Milorad Petrović

Milorad Petrović.
Milorad Petrović (18 April 1882 – 12 June 1981) was a lieutenant general in the Royal Yugoslav Army who commanded the 1st Army Group during World War II. He was commissioned into the Royal Serbian Army in 1901 and served in staff positions during the Balkan Wars and the Serbian campaign of World War I. After the 27 March 1941 Yugoslav coup d'état, he was appointed to command the 1st Army Group, responsible for the northern borders of Yugoslavia with Italy, Germany and Hungary. His formations were only partially mobilised when the German-led invasion of Yugoslavia began on 6 April. Significant fifth column activities affected the Yugoslav units from the outset. On 10 April, two determined armoured thrusts by the Germans caused the 1st Army Group to disintegrate, and the following day Petrović was captured by fifth columnists. He was soon handed over to the Germans and spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp in Germany. After the war, he chose to return to communist-led Yugoslavia, living in Belgrade, and remaining active, swimming daily in the Sava well into his nineties. (This article is part of a featured topic: 1st Army Group (Kingdom of Yugoslavia).)