Belgrade did suffer through several days of artillery attacks and three days of aerial bombardment, which served to soften up the Yugoslav capital. But the city was taken on April 12, 1941 — much earlier than the high command had anticipated — by a handful of troops low on ammunition and high on morale, led by a man who was not afraid to seize an opportunity when he saw it.
The highly unorthodox assault was a product of the military judgment, audacious courage and sheer luck of Waffen SS Captain Fritz Klingenberg. A 26-year-old graduate of the Bad Tölz officers academy, Klingenberg had gained a reputation as a headstrong, somewhat abrasive character. During the French campaign the previous year, his former company commander had said of him, 'Klingenberg is intelligent yet headstrong, loyal yet not above correcting his superiors, brilliant under pressure, yet arrogant to the point of insubordination.' Evaluations like that labeled Klingenberg more as a maverick than a competent military officer.
Klingenberg was not a hearty drinker or talker and never boasted of his accomplishments. When later asked by students at Bad Tölz how he had captured the capital of a country, he simply said, 'I was not too preoccupied at the time, and found something to do.'
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