service within the ZNDH and had him re-appointed as its commander.
  In May 1945, Kren fled to Italy via Austria and was arrested by Allied forces. He escaped from Allied custody in early 1947, but was arrested by British forces that March while trying to board a ship bound for Argentina. He was extradited to Yugoslavia and put on trial in Zagreb, found guilty of various offences, and sentenced to death by firing squad. He was executed in December 1948.
context_section_description: Kren began communicating with Ustaše leader Slavko Kvaternik during the winter of 1940–41, and became a full member of the Ustaše in February 1941. That month, he and five other Croat officers of the Royal Yugoslav Army signed a memorandum in which they pledged loyalty to "the great German people and the great German Führer".
  On 3 April, Kren flew a Potez 25 aircraft to Graz and defected to the Germans. He declared himself as a member of the Ustaše and handed over the locations of many of the VVKJ's dispersal airfields as well as codes used by the VVKJ, which had to be quickly changed.
  Kren's actions directly led to the swift destruction of the VVKJ by the Luftwaffe during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, the Germans detained Kren and held him until 11 April. He returned to Zagreb not long after he was set free. There, he was promoted to colonel and named commander of the Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske, ZNDH). He was promoted to general shortly afterwards. Later that year, he accompanied Croatian leader Ante Pavelić on an official visit to Berlin.
  Kren was retired from the ZNDH at his own request on 13 September 1943. Pavelić subsequently transferred him to serve as an officer within his personal bodyguard. In mid-1944, Kren served as a mediator between the ZNDH and Croatian politicians Mladen Lorković and Ante Vokić, the main conspirators behind the failed Lorković–Vokić plot. In June 1944, Pavelić ordered that Kren be returned to active service within the ZNDH and had him re-appointed as its commander. As commander, Kren visited an academy for young ZNDH pilots in Italy and toured Bulgaria, Germany, and the Eastern Front. During his stay in Germany, he negotiated the sale of German aircraft to the NDH and was granted access to several facilities that were used to manufacture the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket.
caption: A Potez 25 biplane, similar to the one that Kren used during his defection in April 1941
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