Milutin Nedić

General Milutin Nedić
Native name	Милутин Недић
Born	26 October 1882 Sopot, Kingdom of Serbia
Died	1945 (aged 63) Austria
Allegiance	Serbia (1901–18) Yugoslavia (1918–41)
Service / branch	Serbian Army Royal Yugoslav Army
Years of service	1901–1941
Rank	General
Commands	Royal Yugoslav Army 2nd Army Group
Battles / wars	Balkan Wars World War I World War II
Relations	Milan Nedić (brother)

Milutin Đ. Nedić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милутин Недић; 26 October 1882 – 1945) was a general and Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army prior to the outbreak of World War II. He was replaced in late 1938, and later commanded the 2nd Army Group during the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia of April 1941 during World War II. Nedić's command consisted of General Milan Rađenković's 1st Army, responsible for the area between the Danube and the Tisza, and the 2nd Army of General Dragoslav Miljković, responsible for the border from Slatina to the Danube. Nedić had no Army Group reserve, but the 2nd Army was to constitute a reserve of one infantry division deployed south of Slavonski Brod.

Personal life

Milutin Nedić was born in the Belgrade suburb of Sopot on 26 October 1882, to Đorde and Pelagia Nedić (née Ilić). Nedić was descended from an old revolutionary family. He had one brother, Milan.

Nedić's father was a local district chief and his mother was a schoolteacher. She was the granddaughter of Nikola Mihailović, who was mentioned in the writings of poet Sima Milutinović Sarajlija and was an ally of Serbian revolutionary leader Karađorđe. The Nedić family was originally from the village of Zaoka, near Lazarevac. It traced its origins to two brothers, Damjan and Gligorije, who defended the Čokešina Monastery from the Turks during the Serbian Revolution. The family received its name from Nedić's great-grandmother, Neda, who was a member of the Vasojevići tribe in Montenegro.

In 1920 Nedić married Anastasia Krsmanović, the daughter of a successful Belgrade merchant. The marriage did not last, and he later married Jelica Hristić. The couple had one child, a son named Nastas.

Military career

During the late 19th century, Nedić attended the Military Academy in Belgrade and finished first in his class. He began his military service in 1901, and participated in both the Balkan Wars and World War I.

On 17 September 1938, Nedić approved a VKJ war plan which had to be revised following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany (the Anschluss). In October, he was replaced as Chief of the General Staff by General Dušan Simović. Nedić commanded the 2nd Army Group during the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia of April 1941 during World War II. Nedić's command consisted of General Milan Rađenković's 1st Army, responsible for the area between the Danube and the Tisza, and the 2nd Army of General Dragoslav Miljković, responsible for the border from Slatina to the Danube. Nedić had no Army Group reserve, but the 2nd Army was to constitute a reserve of one infantry division deployed south of Slavonski Brod. During the invasion, he was taken into captivity by the Germans and detained in a German prisoner-of-war camp in Germany. The Germans allowed Nedić to return to Belgrade in 1942. He left Serbia in 1944 and retreated to Austria, where he committed suicide in 1945.

References

• "Biografija—Milan Nedić". Glas javnosti (in Serbian). 27 January 2006.
• Loi, Salvatore (1978). Le operazioni delle unità italiane in Jugoslavia (1941–1943): narrazione, documenti (in Italian). Rome, Italy: Ministero della difesa (Ministry of Defence). OCLC 9194926. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Tomasevich, Jozo (1975). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0857-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Department of Military Intelligence. "Nedić, Milutin Đ." (in Serbian). Department of Military Intelligence. Retrieved 5 August 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• U.S. Army (1986) [1953]. The German Campaigns in the Balkans (Spring 1941). Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. OCLC 16940402. CMH Pub 104-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)