FINANCING OF THE YUGOSLAV ARMY IN THE FATHERLAND OF GENERAL MIHAILOVIĆ IN SERBIA (1941-1944)

• Published in: Istorija 20. veka (1983) no. 2; p. 137
• Main Author: Timotijević, Miloš
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Bosnian; English
• Published: Belgrade Institut za Savremenu Istoriyu 01-01-2019
• Subjects: Armed forces; Coins; Financial institutions; Financing; Local population; Money; Peacekeeping forces; Resistance; Theft
• ISSN: 0352-3160; 2560-3647
• DOI: 10.29362/ist20veka.2019.2.tim.137-156

The problem of providing sufficient financial resources for the operations of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland (JVuO) headed by General Mihailović, did not only have military consequences (resistance to occupation, quislings, confrontations with partisans), but also affected the relationship with the local population and Western allies, mainly the British. The forces of General Mihailović received gold and money through several channels; first from the Yugoslav mission in Istanbul and then directly by air through parachute packages. A part of the money was collected in the country itself and Mihailović also received certain financial resources directly or indirectly from the occupational government of Milan Nedić. The Germans were trying to stop such activities in any possible way, but as of the second half of 1943 the financing of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland was blocked by Great Britain within their policy of supporting the partisan movement and their rejection of General Mihailović. This resulted in the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland resorting to more informal ways of financing, which came down to the systematic theft of money and valuables from all financial institutions in occupied Serbia. According to existing data, during the war, the forces of General Mihailović received 45,410 golden pounds, 5,000 dollars and 4,500 Napoleon coins from abroad. The total was around 55,000 gold coins, as well as several tens of millions of occupational liras and dinars. This small and insufficient help was not increased significantly by the informal financing during 1944 when, according to the official data of the Nedić Government, they took a total of 1.23 billion dinars from banks, post offices and trains.