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I was readding some stuff today and this just came out of nowhere a time line in which Croatian nationalists form the core of the Axis resistance rather than communists.



When Hawks Fly


6.4.1941. Axis forces invade Yugoslavia and Greece.

8.4.1941. Bjelovar uprising. The 108th infantry regiment and 40th auxiliary regiment, made out of Croats refuse obedience to the Yugoslav army command and move to Bjelovar where town’s major pronounces the “resurrection” of Croatian state.

10.4.1941. Wehrmacht enters Zagreb and ex-Austro-Hungarian officer and now high standing Ustasha member Slavko Kvaternik reads the proclamation of the “Independent State of Croatia”. The political leader of Croatian Banovina Vlatko Maček, who had previously rejected Germans offers to collaborate, calls the people to support the new government.

“Croats! God’s mercy and the will of our ally along with the arduous, centuries long struggle of our people as well as the great sacrifices on the part of our Poglavnik, dr. Ante Pavelić and the Ustaše movement in the country and abroad have determined that today on the day before the resurrection of the son of God so thus rise our Independent State of Croatia.


I call all Croats, where ever they may be and especially all officers and the entire body of the armed and security forces to maintain order and that all of them report to the armed forces command in Zagreb their current location, so that the entire armed force can immediately swear fealty to the Independent State of Croatia and to her Poglavniku. The entire command of the armed forces have been given to me by Poglavnik.

God and the Croats! For home ready!“


- Slavko "knight" Kvaternik on 10th April 1941


15.4.1941. Axis troops enter Split and Sarajevo. Ante Pavelić leader of the Ustasha movement returns to Croatia with some two hundred Ustasha.

16.4.1941. First government of “Independent State of Croatia” is formed. Pavelić becomes PM while Kvaternik is appointed minister of Croatian Home Guard.

17.4.1941. Yugoslavian armed forces capitulated. In Croatia the “Treason law” is passed. Among other things it is written “if any person should through his words, conduct or action brings shame or insults the Croatian nation, the said person will be accused of treason. The only punishment for treason is death.”

25.4.1941. Negotiations begin between Italy and Croatia to determine future borders. The Croatian negotiators refuse to accept any territorial concessions but Poglavnik shows signs that an agreement could be made causing resentment among hard line nationalists such as Slavko Kvaternik.

27-28.4.1941. Ustashe move into the village of Gudovac on the pretext of avenging two killed Croats in the region and killed all of the 196 male Serbs from the village and the vicinity. Axis troops enter Athens.

30.4.1941. Racial laws are passed in Croatia.

4-5.5.1941. During the night Ustashe take away and kill several dozen distinct Serbs in Banja Luka, Glina, Karlovac and in various settlement throughout Lika.

6.5.1941. Unknown persons murder 4 people in Blagaj.

9.5.1941. Ustashe in retaliation to these murders gather around 400 Serbs from the nearby village of Veljun and execute them.

10.5.1941. The numbers of Ustashe grew from a few hundred to a few thousand during the first month.

13.5.1941. Without any pretext Ustashe round up an execute 260 Serbs in Glina.

18.5.1941. The Rome agreements are signed and Croatia cedes parts of her territory to Italy. In addition prince Aimone of Savoy-Osta would become Croatian king as Tomislav II. The same night Olga Kvaternik, a Jew, takes her life appalled by the racial laws and the role of her husband and son in the new state.

“We have been placed in a room with the view of the square. Dr. Pavelić was lead to a nearby room. The gloomy wait begins... Suddenly the doors open. A small bent legged Italian comes through them. Almost ceremonially he summons us. Before our eyes an image appears that no one had expected, that no one was able to predict. Our offspring should remember it for eternal warning to danger and death... The first thing that caught my eye was an enormous map, hung high, directly opposite our entrance. The map represented the future borders of Croatia... It seamed to me as if a terrible pain would overcome... Nothing of Dalamatia and of our sea would go to Croatia...”


-later note by a member of the Croatian delegation



19.5.1941. Slavko Kvaternik learns that during the night his wife Olga, a Jew, took her life appalled by the racial laws and the role her husband and son have in the new state. News reach Slavko in an already foul mood after a vicious exchange with the Poglavnik over the treaty with the Italians. The Home Guard minister leaves for Croatia ahead of the group to attend the burial.

20.5.1941. Axis forces attack Crete.

21.5.1941. On his trek from Zadar to Zagreb Slavko stops in Rakovica where another Kvaternik seventy years ago tried to raise a rebellion against German and Hungarian oppression of the Croat people. There the old colonel makes his decision. The laws and the honour of the land will be upheld.

23.5.1941. Gathering to himself the Home Guard officers and Ustashe disenchanted by the governments betray of the national territory Slavko prepares the coup.

26.5.1941. Pavelić and the rest of the delegation returns to Zagreb, where they are arrested. Throughout Croatia Ustashe loyal to the Poglavnik are rounded up.

27.5.1941. Found guilty before the Croat people and God, Pavelić and his supporters are executed for treason at first light, Slavko personal executes his son. Later that day the Croatian Sabor is reconstituted with Ivan Šubašić as its speaker. Vlatko Maček forms the new government.

The acts passed on the first session are as follows:

From this day forth Croatia is an independent state

The country will be renamed back into Croatian Banovina (Banovina Hrvatska)

The borders of the country will be those of Croatian Banovina from 1939. Cvetković-Maček agreement


Other territories may join the country via plebiscite


All discriminatory laws passed by the Pavelić government are abolished


All citizens which took part in the unlawful killings of the civilians will be prosecuted


The Axis armed forces on the territory of Croatian Banovina are to be considered as occupation forces and will be asked to withdrew, if they refuse force will be used until territorial integrity of Croatian Banovina is achieved


The Ustashe movement is to be dissolved, those members of the movement that did not take part in the atrocities will be integrated into the Home Guard


General Vladimir Laxa of the Home Guard is appointed Ban of Croatia


Home Guard forces will provide assistance against the Axis forces to other south Slavs outside the border if asked to do so



“Citizens of Croatia! Brother Croats! On this day by the will of God and bravery of our soldiers we have achieved independence. As before in our history a snake from our own mids would have sold us to foreign overlords but brave souls arouse to thwart such foul play. I call upon you my brothers to rise up and thrown down the shackles of slavery and fight foreign invaders. Remember Jelačić and Šubić and may their deeds inspire you. To arms my brothers for the motherland calls!

For the holy cross and the golden freedom! “

- Vladimir Laxa, Ban of Croatia



28.5.1941. Fighting breaks out throughout territories which the Axis powers awarded to the “Independent State of Croatia” as the Axis commander try to assert control and local people rise up in resistance. Slavko Kvaternik is found dead in his room, he had taken poison believing that through participating in the Ustashe movement he had brought shame upon his people and felt responsible for the acts conducted by the Ustashe militias.



I stoped here to hear what you guys think and what potential butterflies this might cause before I continue onward.

Cheers
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