Simovic, Dušan

Simović, Dušan

 

Born Nov. 9, 1882, in Kragujevac; died Aug. 26, 1962, in Belgrade. Yugoslav government and military figure.

Simovic graduated from a military school in 1900 and from the Military Academy in Belgrade in 1905. He fought in the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 and in World War I (1914–18). In 1925 he was promoted to brigadier general. On the eve of World War II (1939–45), Simović was chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army and then commander of the Yugoslav Air Force. He became prime minister after the coup d’etat of Mar. 27, 1941.

When Yugoslavia was occupied by the fascist invaders in April 1941, the Simović government fled, and Simović served as prime minister of the Yugoslav government-in-exile in 1941 and 1942. After the liberation of Yugoslavia from the fascist invaders in 1945, he returned to his homeland and was given a government pension.