World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia

World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia
	Part of World War II in Yugoslavia and Albania
	; map of Macedonia during the Axis occupation
Date	6 April 1941 - November 1944
Location	Yugoslav Macedonia
Result	resistance and allied victory
Belligerents
September 1943-1944 Germany; • Macedonia (1944); • Albania Bulgaria (untill 1944); Chetniks; Balli Kombëtar;	1943-1944 DF Yugoslavia; • Yugoslav Partisans Bulgaria (from 1944); Democratic Government of Albania; • LANÇ

World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia began on 6 April 1941 when Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers and was divided between Germany, Bulgaria, and other powers. during the occupation of the area, Resistance movements were formed to fight against the occupiers, these movements included the Royalist Chetniks (who were loyal to king Peter II and the government-in-exile), and the Communist Yugoslav Partisans who wanted the country to be a communist state. both groups fought with each other until later that year when the Chetniks started to fight with the Germans against the NLA (partisans). during this time, Italian Controlled Albania (who had annexed some Yugoslav land) also had resistance groups fighting against the occupiers. like the Balli Kombëtar (nationalist), and the National Liberation Movement (communist). like the Yugoslav resistance, the Albanian groups fought with each other for a while. in September 1943, due to failures on other fronts of the European theatre, Italy signed a peace treaty with the Allies, due to this, Germany occupied Albania and set up a puppet government. not long after, the BK allied with the axis governments and went to war against LANÇ (Albanian communists). in September 1944, with the Soviet operations in the Balkans, Bulgarian resistance removed the axis government, joined the Soviets and Allies, and removed their military presence in Macedonia. during this, the IRMO established the Independent State of Macedonia as a puppet state of Germany. but that idea would later fail. later in the same month, the Red Army and reorganised Bulgarian Army entered occupied Yugoslavia to help the Yugoslavs liberate their capital (Belgrade), and their country. the Bulgarians also reentered occupied Macedonia and linked up with Yugoslav units and liberated cities like Skopje, and driving German, Chetnik, and Balli Kombëtar forces out the area with help from the Yugoslavs and Albanians. after the fighting ended, borders went back to the pre-fighting ones and the People's Socialist Republic of Albania and the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia were formed by the resistance governments of both countries.