page_title: 2nd Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)
section_title: Operations
hierarchical_section_title: 2nd Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia) / Operations
caption_attribution_description: A German Messerschmitt Bf 110 from Zerstörergeschwader 26 (3U+DT) with two 900l drop tanks.
context_page_description: The 2nd Army was a Royal Yugoslav Army formation commanded by Armijski đeneral Dragoslav Miljković that opposed the German-led Axis invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941 during World War II. It consisted of three infantry divisions and one horsed cavalry regiment along with supporting units. It formed part of the 2nd Army Group, and was responsible for the defence of the Yugoslav–Hungarian border along the Drava river from Slatina to the Danube.
  The 2nd Army was not directly attacked during the first few days after the invasion commenced, but attacks on its flanks from 10 April resulted in successive orders to withdraw to the lines of the Danube and then the Sava. On 11 April, the Hungarians crossed the border in the sector for which the 2nd Army had been responsible, but the Yugoslavs were already withdrawing and the Hungarians faced almost no resistance. On the same day, the German 8th Panzer Division, driving on Belgrade into the flank of the 2nd Army, had effectively routed the entire 2nd Army Group. The disintegration of the 2nd Army as a combat force was accelerated by fifth column activities and desertion by many of its Croat soldiers.
context_section_description: By the end of 6 April, the 30th ID held positions in Baranya on the line Batina—Beli Manastir—Drava, with its strongest flank on the left, closest to the Drava. As the 17th ID had not yet arrived in its planned deployment locations, the 1st Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment was initially the only unit in the divisional area, supported by the 1st Battalion of the 30th Artillery Regiment. The 2nd Army faced the Hungarian 3rd Army, and on 7 April Hungarian forces could be seen massing across the border. During the first few days after the commencement of the invasion, there were exchanges of fire with Hungarian border guards, but the 2nd Army faced no direct attacks. Neither the 2nd Army nor the Hungarians were ready for full-scale fighting, as they were still mobilising and deploying their forces. On 7 April, 2nd Army headquarters arrived in Đakovo and issued orders to its subordinate formations. On the left, the 43rd Infantry Regiment and border units remained the only fighting formations yet deployed along the Drava. In Baranya, the 30th ID was deployed with the 41st Infantry Regiment on the left, the 10th Infantry Regiment on the right, and the 64th Infantry Regiment in reserve, with supporting artillery distributed among the infantry formations. The 30th Divisional Cavalry Battalion was located in Kneževi Vinogradi, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) southeast of Beli Manastir.    
  On 9 April, due to events in other parts of Yugoslavia, the 6th Army on the right flank of the 2nd Army Group was ordered to withdraw south of the Danube and deploy on a line facing east to defend against an attack from the direction of Sofia, Bulgaria. The headquarters of the 2nd Army issued orders to evacuate Baranja and reinforce the left flank.
  The following day, the situation deteriorated significantly when General der Panzertruppe Georg-Hans Reinhardt's XXXXI Motorised Corps of the German 12th Army crossed the Yugoslav–Romanian border into the Yugoslav Banat and struck the 6th Army, halting its withdrawal and disrupting its ability to organise a coherent defence behind the Danube. Also on 10 April, the main thrust of General der Panzertruppe Heinrich von Vietinghoff's XXXXVI Motorised Corps of the 2nd Army, consisting of the 8th Panzer Division leading the 16th Motorised Infantry Division crossed the Drava at Barcs in the 4th Army sector on the left of the 2nd Army. Generalmajor Walter Neumann-Silkow's 8th Panzer Division turned southeast between the Drava and Sava rivers, and meeting almost no resistance and with strong air support, had reached the left flank of the 2nd Army at Slatina by evening, despite poor roads and bad weather.
  Later that day, as the situation was becoming increasingly desperate throughout the country, Simović, who was both the Prime Minister and Yugoslav Chief of the General Staff, broadcast the following message:
  All troops must engage the enemy wherever encountered and with every means at their disposal. Don't wait for direct orders from above, but act on your own and be guided by your judgement, initiative, and conscience.
  — Dušan Simović
  The 2nd Army was able to evacuate Baranja and organised a defence of the left flank of the 2nd Army Group, now threatened by the 8th Panzer Division, but Croat reservists began to desert their units due to the fifth column activities of the fascist Ustaše and their sympathisers. This significantly reducing the combat power of the 2nd Army. By the evening of 10 April, the 2nd Army Group was ordered to withdraw from this line and form a defensive line behind the Sava, from Debrc to the confluence with the Vrbas river, for which one or two days would be needed. On the night of 10/11 April, the whole 2nd Army Group continued its withdrawal, but units of the 2nd Army that included significant numbers of Croats began to dissolve.
   
  At dawn on 11 April, Hungarian forces, consisting of the Mobile, IV and V Corps of Vezérezredes Elemér Gorondy-Novák's 3rd Army, crossed the Yugoslav border north of Osijek and near Subotica, overcame Yugoslav border guards and advanced on Subotica and Palić.
caption: Messerschmitt Bf 110s of Zerstörergeschwader 26 destroyed the air reconnaissance assets of the 2nd Army at Bijeljina on 12 April
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