Danilo Kalafatović
Danilo Kalafatović (Serbian Cyrillic: Данило Калафатовић; 27 October 1875 – 1946) was a Serbian military officer and Army general (Kingdom of Yugoslavia) who served in the armies of the Kingdom of Serbia (Royal Serbian Army) and Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Royal Yugoslav Army) during the first half of the 20th century. During the Second World War, he was briefly Chief of the General Staff and Supreme Commander of Yugoslavia.
Danilo Kalafatović | |
|---|---|
 Danilo Kalafatović, c. 1915 | |
| Born | 27 October 1875 Konarevo, Principality of Serbia |
| Died | 1946 (aged 70–71) Moosburg an der Isar, Allied-occupied Germany |
| Allegiance | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Kingdom of Serbia (1900–1918).svg.png.webp){kind=small} Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) |
| Years of service | 1900–1941 |
| Rank | Army general (Kingdom of Yugoslavia) |
| Commands held | Chief of the General Staff |
| Battles/wars | Balkan Wars World War I World War II: Invasion of Yugoslavia (1941) (POW) |
Biography
Kalafatović was born on 27 October 1875 in Konarevo. At the end of World War I, Kalafatović became head of the operational section of the Serbian general staff.[1]
During the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, on 13 April 1941 General Kalafatović was named Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army by King Peter II,[2] succeeding General Dušan Simović, who was also serving as Prime Minister.[3] Following the defeat of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Kalafatović designated Foreign Minister Aleksandar Cincar-Marković and General Radivoje Janković to sign the unconditional surrender of the country to the Axis powers.[2]
He died in 1946 in Moosburg an der Isar, Allied-occupied Germany.[1] His military archive is located in Toronto.[4]
References
- Levental 1992, p. 107.
- Cohen 1996, p. 29.
- Vucinich 1969, p. 72.
- Vujcic, Djuradj (2 September 2020). "General Danilo Kalafatovic Archive in Toronto". Urban Book Circle. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
Sources
- Cohen, Philip J. (1996). Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-0-89096-760-7.
- Levental, Zdenko (1992). Rodolphe Archibald Reiss: criminaliste et moraliste de la Grande guerre [Rodolphe Archibald Reiss: Criminal and Moralist of the Great War] (in French). Paris: L'age D'homme. ISBN 978-2-8251-0197-1.
- Vucinich, Wayne S. (1969). Contemporary Yugoslavia: Twenty Years of Socialist Experiment. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
