Summary

Marko B. Miletić

Border Incidents Between Yugoslavia and the Cominform Countries
(1948–1955)

The open conflict between Yugoslavia and the Cominform countries, which began in the summer of 1948, was most obviously manifested by permanent border incidents. The first incidents were recorded in the days immediately preceding the publication of the Cominform Resolution on June 28, 1948, and lasted almost until early 1955, when the incidents declined significantly and when Yugoslav estimates indicated that there were no longer organized provocations, but rather mistakes and arbitrariness of individuals. In the period between the beginning and the end of the organized border incidents, in the accurate reports, the Yugoslav authorities registered 8,261 border incidents caused by the neighboring Cominform countries. The largest number of incidents was recorded between 1951 and 1953. After Stalin's death and the beginning of the process of normalization of relations between the two parties the incidents began to decline. In these incidents, twenty-one Yugoslav border guards lost their lives. In addition, thirty-three were wounded and eight were abducted. In the second half of 1953 and during 1954, by signing agreements on the prevention of border incidents and their examination, as well as on the arrangement and renewal of the border markings, Yugoslavia managed to define border relations on an international legal basis with its neighboring Cominform countries. This contributed to the normalization of the situation at the borders.