Old Experiences and New Circumstances: Data Collection Methods of the Yugoslav Military Intelligence Service during the Yugoslav–Soviet Conflict (1948–1951)

Abstract

Based on published and unpublished archival sources of Yugoslav origin, as well as relevant memoir and historiographical literature, this article analyzes the changes in the methods of work of the Yugoslav military intelligence service during the conflict between Yugoslavia and the countries gathered around the Soviet Union. During the years of intense conflict and frequent Soviet military threats, the Yugoslav side was forced to reorganize the military intelligence service, strengthen its personnel, form a new network of agents, establish intelligence centers in the country, and reformulate the methods of work of its military delegations as part of the process of strengthening the country’s defense capabilities. At the same time, in order to strengthen ties with Western armies, a system of continuous exchange of intelligence data was established.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 About the origin and development of the intelligence service of the partisan movement, see more in Milovan Dželebdžić, Obaveštajna služba u NOR 1941–1945 (Beograd: Vojnoistorijski institut, 1987).

2 MА (Military Archive), GŠ-3, b. 46, f. 1, d. 1/7. Report on the problems of the intelligence department of the General Staff.

3 MA, GŠ-3, k. 46, f. 3, r.b. 1/7, Overview of outlaw gangs from the time of the liberation to 31 July 1946, from 9.X 1946. About the work of the Department for Protection of the People (OZNA), the separation of the civil and military security service, and the formation of the military counterintelligence service in more detail, see Коста Николић, Мач револуције: ОЗНА у Југославији 1944–1946 (Београд: Службени гласник, 2016); Дмитар Тасић, Корпус народне одбране Југославије (КНОЈ) 1944–1953 (Београд: Институт за новију историју Србије, 2021); Светко Ковач, Ирена Поповић Григоров, Војна служба безбедности у Србији (Београд: Медија центар “Одбрана,” 2012), pp. 57–69.

4 Војна обавештајна служба у Србији (Београд: Одбрана, 2012), pp. 34–36.

5 Bojan B. Dimitrijević, Jugoslovenska narodna armija 1945–1959 (Beograd: Institut za savremenu istoriju, 2014), p. 134.

6 About the nature of the confrontation between Yugoslavia and the Cominform countries, see Milovan Đilas, Vlastipobuna (Beograd: Književnenovine, 1990); Мilovan Đilas, RazgovorisaStaljinom (Beograd: Književnenovine, 1991); Čedomir Štrbac, Svedočanstvao 1948 (Beograd: Zavodzaudžbenikeinastavnastredstva, 1989); Vladimir Dedijer, IzgubljenabitkaJosifaVisarionovičaStaljina (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1968); БранкоПетрановић, Југославија на размеђу 1945–1950 (Подгорица: ЦАНУ, 1998); БранкоПетрановић, Велика шизма. Четрдесетосма (Подгорица: ЦИД, 1999); Анатолий С. Аникеев, Как Тито от Сталина ушел: Югославия, СССР и США и началъны период холодной войны 1945–1957 (Москва: ИнСлав РАН, 2002); Артем А. Улунян, СССР, стрны народной демократии и революционное движение в Греции 1944–1950 (Москва: ИВИ АН СССР, 1988); Артем А. Улунян, Балканы. Горячий мир холодной войни 1945–1960 (Москва: ИВИ РАН, 2001); Ј. Vykoukal, В. Litera, and М. Tejchman, Východ, vznik, vývoj a pozpad sovětskeho bloku 1944–1989 (Praha: Libri, 2000); Юрий Гиренко, Сталин—Тито (Москва: ИПЛ, 1991); Милан Терзић, Михајло Басара, Дмитар Тасић, Југословенска (народна) армија и Информбиро: Зборник докумената (Београд: Службени гласник, 2015); Лeoнид Я. Гибианский, “К истории советско-югославского конфликта 1948–1953: Секретная советско-югославо-болгарская встреча в Москве 10. февраля 1948. года,” I, Славяноведение, бр. 3 (1991), pp. 12–23; II, Славяноведение, бр. 4 (1991), pp. 4–36; III, Славяноведение, бр. 1 (1992), pp. 42–56; IV, Славяноведение, бр. 3 (1992), pp. 35–51.

7 Archive of Yugoslavia, 507/III-53. Minutes from the Politburo Session of the Cental Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia of 4 December 1950.

8 Александар Животић, Југословенско-совјетске војне супротности 1947–1957: Искушења савезништва (Београд: Архипелаг и Институт за новију историју Србије, 2015), p. 134.

9 Војна обавештајна служба у Србији, pp. 36–38.

10 MА, GŠ-3, b. 23, f. 3, d. 1/17. Report on the state and problems of the military intelligence service.

11 MА, GŠ-3, b. 23, f. 3, d. 1/18. Report on the work of the military intelligence service.

12 Archive of the Serbian Academy of Science and Art (ASASA), 11461. Proposal for organizing the intelligence service of the General Staff.

13 Bojan Dimitrijević, JNA od Staljina do NATO pakta (Beograd: Službeni list SCG, 2006), pp. 203–205.

14 Мита Миљковић, Бурне дипломатске године. Из софијског дневника 1953–1955 (Београд: Службени лист СРЈ, 1995), pp. 45–50.

15 Војна обавештајна служба у Србији, pp. 38–40.

16 MА, GŠ-3, b. 23, f. 3, d. 1/23. Report on the work of military delegations.

17 Коста Угрица, Сећања (memoir in the possession of the author).

18 MА, Archive of Yugoslav People’s Army (AYPA), Odeljenje za vezu sa stranim vojnim izaslanicima (OZV), inventory number 65. Minutes of the visit of the assistant military attaché of Great Britain, Major Ramsay, to this department on 7 April 1951, at 11:20 AM; MА, АYPА, OZV, inventory number 66. Record of the visit of the military attaché of Great Britain, Colonel Batchelor (in Sofia), and his conversation with Admiral Manolo in this department on 8 April 1951, at 4:30 PM; MА, АYPА, OZV, inventory number 69. Minutes of the visit of the U.S. military attaché, Colonel Condon, to this department on 25 April 1951, at 11:00 AM; MА, АYPА, OZV, inventory number 72. Minutes of the visit of the U.S. air attaché, Colonel Burnett to this department on 5 May 1951, at 11:30 AM; MА, АYPА, OZV, inventory number 73. Record of the Visit of the U.S. military attaché, Colonel Condon, to this department on 7 May 1951, at 10:30 AM; MА, АYPА, OZV, inventory number 74. Minutes of the visit of the U.S. air attaché, Colonel Burnett, on 8 May 1951, at 11:30 AM; MА, АYPА, OZV, inventory number 85. Minutes of the visit of the U.S. military attaché, Colonel Condon, to this department on 28 September 1951, at 9:00 AM; MА, АYPА, OZV, inventory number 88. Minutes of the visit of the U.S. air attaché, Colonel Burnet, on 6 October 1951, at 11:30 AM.

19 Анатолий С. Аникеев, “Югославия в годы конфликта с СССР и странами народной демократии,” у: Москва и Восточная Европа. Советско-югославский конфликт и страны советского блока 1948–1953 гг. Очерки истории. Редактор А. С. Аникеев (Москва: ИнСлав РАН, 2017), pp. 96–98.

20 MА, АYPА, GŠ-1, b.14, f. 7, no. 1/1, Minutes of the Third Conference held on 19 May 1951 in Washington, p. 61.

21 MА, AYPA, inventory number 2958, document 12. Note on lunch and conference on 23 May 1951 in Washington.

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 MА, АYPА, inventory number 2958, document 12. Minutes from a conversation held on 15 June 1951, at the CIA office.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 Aleksandar Nenadović, RazgovorisKočom (Zagreb: Globus, 1989), pp. 116–117.

29 MА, АYPА, inventory number 8588, documents 69, 71, 72, 73, 74 and 75. Minutes of a visit by U.S. military representatives to the Department of Communications in May 1951.

30 MА, АYPА, inventory number 8588, document 76. Minutes of the visit of U.S. Assistant Military Attaché Captain McGowan dated 11 May 1951.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aleksandar Životić

Aleksandar Životić graduated from the Department for the History of Yugoslavia of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade in 2005 and received his Ph.D. in 2010. His dissertation was “Yugoslavia, Albania and Great Powers 1945–1961.” Between 2006 and 2012, he worked in the Institute for the Recent History of Serbia. In February 2022, he became a Full Professor in the Department for the History of Yugoslavia of the Faculty of Philosophy at Belgrade University. He has taught in Moscow, Ljubljana, Warsaw, London, and other European locations. The author can be contacted at [email protected].