The Balkan Air Force (BAF) was an Allied air formation operating in the Balkans during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Composed of units of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

and

South African Air Force "Through hardships to the stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

under the

Mediterranean Allied Air Forces The Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) was the major Allied air force command organization in the Mediterranean theater from mid-December 1943 until the end of the Second World War. Formation The Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) be ...

command, it was active from 7 June 1944 until 15 July 1945. Air Vice Marshal William Elliot and then George Mills, both RAF officers, were its Air Officer Commanding (AOC). The BAF operated mainly over Yugoslavia, supporting the Partisans against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and its allies, but occasionally supporting the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Albanian resistance In Albania, World War II began with its invasion by Italy in April 1939. Fascist Italy set up Albania as its protectorate or puppet state. The resistance was largely carried out by Communist groups against the Italian (until 1943) and then Germ ...

movements also.

History

The formation was based at Bari in Italy, and formed on 7 June 1944 from AHQ 'G' Force, to simplify command arrangements for the air support of

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

-operations in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, i.e. across the Adriatic and in the Aegean and Ionian seas. The

Desert Air Force The Desert Air Force (DAF), also known chronologically as Air Headquarters Western Desert, Air Headquarters Libya, the Western Desert Air Force, and the First Tactical Air Force (1TAF), was an Allied tactical air force created from No. 204 ...

had been responsible for those operations, but its prime job was the support of the troops of the Commonwealth Eighth Army which was fighting its way up through Italy, thus making operations over the Balkans a distraction. The Balkan Air Force was a subordinate to

, the overall allied air formation in the Mediterranean. A loose formation of Douglas Dakota Mark IIIs of No

The BAF mainly supported the operations of the Partisans, led by Josip Broz Tito, against

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forces in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, but also provided support to Greek and Albanian resistance organisations. It transported supplies to the Partisans, evacuated wounded, dropped agents to help them, and provided air support in their operations against German troops. The Balkan Air Force was a multinational unit, with 15 types of aircraft and men from eight nations: Greece, co-belligerent Italy, Poland, South Africa, Yugoslavia, the UK, USA and USSR (a transport squadron). Between its inception and May 1945 the BAF flew 38,340 sorties, dropped 6,650 tons of bombs, delivered 16,440 tons of supplies and flew 2,500 individuals into Yugoslavia and 19,000 (mostly wounded) out. Towards the end of its existence, it operated a small number of units from Yugoslav soil to harass the retreating Germans. However, disagreements with Tito (particularly the arrest of members of the Special Boat Squadron on 13 April 1945, although they were quickly released) meant that all British ground forces were withdrawn, although BAF aircraft operating from Zadar continued to support the Partisan offensive. Between 19 March and 3 May they flew 2,727 sorties, attacking the German withdrawal route from Sarajevo to Zagreb and supporting the Fourth Yugoslav Army advancing from

Bihać Bihać ( cyrl, Бихаћ) is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovin ...

to Rijeka. The Balkan Air Force was disbanded on 15 July 1945. During its short existence, it was commanded by (British)

Air Vice Marshals William Elliot and George Mills.

Operations

William Deakin Sir Frederick William Dampier Deakin DSO (3 July 1913 – 22 January 2005) was a British historian, World War II veteran, literary assistant to Winston Churchill and the first warden of St Antony's College, Oxford. Life Deakin was educated ...

, who had met up with the Partisans in May as a representative of Middle East GHQ, was attached as advisor to the newly formed Balkan Air Force, under (then) Air Vice Marshal Elliott, with headquarters at Bari, Italy. This body assumed responsibility for all operations by land, sea, and air into Central and South-Eastern Europe. Fitzroy Maclean the head of the British military mission to the Partisans said that, as the Balkan Air Force was also responsible for the "planning and co-ordination of all supply dropping" to the Partisans, it "gave me a single authority with whom I could deal direct and was of incalculable advantage in obtaining quick results". This was decisive in enabling the Partisans to withstand the

Raid on Drvar Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...

(Seventh Offensive). Much of the planning for Operation Ratweek to impede the German withdrawal from the Balkans was done at BAF Headquarters and Maclean’s own Rear Headquarters at Bari. Ratweek, started on 1 September 1944, also involved the Navy and the Partisans. USAAF Flying Fortresses (50) were called in to bomb

Leskovac Leskovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Лесковац, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Jablanica District in southern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, City of Leskovac has a 124,889 inhabitants. Etymology Leskovac was historicall ...

and impede the German withdrawal, though with many civilian casualties. The Balkan Air Terminal Service (BATS) was formed by the BAF to improve the supply of materiel to the Partisans. Teams of the BATS parachuted into Yugoslavia to meet up with the Partisans. Together they then set up a number of landing strips which transport aircraft could land at. Through these concealed airstrips, more supplies could be delivered to the Partisans and wounded Partisans could be flown out for treatment, as well as the delivery and removal of British

(SOE) and American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) teams.

Units of the Air Force

* 13th Light Bomber Squadron RHAF * No. 25 Squadron SAAF *

No. 37 Squadron RAF No. 37 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron of the First and Second World Wars. History First World War No. 37 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed at RFC Orfordness, Suffolk, on 15 April 1916 as an experimental squadron, but i ...

* No. 39 Squadron RAF * No. 351 Squadron RAF * No. 352 Squadron RAF * No. 1435 Squadron RAF * No. 281 Wing RAF ** No. 6 Squadron RAF – Hawker Hurricane for ground attack * No. 283 Wing RAF **

No. 213 Squadron RAF No. 213 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. The squadron was formed on 1 April 1918 from No. 13 (Naval) Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service.Halley 1988, p. 278. This RNAS squadron was itself formed on 15 January 1918 from the Sea ...

* No. 334 Wing RAF ** No. 267 Squadron RAF, as well as operations in the Balkans 267 Squadron could reach Poland and flew operations to deliver and collect agents. **

60th Troop Carrier Group 060 may refer to: * Motorola 68060 microprocessor * 0-6-0, wheel arrangement for railway locomotives * emergency telephone number in Mexico, "060" * Bermuda, country code "060" (ISO 3166-1 numeric) * 060, the area code for Chimay in the Belgian tel ...

– Dakota From June 1944, a Soviet unit of 12 Dakotas and 12 Yakovlev fighters to support the USSR military mission to the Partisans and drop supplies came under the BAF.CHAPTER XI The Balkans and the Middle East
/ref> At the same time, the BAF coordinated operations in the Adriatic area by Land Forces, Adriatic and the naval forces under the command of the Flag Officer, Taranto.

Gallery of images

Image:Elliot and Mills in Italy WWII IWM CNA 3470.jpg, Air Vice-Marshals W Elliot and G H Mills at BAF Headquarters, Bari 1945. Image:BAF Ammo. Trans.jpg, BAF ammunition transports to partisan ( YNLA) troops. Image:BAF Hurricane Attack.jpg, BAF (YNLA AF) Hurricane attack on enemy shipping, Adriatic Sea. Image:Zadar Apron with a BAF B-24 Liberator (background).jpg,

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ser ...

flightline with a BAF B-24 Liberator Image:BAF Transports the wounded to Italy.jpg, Partisan wounded being evacuated by BAF

DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

s to Italy. (background).

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * https://web.archive.org/web/20080619080330/http://www.yuairwar.com/novj.asp * * * * * * ''The Oxford Companion to World War II'', edited by I.C.B. Dear & M.R.D. Foot (2005, Oxford University Press) * Milanović, Djordje (1978). ''Naši Piloti u Borbi (Our Pilots in Combat)'', Četvrti Jul, Belgrade.

External links