Dušan Simović

Dušan Simović
18th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
In office 27 March 1941 – 12 January 1942
Monarch	Peter II Prince Paul (Regent, 1941)
Preceded by	Dragiša Cvetković
Succeeded by	Slobodan Jovanović
Personal details
Born	(1882-10-28)October 28, 1882 Kragujevac, Kingdom of Serbia
Died	August 26, 1962(1962-08-26) (aged 79) Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Citizenship	Yugoslav
Occupation	Soldier, politician
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Service/branch	Royal Yugoslav Army
Years of service	1900–1943
Rank	General
Commands	Royal Yugoslav Air Force Chief of the General Staff

Dušan Simović (Serbian: Душан Симовић; 28 October 1882 – 26 August 1962) was a Serbian general who served as Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army and as the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.

Life and career

Simovic was born on October 28 in 1882, in Kragujevac. He attended elementary school and two years of high school in his hometown. Even as a high school student he had quite an interest in military and the military profession. Because of his interest in military matters, he left high school and entered the military academy in Belgrade. He completed Military Academy in 1900, when he was promoted to second lieutenant of artillery. Higher School of Military Academy completed in 1905, and pivotal preparation in 1912. The Balkan wars in 1912 to 1913 and the First World War, from 1914 to 1918, he proved to be an excellent officer in the rank of staff bojnikaa, promoted in 1913, and Lieutenant Colonel in 1915. At Salonika, he was the commander of the 7th Infantry Regiment. But even in Thessalonica, Simovic was interested in aviation and air defense. Every day, he became more and more interested in the works of the pioneers of flight Mihailo Petrovic, reading his reports in the Balkan Wars, as well as his studies on aviation. So it broke and he decided to dedicate his life to post-war aviation. In 1918, was determined for the delegates of the Serbian government and the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in Zagreb. In the period up to the beginning of the second war, devoted exclusively to aviation.

Supreme Commander of the Air Force became the 1936th and remains in that position until the 1938th when he replaced General Milutin Nedic. Meanwhile, the rank of general aviation gets in January 1938th, and in May of the same year became Chief of General Staff until the 1940th year. In his position as Chief of General Staff has replaced General Milutin Nedic. As secretary of the Army, he dedicated himself to the fact that in the case of a German attack on Yugoslavia resist which will last until the allies do not join the Yugoslav army, and in case of failure to withdraw the army to Greece and thereby create new battlefields Thessaloniki. Therefore, his thoughts were not accepted, and in April in 1940. Had to surrender the Chief Gen. Peter Kosice. Actively followed the course of events, and when he signed the Tripartite Pact accession of Yugoslavia, took the momentum, together with Brigadier General Borivoje Mirkovic, Colonel Dragutin Savic, aviation Colonel Stephen Burazović, Staff Colonel Miodrag Lazic and other officers in the coup against the government Dragisa Cvetkovic.

After the coup Simović positioned Prime Minister reaffirming Yugoslavia's intentions to fulfill its obligations as a member of the Axis.^[1] But Nazi Germany did not trust him and invaded Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941. Simović fled the country with his family. After the end of World War II in Yugoslavia and the formation of Josip Broz Tito's second Yugoslavia, he returned to Belgrade in 1952 and went on to author a number of books on military issues. He died in Belgrade.^[2]

References

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