countries. Consequently, at the time World War II broke out in September 1939, the VKJ had several serious weaknesses, which included reliance on draught animals for transport, and the large size of its formations. Infantry divisions had a wartime strength of 26,000–27,000 men, as compared to contemporary British infantry divisions of half that strength. These characteristics resulted in slow, unwieldy formations, and the inadequate supply of arms and munitions meant that even the very large Yugoslav formations had low firepower. Generals better suited to the trench warfare of World War I were combined with an army that was neither equipped nor trained to resist the fast-moving combined arms approach used by the Germans in their invasions of Poland and France. The weaknesses of the VKJ in strategy, structure, equipment, mobility and supply were exacerbated by serious ethnic disunity within Yugoslavia, resulting from two decades of Serb hegemony and the attendant lack of political legitimacy achieved by the central government. Attempts to address the disunity came too late to ensure that the VKJ was a cohesive force. Fifth column activity was also a serious concern, not only from the Croatian nationalist Ustaše but also from the country's Slovene and ethnic German minorities. Composition The 1st Army was commanded by Armijski đeneral Milan Rađenković, and his chief of staff was Brigadni đeneral Todor Milićević. It was organised and mobilised on a geographic basis from the 1st Army District, which was divided into divisional districts, each of which was subdivided into regimental regions. The 1st Army consisted of: 7th Infantry Division Potiska 3rd Cavalry Division Infantry Detachment Senta (brigade-strength) Infantry Detachment Sombor (brigade-strength) Its support units included the 56th Army Artillery Regiment, the 1st Anti-Aircraft Battalion, and the 1st Army Anti-Aircraft Company. The 1st Air Reconnaissance Group comprising fifteen Breguet 19s was attached from the Royal Yugoslav Air Force and was based at Ruma just south of Novi Sad. Deployment The 1st Army was part of the 2nd Army Group, which was responsible for the eastern section of the Yugoslav-Hungarian border, with the 1st Army deployed in the Bačka region between the Danube and the Tisza, and the 2nd Army in the Baranya and Slavonia regions between Slatina and the Danube. On the right flank of the 1st Army was the 6th Army, an independent formation that was responsible for the defence of the Yugoslav Banat region east of the Tisza. The boundary