Franjo Džal (9 April 1906, in

Bihać Bihać 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 (Sava), Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in th ...

– September 1945, in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

) was a colonel in the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...

's air force. He finished elementary school and gymnasium in Bihać and graduated from the Military Academy of Serbia in 1924. Džal initially attended observer school at

Petrovaradin Petrovaradin ( sr-Cyrl, Петроварадин, ) is a historic town in the Serbian province of Vojvodina, now a part of the city of Novi Sad. As of 2011, the urban area has 14,810 inhabitants. Lying on the right bank of the Danube, across the m ...

in 1927, and then was accepted for pilot training at 1. VP in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

the following year. He became a fighter pilot, serving with 6. LP in

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...

, (now part of Belgrade) in 1931. He completed his training as a fighter pilot in the Yugoslav Royal Army. He served as a Major in

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

during the April War. He subsequently joined the

Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia The Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia (; ZNDH), was the air force of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a puppet state established with the support of the Axis Powers on the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during World W ...

and was assigned to the

Croatian Air Force Legion The Croatian Air Force Legion (), or HZL, was a unit of the Luftwaffe, composed entirely of volunteers drawn from the nazi puppet-state, the Independent State of Croatia. Many of them had previously served in the Royal Yugoslav Air Force in April ...

. Džal was a member of the 4th Legionnaire Fighter Wing of the Legion and was sent to the Eastern Front in September 1941. Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, he became the first commanding officer of 15(Kroat)/

JG 52 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 52 (JG 52) was a German World War II fighter ''Geschwader'' (wing) that exclusively used the Messerschmitt Bf 109 throughout the war. The unit originally formed near Munich in November 1938, then moved to a base near Stuttga ...

. From October 1941 to November 1942 he claimed 16 confirmed victories (and 3-5 unconfirmed) over the course of 157 missions. On 28 July he was shot down by

Alexander Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin (; – 13 November 1985) was a Soviet fighter pilot in World War II, and later a marshal of aviation. He was one of the highest-scoring Soviet aces, and the highest-scoring pilot ever to fly an American aircraft, ...

but bailed out and survived. The wing returned to the Independent State of Croatia on leave in December 1942 and returned to the Eastern Front in February 1943. In November 1943, Džal was made commanding officer of the Croatian Air Force Legion. He relocated to Croatia for the remainder of the war and held various posts in the country's Air Force command. With the defeat of the state in 1945 he took part in the Independent State of Croatia evacuation to Austria, but was repatriated to Yugoslavia by the Allies. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested by the

Communist Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

n government, sentenced to death, and executed in September 1945.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dzal, Franjo 1906 births 1945 deaths Military personnel from Bihać People from the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina Royal Yugoslav Air Force personnel of World War II Croatian World War II pilots Croatian Home Guard personnel Shot-down aviators Executed Croatian collaborators with Fascist Italy Executed Croatian collaborators with Nazi Germany Recipients of the Medal of Poglavnik Ante Pavelić for Bravery Executed Bosnia and Herzegovina people Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina History of Niš