also, unexpectedly, one of simplicity and personal modesty. He was conscious of the dignity and weight of his office but never of himself. His courage, which was always great, increased as the pressures on him grew heavier and in the end could be described as heroic; this and his devotion to duty made flight or even withdrawal from his diocese unthinkable. But his political short-sightedness limited his grasp of the apocalyptic events of 1941 to the immediate future of Croatia and the Catholic Church in Croatia, and this left him open to the charge of complicity in the terrible crimes of the ustaše. The same blinkered outlook kept him from establishing some kind of modus Vivendi with the new government immediately after the war. World War II After the outbreak of war in September 1939, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia declared its neutrality, and the United Kingdom worked hard to help Yugoslavia maintain its stance. In the face of steadily mounting pressure from Germany and Italy, by March 1941 Yugoslavia had been completely surrounded by members of the Axis. In this situation, some senior government figures were advocating for Yugoslavia to also join the Tripartite Pact. After a number of delays, Prince Paul and Prime Minister Cvetković signed the Pact on 25 March, but the following day there were demonstrations in Belgrade, with protesters chanting "Better the grave than a slave, better a war than the pact". In the early hours of 27 March a bloodless military coup d'état was executed. In the wake of the coup, the new government refused to ratify Yugoslavia's signing of the Tripartite Pact, but did not openly rule it out. The coup found little support with the Croatian population, and on the day after the invasion commenced Maček resigned from the government and returned to Zagreb in anticipation of unrest. Invasion and establishment of the Independent State of Croatia Hitler was furious when he learned of the coup, and later on 27 March 1941 he ordered the invasion of Yugoslavia. Commencing on 6 April, a German-led Axis invasion force began its assault from multiple directions, quickly overcoming the limited resistance. During the fighting, several Croat units mutinied and others performed poorly or defected. On 10 April 1941, with the assistance of the Germans, the senior Ustaše figure in the country, Slavko Kvaternik, proclaimed the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia (, NDH). German tanks