Editing Yugoslav Partisans (section)

==Background and origins==
[[File:Stjepan Stevo Filipović.jpg|thumb|Partisan fighter [[Stjepan Filipović]] shouting "[[Death to fascism, freedom to the people]]!" seconds before his execution by a [[Serbian State Guard]] unit in [[Valjevo]], occupied [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. These words became the Partisan slogan afterwards.]]
{{See also|Invasion of Yugoslavia}}

On 6 April 1941, the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] was [[Invasion of Yugoslavia|invaded]] from all sides by the Axis powers, primarily by [[Nazi Germany|German]] forces, but also including Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian formations. During the invasion, [[Operation Retribution (1941)|Belgrade was bombed]] by the ''[[Luftwaffe]]''. The invasion lasted little more than ten days, ending with the unconditional surrender of the [[Royal Yugoslav Army]] on 17 April. Besides being hopelessly ill-equipped when compared to the [[Wehrmacht]], the Army attempted to defend all borders but only managed to thinly spread the limited resources available.{{sfn|Tomasevich|1975|pp=64–70}}

The terms of the capitulation were extremely severe, as the Axis proceeded to dismember Yugoslavia. Germany occupied the northern part of [[Drava Banovina]] (roughly modern-day [[Slovenia]]),<ref name=britannica2>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-1413183/Independent-State-of-Croatia|title=Independent State of Croatia|year=2010|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|access-date=15 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412145432/http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-1413183/Independent-State-of-Croatia|archive-date=12 April 2008|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> while maintaining [[German-occupied territory of Serbia|direct military occupation of a rump Serbian territory]] with a puppet government.{{sfn|Kroener|Müller|Umbreit|2000|p=94}}{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=78}} The [[Independent State of Croatia]] (NDH) was established under German direction, which extended over much of the territory of today's [[Croatia]] and as well contained all the area of modern-day [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] and [[Syrmia]] region of modern-day [[Serbia]]. Mussolini's [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Italy]] occupied the remainder of Drava Banovina (annexed and renamed as the [[Province of Ljubljana|Province of Lubiana]]), much of [[Zeta Banovina]] and large chunks of the coastal [[Dalmatia]] region (along with nearly all its [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] islands). It also gained control over the newly created [[Italian governorate of Montenegro]], and was granted the kingship in the Independent State of Croatia, though wielding little real power within it. [[Kingdom of Hungary (Regency)|Hungary]] dispatched the [[Hungarian Third Army]] and [[Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories|occupied and annexed the Yugoslav regions of Baranja, Bačka, Međimurje and Prekmurje]]. [[Military history of Bulgaria during World War II|Bulgaria]], meanwhile, annexed nearly all of [[Republic of Macedonia|Macedonia]], and small areas of eastern Serbia and Kosovo.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=61–63}} The dissolution of Yugoslavia, the creation of the NDH, Italian governorate of Montenegro and [[Nedic's Serbia]] and the annexations of Yugoslav territory by the various Axis countries were incompatible with international law in force at that time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/COM/380-600054?OpenDocument|title=Commentary on Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Part III Status and treatment of protected persons, Section III, Occupied territories, Article 47 Inviolability of Rights|year=1952|publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva|access-date=26 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107185619/http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/COM/380-600054?OpenDocument|archive-date=7 November 2011|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
[[File:Josip Broz Tito Bihać 1942.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Josip Broz Tito]] in [[Bihać]], 1942]]

The occupying forces instituted such severe burdens on the local populace that the Partisans came not only to enjoy widespread support but for many were the only option for survival. Early in the occupation, German forces would hang or shoot indiscriminately, including women, children and the elderly, up to 100 local inhabitants for every one German soldier killed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Glenny |first=Misha |author-link=Misha Glenny|page=485|date=1999 |title=The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804–1999}}</ref> While these measures for suppressing communist-led resistance were issued in all German-occupied territory, they were only strictly enforced in Serbia.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=69}} Two of the most significant atrocities by the German forces were the [[Kraljevo massacre|massacre of 2,000 civilians in Kraljevo]] and [[Kragujevac massacre|3,000 in Kragujevac]]. The formula of 100 hostages shot for every German soldier killed and 50 hostages shot for every wounded German soldier was cut in one-half in February 1943 and removed altogether in the fall of that same year.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=69}}

Furthermore, Yugoslavia experienced a breakdown of law and order, with collaborationist militias roaming the countryside terrorizing the population. The government of the puppet Independent State of Croatia found itself unable to control its territory in the early stages of the occupation, resulting in a severe crackdown by the [[Ustaše militia]]s and the German army.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

Amid the relative chaos that ensued, the [[Communist Party of Yugoslavia]] moved to organize and unite anti-fascist factions and political forces into a nationwide uprising. The party, led by [[Josip Broz Tito]], was banned after its significant success in the post-World War I Yugoslav elections and operated underground since. Tito, however, could not act openly without the backing of the [[USSR]], and as the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop pact]] was still in force, he was compelled to wait.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Chalmers A. |title=Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power |date=1962 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford, CA |page=166}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Beloff |first1=Nora |title=Tito's Flawed Legacy: Yugoslavia and the West since 1939 |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Swain |first1=Geoffrey R. |title=Tito: The Formation of a Disloyal Bolshevik |journal=International Review of Social History |date=1989 |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=249, 261|doi=10.1017/S0020859000009251 }}</ref>