Skip to content
WW2 Theatres Theatres of the Second World War
Home

World War II calendar

WWII On This Day: April 12

What happened on April 12 during World War II? This date brings together 1 event from 1941, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1941
A German Panzer IV of the 11th Panzer Division advancing into Yugoslavia in April 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-770-0280-20 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Invasion of Yugoslavia, April 1941

A German patrol enters Belgrade

In the early evening of 12 April, SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Klingenberg led a small patrol of the 2nd SS Division across the Danube in captured craft and entered Belgrade ahead of the main armoured formations. At 17:00 the patrol raised the German flag at the German legation. Roughly two hours later, municipal representatives surrendered the city to the German representatives present. Organised military defence inside Belgrade had largely dissolved as Yugoslav headquarters and field formations withdrew or lost communication. The patrol’s entry settled the immediate question of control inside the city,…

Continue in Invasion of Yugoslavia, April 1941 →