1907–1948
✕ Disputed circumstances
The staff officer who organized the Partisan war
In August 1948, his wartime career ended at the border as he tried to reach Romania.
Arso Jovanović was a highly educated officer of the Royal Yugoslav Army who became chief of staff of the Partisan Supreme Headquarters and exercised major operational authority during the Second World War. He became the first Chief of the General Staff of the postwar Yugoslav Army, but sided with the Soviet position in the 1948 Tito–Stalin split and was politically isolated. He died while attempting to cross into Romania, although the official border account and later testimony have left the circumstances contested.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1925–1928Cadet, Royal Military Academy lower school, Belgrade
- 1932–1934Student, Royal Military Academy higher school
- 1939Published Tactics of the Infantry Battalion; instructor and commander at the Infantry School
- 1941Commander, Provisional Supreme Command of the Montenegrin uprising
- 1942–1945Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters of the Yugoslav Partisan forces
- 1945First Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army
- 1946–1948Studied at the Voroshilov Higher Military Academy in Moscow
- 1948Supported the Informbiro Resolution; killed while attempting to escape to Romania
Related historical events
- 1941–1945The Yugoslav Partisan WarChief of staff of the Partisan Supreme HeadquartersDuring the Second World War, he led operational command as chief of staff of the Partisan Supreme Headquarters.
- 1948–1955The Tito-Stalin SplitChief of General Staff who led the coup attemptHe led the Soviet-backed coup attempt against Tito, failed, and was shot by border guards while fleeing to Romania.
The 1941 Uprising: Officer Concept and Break with the Chetnik Officers
Trained as a general-staff officer of the Royal Yugoslav Army, Jovanović was central to the military planning of the July 1941 uprising in Montenegro. With Velimir Terzić and Major Vukčević he worked on a document setting out how insurgent forces were to be organized and how operations were to be conducted, treating the officers of the dissolved royal army who had returned home after the April War as the cadre of the revolt. The plan, later called the officer concept, was to raise the whole population in a simultaneous surprise attack on occupation garrisons in order to hamper enemy manoeuvre and, in the manner of the Montenegrin army of 1916, to form insurgent companies, battalions and brigades. The communists, pressed by the Comintern appeal to assist the Soviet Union after the Axis invasion, wanted an immediate general rising rather than such thorough preparation. When the 13 July uprising broke out he was among the insurgent companies of Piperi, Lješanska and Kuči, and on 18 July 1941 he was appointed commander of the Provisional Supreme Command for Montenegro, Boka and Sandžak. After the Italian counteroffensive under General Pirzio Biroli dispersed the positions around Podgorica, he went with Milovan Đilas on 25 July to the Vasojevići insurgents and met Andrija Vesković, Đorđije Lašić and Pavle Đurišić. There he parted with them completely and for good over whether to offer decisive resistance to the Italian attacking columns. That parting marked a dividing point in the internal conflicts of the 1941 Montenegrin resistance over regularizing the insurgent forces and the line of armed struggle.