Yugoslavia:2000

These notes provide more detailed background for Yugoslavia in Twilight:2000. Most importantly, these notes were first developed in 1991-2 and have almost no influence of the tortuous events of the last five years. The unit deployment come from Twilight:2000’s NATO and Warsaw Pact Vehicle Guides. Curiously enough, a lot of names that have since become better known appear…

Military Unit Locations

(as of Summer, 2000):

US (CivGov) Forces Locations:

Unit Location Troops Vehicles
IV Corp HQ Cantonment north of Split (Croatia).
42nd Inf Div Cantonment north of Split (Croatia). 3000 6 M60
76th Lt Inf Div Cantonment in Titograd (Montenegro). 1000
80th Lt Inf Div Cantonment north of Split (Croatia) 3000

Soviet Forces Locations:

Unit Location Troops Vehicles
Southern Front:
112th Air Asslt Bgd Beograd (Serbia). 700 2 Heli
20th Army:
9th Internal Rfl Div Mostar (SW Bosnia). 1000 Cav
73rd Gds Mot Rfl Div Sarajevo (Bosnia). 4000 2 T72
266th Motor Rfl Div Sarajevo (Bosnia). 4000

Serbian (US allied) Locations:

Unit Location Troops Vehicles
1st Provis Inf Div Near Beograd 2000 3 T74, M47
Kragujevac Inf Bgd Near Beograd 400
Valjevo Inf Bgd Near Beograd 500
Novi Sad Inf Bgd Near Beograd 300
Pancevo Inf Bgd Tuzla, Serbia 600
Nis Inf Bgd Lescovak (fighting Bulgarian bandits) 400
1st Prov Mtn Bgd Kosovska Mit, Kosovo (fighting Albanians) 700
Sabac Inf Bgd Vrsac, NW Serbia
(fighting bandits)
500

Croatia (anti-US, anti-Serb, anti-Soviet) Locations:

Unit Location Troops
Prvi Bgd Vicinity of Split (Dalmatia) 400
Drugi Bgd Dubrovnik (S Dalmatia) 800
Treci Bgd Sisak (central Croatia) 450
Cetvrti Bgd Lovran
(NW Croatia, near Rjieka)
200
Peti Bgd Sibenik
(Dalmatia, NW of Split)
500
Sesti Bgd Osijek (NE Croatia) 700
Sedmi Bgd Zagreb (N Croatia) 600
Osmi Bgd Vicinity of Split (Dalmatia) 200

Albanians (anti-US, anti-Serb) Locations:

Occupying parts of Kosovo region. Most local militias in Kosovo are ethnic Albanians.
Unit Location Troops
IV Inf Bgd Pec (Kosovo) 500
III Art Rgt Shkoder, Albania
(opposite US 76th)
400

Bulgaria (Pact ally) Locations:

Unit Location Troops Vehicles
28th Mot Div Belogradchik, NW Bulgaria 1000 2 T55
1st Mot Trng Div Sofia, W Bulgaria 800
9th Tank Bgd Rila, W Bulgaria 600 2 T55

Romanian (NATO ally) Locations:

Unit Location Troops
18th Mot Rfl Div Timisoara area.
Dispersed partisans
1100
2nd/6th Comb Mtn Bgd Turnu Severin area 900

Greece (anti-NATO) Locations:

Occupying Macedonia
Unit Location Troops Vehicles
Elements of Greek 9 Inf Div.:
Div HQ, Rfl Btn, Art Rgt, Tank Btn
Skopje and Kumanovo
(closes passes to Kosovo)
100,400,600,200 12 Leopard I, 3 M-48
Rfl Rgt Kriva Palanka
(guards vs Bulgarians)
1000 3 M-48
Rfl Rgt Bitola
(blocks Albanians; pass to Greece)
900 2 M-48
Rfl Rgt Gevgelija
(guards pass to Thessaloniki)
1200 3 Leopard I

The Tank battalion is kept in reserve as a quick reaction force to back up the other regiments. The Greeks are well-supplied with men, tanks, and support equipment, but have limited fuel.

Map of Yugoslavia and vicinity

History of US Units in Yugoslavia:

In one of the larger wasted efforts of the war, in the summer of 1998, the IV US Corps was brought over from the CivGov areas of the northeastern seaboard to Yugoslavia, in an attempt to prop up the resurgent Yugoslav government. However, almost as soon as they arrived, IV Corps ran into trouble.

The Yugoslav government they had been sent over to assist had been dismembered by the Italian military between the time CivGov had committed to rounding up IV Corps and the time the troops arrived after a slow crossing. In its place were the states of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia. Greece sent a fresh infantry division to occupy most of the province of Macedonia. The Italians withdrew most of their occupation forces, leaving a few to prop up Slovenia as a buffer. With the ability to strike back resistence crushed, Italy had little further interest in the area. The Russians held Serbia and Bosnia using forces from Romania.

Slovenia is an Italian satellite, a puppet state. All local militias have about half the numbers you'd expect due to arms confiscations.

Croatia is an open buffer state. The Italians (and the Russians) are banking on Croatian hate for Serbians to keep them apart and too divided to help remove the Pact forces. The Croatians are kind of against everyone: the Italians and the Russians (fear of occupation), the US troops (invasion), and the Serbians (long list of historical reasons).

Bosnia has no independent government. The Russians occupied the cities; internal strife between Croatian, Serbian, and Moslem populations keep it in turmoil. The Russians don't like to venture outside the cities much as everyone shoots at them.

Serbia's puppet government wouldn't last a day after the Russian troops left, and commands little outside the city of Beograd. Serbian militias operate independently of the puppet government to oppose the Russian invaders. They spent 1998 and 1999 squeezing the Russians into Beograd, and keep them surrounded while trying to bring the rest of the country under control. They steal most of their military supplies from the Russians.

No one has come after Montenegro except the Albanians to the South.

Shortly after landing at Split, IV Corps gained contact with military leaders in Serbia -- including their contacts from the former Yugoslav high command.

76th Division was embarked to support the Yugoslav army and Montenegran militia against invading Albanians. The light troops would not have fared well against the other major Yugoslav military problem - the Russians, then taking over occupation for the Italians. The 76th has gotten on well with the Montenegrans: their fighting spirit appeals to the warrior aspect of the culture and the 76th has done some clever work against Albanian raiders. They have also not been afraid to use their engineers and troops as muscle for public works programs. The local culture has a bit of a soft-spot for "Mad" Milo Coleman, the divisional CO.

The Croatians saw the US troops as aiding Serbian needs - not their own. So, the bulk of IV Corps (the 42nd Inf and 80th Lt Inf Div, plus most Corps assets) found itself fighting its way through the local population just to get at the Russians. Unfortunately, the friction with locals took the edge off IV Corps (which was not all that strong anyway), and they were unable to dislodge the Soviets. IV Corps halted and set up cantonments northwest of Split.


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