page_title: Royal Yugoslav Army
section_title: 1927–1932
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Yugoslav Army / 1927–1932
caption_attribution_description: English: Officer's uniform Yugoslav Royal Army Photo taken in:Military museum Belgrade Српски / srpski: Официрска униформа ЈКВ
context_page_description: The Yugoslav Army, commonly the Royal Yugoslav Army, was the land warfare military service branch of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It existed from the Kingdom's formation in December 1918, until its surrender to the Axis powers on 17 April 1941. Aside from fighting along the Austrian border in 1919–20 related to territorial disputes, and some border skirmishes on its southern borders in the 1920s, the JV was not involved in fighting until April 1941 when it was quickly overcome by the German-led invasion of Yugoslavia.
  Shortly before the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, certain high ranking army and airforce officers, backed by Great Britain, staged a coup against the Yugoslav monarchy on 27 March. Beyond the problems of inadequate equipment and incomplete mobilization, the Royal Yugoslav Army suffered badly from the Serbo-Croat schism in Yugoslav politics. "Yugoslav" resistance to the invasion collapsed overnight. The main reason was that neither of the non-Serb national groups were prepared to fight in defence of what they viewed as Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia. The only effective opposition to the invasion was from wholly Serbian units within the borders of Serbia itself.
context_section_description: The first manoeuvres of any significant size since the formation of the army in 1919 were conducted between the troops of two divisions during 29 September to 2 October 1927, although the number of troops engaged did not exceed 10,000 and some reserves had to be called up to achieve this number. Prior to this, only local inter-garrison exercises had been conducted. The method adopted for the exercises and the tactics used were similar to those used by the British Army before the Second Boer War. In 1928, four new infantry regiments were established in response to an Italian buildup along the frontier. These were seen as the nucleus for a potential new infantry division. The arsenal at Kragujevac also went into operation, producing Mauser M24 series rifles and ammunition. In January 1929, King Alexander established a personal dictatorship and appointed Živković as Prime Minister. In April, thirty-two generals were forcibly retired, including the Chief of the General Staff, Petar Pešić. During that year, the army took delivery of 4,000 light machine guns, eighty 75 mm (3.0 in) field guns and 200,000 vz. 24 rifles from the Czech firm Škoda. The latter meant that the standing army could finally be equipped with a single type of rifle. The year also saw three inter-divisional exercises conducted, although reports indicated that they were poorly organised and carried out.
  In 1930, Živković was promoted to Armijski đeneral, and four out of the five army commanders were changed. There was only one Croat or Slovene in the general ranks, and he was an engineer in an unimportant post. Acquisition of about 800 modern artillery pieces of various calibres was also undertaken, again from Czechoslovakia, and another 100,000 rifles were purchased from Belgium. Despite this new equipment, the army remained deficient in light and heavy machine guns, motor transport, signalling and bridging equipment, and tanks. Inter-division manoeuvres were again undertaken in three regions, but cavalry charges and massed infantry attacks demonstrated that the army had not learned the lessons of World War I. In the view of the British military attaché, the clique of Serbian officers in charge of the army at this time were narrow-minded and conservative men who, while keen to modernise the equipment of the army, did not see the need to modernise its tactics or organisation, and were unwilling to learn from others. During following year, a machine gun company was created in each infantry battalion, and both the Savska (Zagreb) and Dravska (Ljubljana) divisions converted one of their infantry regiments into a mountain infantry regiment. This latter development was intended as the first step to creating two independent formations that, with integral artillery, signals and transport elements, could be used along the mountainous northwest frontier. The year saw no military exercises, even the recent inter-divisional manoeuvres being foregone due to the international financial crisis. The British military attaché observed that the army lacked the sound system of battalion and regimental training needed to thoroughly prepare units for modern warfare, as training consisted mainly of close order drill, basic marksmanship and a small number of field firing exercises.
  In 1932, Živković resigned as Prime Minister and from official politics, and returned to the command of the Guards Division. Some communist activity was detected within the army during the year, and the same conservative  group of senior Serb officers remained firmly in charge. The two independent mountain brigades completed formation in 1932, each provided with two batteries of 75 mm (3.0 in) guns. The exclusively Serb Chetnik organisation led by Kosta Pećanac formed new detachments in various parts of the country. From a military perspective, it was intended that the Chetniks would assist the frontier guards in peacetime, in addition to their traditional guerilla activities in times of war. Three anti-aircraft regiments were formed in the same year.
caption: Royal Yugoslav Army officers' uniform
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