Royal Yugoslav Guards Battalion Explained

Unit Name:Royal Yugoslav Guards Battalion
Dates:1941 - 1944
Allegiance:Yugoslav government-in-exile
Branch:Yugoslav Army Outside the Homeland
Size:Battalion
Command Structure:4th Indian Division (1941 - 1943)
10th Indian Division (1943 - 1944)
Battles:North African Campaign (World War II)

The Royal Yugoslav Guards Battalion was an infantry formation of the Yugoslav Army Outside the Homeland in World War II.

Formed in Cairo in 1941 as the 1st Battalion, Royal Yugoslav Guards, it consisted of Yugoslav soldiers who escaped capture during the April War and Slovene and Croatian prisoners of war of the Royal Italian Army. It was attached to the 4th Indian Division and saw service in the Western Desert Campaign until the unit's transfer to Mandatory Palestine in 1943. In June 1943, the unit was reassigned to the 10th Indian Division.

The battalion was subject to significant internal strife upon its transfer to Palestine, with many soldiers demanding transfer to fight for the Yugoslav Partisans in their homeland.[1] The unit was ultimately disbanded in May 1944. The majority of men transferred to the Partisans, though some remained in service with the British Army.[2]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Torkar . Blaz . Smetana . Vít . Exile in London: The Experience of Czechoslovakia and the Other Occupied Nations, 1939-1945 . 2018 . Karolinum . Prague . 978-8024637013 . The Yugoslav Armed Forces in Exile: From the Yugoslav Royal Guard Battalion to the Overseas Brigades. 116.
  2. Book: Thomas . Nigel . Babac . Dusan . 2022 . Yugoslav Armies 1941–45 . Bloomsbury Publishing . 978-1472842015.