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In the shadow of Stalin: A Communist-Yugoslavian AAR

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Jun 2, 2003
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A little warning before you start reading: Updates not come often.

Hi folks!
This is my first AAR and I therfor decided not to take a major nation as that would result in much writing (I fear). But there are few really interesting minor nations and most of them are in Europe. So I decided to spice it up a bit by editing Yugoslavia into a communist nation with the communist party an Tito as the HoG and HoS. Yugoslavia is however not a part of the Komintern but it is very communist at the scale.
I am going to begin this AAR with a breif history of Yugoslavia from 1929 to 1936:

The founding of the Croat ultra-nationalist party, Ustasha led to angry reactions from the left-wing groups in Yugoslavia. The biggest reactions came from the Serbs who demanded an out-lawing of the party. The party became out-lawed, something that the Croats didn't like. Actually they hated it and the most radical elements in the party started a separatist movement. This movement made series of attacks against socialist and communist groups. Especially Serbian groups as it was they who proposed an out-lawing of Ustasha.
The left-wings response on these attacks was of course counter attacks. When the separatists killed a socialist, the socialists killed a separatist. The bloodier the separatist deeds was, the bloodier the socialist responses became. All this resulted in a, more or less official, civilwar. The governement saw that the situation had slipped through their hands and that they had to do something. The best way to stop the separatists seemed to be allowing Ustasha again, but how would the socialists react? No one in the governemnet could tell, an when it seemed like thay had nothing to loose they decided to allow it.
Allmost immideatly, the socialists in Croatia revolted against the central power. The revolution was followed by socialists all over Yugoslavia and they also got sympathise from workers and Yugo-nationalists. Some of them joined the revolution and in July 1933 the governement troops were forced to surrender. The new governement allowed elections to be held every fifth year but of course they out-lawed Ustasha. Now many of the monarchists however seeked help from Ustasha to regain power and the Croat ultra-nationalists power increased. At the same time, the socialist party (Republican Socialist Party of Yugoslavia) lost many of their more radical members to the communist party.
The 14th of November 1934, Ustasha tryed a coup d'etat. Their plan was to take control of the major cities of Yugoslavia, among them Beograd, and then when the power was sized take control of the rest of the country. The coup went on well, but something unexpected happend. The communists, who seemed to know everything about the coup, made a counter-coup directly after the resignation of the socialists. Ustasha was so suprised that they couldn't form a defense and they where also forced to leave the power. Many of the Ustashas fled to neighboring countries mostly Italy, Romania and Bulgaria. But some of them remained (I begin with 5% dissent).
 
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The Communist Party of Yugoslavia holds its national congresses every 5th of January. 1936 was no exception and directly from their christmas holidays, the members arrived in Beograd for this meating. The capital was, as usual during the congresses, heavily patrolled by the Yugoslavian 1st army's specially trained police force. This was because of the threat for Ustasha terrorist attacks. There was barely any space for the wintermarket and even less for civilians to stay in public areas such as plazas and parks. This year it didn't seem like the members of the congress would get so plenty of space either. The halls where crowded with ministers, partymembers and some reporters who was eager to get a picture and perhaps even a few comments by the head of governemnet; Josip Broz, Tito.

yugoslavPL.jpg

A hall in the parliament during a less important day.

When Titos right hand, Ian Drajinovic, opened the doors to the plenary the people gathered outside streamed in. Soon, they all sat on their respective seats and waaited for Josip to come. He didn't take long and after a minute he entered the room. He announced the meating, opened. Then everyone stood up and sang:
Arise ye workers from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise
We'll change henceforth the old tradition
And spurn the dust to win the prize.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we'll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They'll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.
No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
E'er the thieves will out with their booty
And give to all a happier lot.
Each at the forge must do their duty
And we'll strike while the iron is hot.
​



The armaments minister, Miljentije Popovi, sat at his place next to the chief of army (alike chief of Navy) Peko Dapcevic. He listened to Josips speech about the pride of the nation, the threat from the fascists in Germany and Italy, the final victory of communism and the latest theoried by the Russian philosophers etc. He was the next one to speak, and his turn came after half an hour. He approached the lectern and shooked Josips hand. Then he began to speak:

"My dear comrades, party members, internatonalists, revolutonaries and journalists. He nodded towards the photographers in the far end of the room and the audience laughed. This is the second time we have this newyears congress and it has obviously happend alot since last. When I spoke here a tear ago, it was difficult to imagine that a natons future was being decided. And today we almost have to expand the parliament to prepare space for all of us. However, that was not what I was supposed to talk about. I'm gonna present the financial and industrial plans for this year.
Primary, we intend to continue the "Resource-Reward" program. I don't think you are all familiar to the "Resource-Reward" program, so I'll introduce it for you: The program was created to stimulate the workers in provinces which extract natural resources. These provinces will yearly be provided with more instruments for production, industrial complexes and things like that, in relation to how much they extract/produce and the national investments such as: infrastructure, armament and research of course. This means that we avoid unemployment in those provinces, it doesn't require much education to work in a factory. It also means, less costs for transport between for example: mine and meltery and factory. As you all see, the program stimulates the effectivity, something that is needed in these times." He made a short break to switch papers before he continued.
Now onto the next point which is: armament. We live in times when the military technology is advancing rapidly. Sadly but naturally, Yugoslavia is not one of the leading nations in this subject. So we have to plan our investments carefully.
One thing that I and my comrade Peko Dapcevic experienced when we last visited the Soviet Union was the uprising tank technology. It is the future of the world's armies, I promise you, that in ten years the nation of Cuba in the carribean will posses tanks which today would force even Germany to its knees. The tanks are the future and Yugoslavia wants to be a part of the future so me and Peko have made a program for tank research. Our goals are to have a tankette prototype ready on the next congress.
Then to the armament. Well there is not much to say, Peko proposed a modernisation of the army which would mean that we disbanded the cavalary units throughout the country. The officers would then be reeducated to be able to lead the new divisions. Those are to be the following:
2 divisions of Infantry among one an artillery division to protect the port at Dubrovnik.
1 division of intantry to replace the cavalary in the 1st Army in Novi Sad.
1 division of infantry to enforce the troops in Rijeka.
Does it sound reasonable comrades? "

It did. So lets see how they managed to accomplish the goals…
 
Situation 5th January to 5th July

The work on the program began immediately by starting the research for early gear and early suspension. The recruitment of a new division for the defence of Dubrovnik also began. If the scientists had got all the money and investments they wanted, and needed, for their research, it seemed like they would be able to succeed with the program that was accepted at the party congress. Sadly, this was not the case, already in the beginning of the year the ministry of industry and development saw that the production wouldn’t give as high profit as expected. When Milientije Popovi became aware of this, he met with the elected leaders at the ministry. They had a discussion on how the problem should be dealt with on the 3rd of February:
Popovi: - So comrades, you all know why you are here. Yes to handle the problem with my research-program. I think it is of high importance that we succeed to fulfil it, or else I must be re-elected on the next congress for incompetence. Though I might win the election, I want to be sure that it will not even take place and you must help me. So, I have two questions that I want the answer on. If you don’t have an answer, then find it out as soon as possible and report it to me.
First: The program to re-educate the cavalry into infantry. Can we save money on that, and if we can then in what way?

One of the delegates: - If we didn’t spend resources on their re-education, we have to pay them wages anyway. Maybe we can get some of them to work in a factory if they want. That would save us money, and get some extra needed labour. But if we instead of cancelling the re-education, limited the new recruit of troops into the army. Maybe by skip two divisions or so from the years-plan.

Another delegate: - Yes, if we cancelled some of the recruitment projects we would surely save money for the research, but are we allowed to change the program. If we are, then there won’t be any problems for you. You should even be able to shorten your program at other points.

Popovi: - No we can’t cancel any other projects except the recruitment. And it sounds like a good idea. My next question is: Could we save money in any other way for example by raising the taxes the Adriatic fishing company? It has taken a whole lot of money already and with their profit it wouldn’t hurt.

Another delegate: - That sounds like a good idea. Lets make a list of the companies, which gain most profit, so we can cut in more companies. That would save us a lot of money but the industries are not going to like it.

These were the solution, raising the wages and lowers the targets for recruitment. And no, the people didn’t like it, during the first half of the year dissent increased with 3%. But the 13th of April, the first division was ready for deployment. The government however decided that it shouldn’t be placed until the next year. Though the early gear and suspension was researched on the 3rd of March, Popovi declared the situation as doomed at the 20th in the same month. He let the 4th Army with artillery move to Dubrovnik to cover up for the coming divisions.

The 16th June, Romania shipped oil to Germany without anything in return. The communist world was chocked! A nation, between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union cooperates with the fascists. Soviet foreign minister Mikhail Kalinin asked his Yugoslavian partner Ivan Ribar to come to Moscow, where they might found how to handle the situation. Already the next day, Ivan arrived in the Kremlin where the atmosphere was electric of anger. Mikhail greeted Ivan and led him into his own office; there they had a long conversation, which resulted in… nothing really. But one thing was clear; Romania should be warned, and if another shipment of this character happened again the communists would not look kind upon it.
Mikhail even got time to talk a little about a Yugoslavian enter in Komintern, but Ivan gave no response.

In Ethiopia, the Italians had the advantage an on the 15th of April they had united their Somalia and Eritrea possessions. To support the freedom-fighting Ethiopians, Tito shared some of Yugoslavia’s military technology with them (Early War Experience). But the war continued in Ethiopian disfavour, Haile Selassie was forced to retreat into the regions around Addis Ababa. The northern front however held out against a couple of smaller Italian raids. But it was soon to fall as the Italians had began using more and more tactical bombers in their operations to create confusion and inflict damage on the equipment. On the 19th of June, Italy
launched a grand attack towards Addis Ababa. It was surely the end of independent Ethiopia, but something was wrong in the Italian lines. Recently, the Eritrea and Somalia front had merged and that had created a lot of confusion. The both fronts was tired and disorganized since the battles they came from. So, after eleven days of fierce battles, Haile managed to get the intruders on the run.
Directly after this victory he left with a division northwards to the bombed areas. But Italian reinforcements were on the way from Somalia, so his time in the north didn’t last too long. On the 5th of July, Italian 1st, 2nd and 4th Somalia divisions along with 2nd Eritrea division made a second assault…
 
more :)
 
Spring had been a relatively calm period for the military staff in Beograd. The chief of staff, Koa Popovi, sat at his desk in his office, studying the latest reports about tank gears from the scientists. It was a sunny day in July and the military headquarter was almost empty. Those who hadn’t left early to spend the day in the sun had barricated themselves in their offices. Except from Popovi there was only his secretary in the room. The secretary, Zoran Koschnik, a young man who came from Mostar in Hercegovina. Now he talked with the department of foreign affairs about the situation in Ethiopia and took notes on his hanky.
”- Well, why don’t they do anything… if they’re gonna build a frontier against the Italians they’ll not stand a chance. You know, we got high exspectations on Haile here in the staff.”
Popovi looked up from his papers and said to Zoran:
”- Why don’t you go get us some coffee, that conversation is not going to lead to anything.” Zoran smiled and gave his call an abrupt end by saying:
”- Oh, exuse me. We have important information comming in now, give me a call if something happens on the front.” Then he crumpled up the handy and throwed it in a litter bin. ”- The Ethiopians can’t possibly win that war, no matter what tactics they use! But it seems like the foreign department still got some hope left, I don’t understand it.” When he didn’t get an answer from Popovi, he left the room. The chief of staff now stood up from his chair and had a walk around the room, he unbuttoned his suit and sat down again. He lighten a cigarr and let his thoughts drift away to his planned vaccation. He and his wife had plans to go to Split, even though Tito warned them for eventual Ustasha attacks. As he nearly fell asleep in his chair, the door throw open and a telegraphist from the staff ran in. His name was Tristand Lafargue and he was from southern France, from where he emigrated when the communists siezed power in Yugoslavia. He almost shouted when he announced the news:
- ”It has EXPLODED!” Popovi looked confused.
- “What has exloded? Is Ustasha responsible?”
- “No no, the tensions in Spain! The army is in revolt, they have taken control over Morocco and several cities in the north and south of Spain itself! Their leader is a man called Francisco Franco or something like that!” Now, Popovi picked up his phone and asked Tristand:
- ”Is Broz informed!? How bad is it? How many rebells are there?”
- “Yes, Tito is informed and he should call for an assambly anytime now. I think it is quite bad really, it won’t take long before the rebells get support from the Italians! I have no sure information on the number of troops, I am sorry.” Zoran entern the room with coffee for Popovi and himself but putted it on a shelf when he realised that Koa had more important things to do now. He sat down in his chair and listened to the conversation, but he immideatly got an order:
- “Get general Radenkovic here!”
- ”Yes sir, I’ll try and reach him.” At the same time Popovi phoned Tito but didn’t get through. Zoran, however, reached Radenkovic in his home and asked him to come to the HQ, which he did. During the twenty minutes it took for him to get there, Koa Popovis office was completely silent and the coffee became cooler and cooler. Something that did not get cooler was the temprature…
When Radenkovic finally arrived, Popovi introduced him to the situation:
- “The army have revolted in several places in Spain, among them Morocco, Gijón and Cuenta. Thier leader is general F. Franco. The governement is intact and will do everything to fight the revolution. Personally I don’t think that Yugoslavia shall join that conflict, but if the Italians do so, then I fear that the republicans will face the same destiny as Ethiopia. Technological support would be the best way to help them, because it’s gonna be difficult to move any troops across the meditteranean if we want to use them in combat directly afterwards. What do you think?” Radenkovic, who was as shocked as Popovi had been when he recieved the news waited half a minute with his answer:
- ”Until we have more information I think we shall remain neutral. Yet, we do not know if the Italians will interfere or even if we need to. This might be over in a day or so, maybe the only thing needed is some reforms and then everything is back to normal.”
- “It didn’t sound like that on the man I spoke to in Madrid, Vicente Alvaro – Nuñes. He said that this might sure be the beginning to a civilwar.” Radenkovic gave Tristand a short look and said to Popovi:
- ”How can he possibly know anything about that, I doubt that this Vincent Alaro is nothing more than a journalist who want a good head in his newspaper.” The phone rang and Zoran answered. The man who called said that Tito wanted a meeting with Koa Popovi and a several other persons in the governement in half an hour. So it was only for him to button his suit again and put his uniform on and leave the department for the parliament…
 
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