{"id":102350,"date":"2021-04-01T06:32:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T06:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=181245"},"modified":"2021-04-01T06:32:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T06:32:00","slug":"operation-punishment-the-nazi-bombing-of-belgrade-80-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/01\/operation-punishment-the-nazi-bombing-of-belgrade-80-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation Punishment: The Nazi Bombing Of Belgrade 80 Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nThen and now photographs of the April 1941 \u201cterror bombing\u201d that forever changed the face of the Serbian capital.\n<\/p>\n

Click or tap on the images to reveal the same place in 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>
\nThe Old Palace in central Belgrade, which once featured cupolas and an elaborate entrance gate. After the 1941 bombing, the palace was rebuilt without the decorative flourishes.
\n<\/figcaption>
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\nBelgrade\u2019s Old Palace was one of several buildings shattered by Nazi bombs on April 6, 1941. The air raid destroyed much of the center of the capital, killed thousands of people, and wiped out much of the published cultural heritage of Serbia when the National Library<\/a> burned to the ground.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>
\nRepublic Square lies largely in ruins after the bombing.
\n<\/figcaption>
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\nThe attack that targeted central Belgrade, which had no apparent military objective, was ordered by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler after a coup overthrew Yugoslavia\u2019s royal regent, Prince Peter, in late March 1941.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

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\nObliterated buildings near the Belgrade Fortress
\n<\/figcaption>
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\nBefore the coup, Yugoslavia had come under intense pressure to align itself with fascist Germany, as Yugoslavia\u2019s neighbors Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania had done.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>
\nAn apartment block in a Belgrade suburb lies in ruins. Only the building on the far right remains the same.
\n<\/figcaption>
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\nShortly after Yugoslavia signed a pact with Nazi Germany and her allies — seen as the \u201clesser of two evils\u201d compared to the inevitable invasion if Yugoslavia had refused — senior Yugoslav Air Force officials overthrew Prince Peter.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

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\nThe iconic Hotel Moscow (right) barely escaped destruction during the bombing.
\n<\/figcaption>
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\nBritish Prime Minister Winston Churchill responded to news of the coup by saying: \u201cEarly this morning, the Yugoslav nation found its soul.
\nA revolution has taken place in Belgrade, and the ministers who but yesterday signed away the honor and freedom of the country are reported to be under arrest.
\nThis patriotic movement arises from the wrath of a valiant and warlike race at the betrayal of their country by the weakness of their rulers and the foul intrigues of the Axis powers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

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\nPeople walk along a street near the Danube River on which several buildings were wiped out.
\n<\/figcaption>
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\nSome believe British intelligence was involved in the coup, but England had no concrete way to help Yugoslavia.
\nThe coup was reportedly popular with many Belgrade locals who chanted \u201cbetter graves than to be slaves.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nHitler condemned thousands of Belgraders to exactly that fate when he ordered a Nazi response to the coup of \u201cmerciless severity.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>
\nA destroyed building stands in downtown Belgrade after the bombing.
\nThe building housing Yugoslavia\u2019s Defense Ministry replaced the ruined structure in 1965 and was itself blasted by NATO bombs in 1999. It is itself now mostly unused.
\n<\/figcaption>
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\nItalian war correspondent and novelist Curzio Malaparte said the waves of bombings<\/a> on April 6 caused the ground to shake \u201cas if it were an earthquake.\u201d The correspondent recalled that \u201chouses hit each other, there was a terrible crash of collapsing walls and [broken windows] falling on the sidewalks.”\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

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\nA destroyed tram sits on a road alongside the Belgrade Fortress.
\n<\/figcaption>
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\nIn the pauses between the German bombing runs, Malaparte described “devastating, terrified screams, lamentations, moans, curses, and the roar of a distraught people…\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>
\nThe main entrance to Belgrade\u2019s train station, which was gutted by explosions and fire caused by incendiary bombs.
\n<\/figcaption>
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\nAfter Belgrade\u2019s zoo was hit, Churchill wrote that \u201cout of the nightmare of smoke and fire came the maddened animals released from their shattered cages\u2026\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

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\nDamaged buildings opposite Belgrade\u2019s main train station
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\nThe photo above and several others in this gallery were made by an Italian soldier who was part of the fascist invasion of Yugoslavia and arrived in Belgrade shortly after the bombing.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>
\nThe gap left by a large building that was wiped out during the bombing was filled with a new structure.
\n<\/figcaption>
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\nAfter Belgrade was occupied on April 12, some 375,000 Yugoslav soldiers became Nazi prisoners of war.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

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\nJewish men were rounded up by the Nazis and forced to clear the rubble left in their city.
\n<\/figcaption>
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\"Caption\"<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>
\nA man accused of being an anti-Nazi \u201cpartisan\u201d hangs from a lamppost in central Belgrade.
\n<\/figcaption>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Then and now photographs of the April 1941 \u201cterror bombing\u201d that forever changed the face of the Serbian capital. Click or tap on the images to reveal the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,334,4,282,23,335,75],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102351,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102350\/revisions\/102351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}