The Chief of the General Staff (Serbo-Croatian

Serbo-Croatian language

Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...

:Načelnik Generalštaba - NGŠ; Начелник Генералштаба - НГШ ; ) was the chief of staff

Chief of Staff

The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...

 of the General Staff of Yugoslav People's Army. He was appointed by the President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, who was the commander-in-chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

.

The first Chief of the General Staff was Lt. General Arso Jovanović

Arso Jovanovic

Arso R. Jovanović was a Yugoslav partisan and the foremost military commander to participate in the People's Liberation Struggle in Yugoslavia .Educated through the Yugoslav Royal Army academies, General Jovanović was one...

, the Chief of the Main Staff of People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOVJ), who became chief of staff when NOVJ became JA (Yugoslav Army) in 1945. The Yugoslav Army later in 1951 was renamed to Yugoslav Peoples Army, and it existed until the breakup of Yugoslavia. The last chief of staff was Colonel General

Colonel General

Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...

 Života Panić

Života Panic

Života Panić was the last acting minister of defense and army chief of staff in the Yugoslav government....

, as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, who became the Chief of the General Staff of "new" Military of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Chiefs of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army (1945-1951)

#	Name	Born–Died	Rank	Start	End	Note
1	Arso Jovanović Arso Jovanovic Arso R. Jovanović was a Yugoslav partisan and the foremost military commander to participate in the People's Liberation Struggle in Yugoslavia .Educated through the Yugoslav Royal Army academies, General Jovanović was one...	1907–1948	Lt. General	1 March 1945	15 September 1948	Killed by border guards while allegedly trying to escape to Romania Communist Romania Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...  during the Informbiro
2	Koča Popović Koca Popovic Konstantin "Koča" Popović was a communist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, 1937-1939 and Divisional Commander of the First Proletarian Division in Josip Broz Tito's Partisan army...	1908–1992	Lt. General	15 September 1948	22 December 1951	Since 22 December 1951 Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army

Chiefs of the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army (1951-1989)

#	Name	Born–Died	Rank	Start	End	Note
1	Koča Popović Koca Popovic Konstantin "Koča" Popović was a communist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, 1937-1939 and Divisional Commander of the First Proletarian Division in Josip Broz Tito's Partisan army...	1908–1992	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	22 December 1951	27 January 1953	Until 22 December 1951 Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army
2	Peko Dapčević Peko Dapcevic Colonel General Peko Dapčević was a famous Yugoslav communist who fought in the Spanish Civil War, joined the Partisan uprising in Montenegro, and became commander of the Yugoslav 1st and 4th Armies....	1913–1999	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	27 January 1953	29 April 1955
3	Ljubo Vučković	1915–1976	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	29 April 1955	16 June 1961
4	Rade Hamović	1916–2009	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	16 June 1961	15 June 1967
5	Miloš Šumonja	1918–2006	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	15 June 1967	5 January 1970
6	Viktor Bubanj	1918–1970	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	5 January 1970	15 October 1972	Died in office
7	Stane Potočar	1919–1997	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	15 October 1972	10 July 1979
8	Branko Mamula Branko Mamula Branko "Đuro" Mamula is a retired Yugoslav officer that participated in the Yugoslav Front of World War II. He was the Minister of Defence of Yugoslavia from 1982 to 1988.-Biography:Mamula was born in Kordun, now part of Croatia, to an ethnic Serb family....	1921–	Admiral Admiral Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...	10 July 1979	5 May 1982
9	Petar Gračanin Petar Gracanin Petar Gračanin - Serbian military commander....	1923–2004	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	5 May 1982	1 September 1985
10	Zorko Čanadi	1925–2003	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	1 September 1985	15 September 1987
11	Stevan Mirković	1927–	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	15 September 1987	29 September 1989

Chiefs of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1989-1992)

#	Name	Born–Died	Rank	Start	End	Note
1	Blagoje Adžić Blagoje Adžic Blagoje Adžić was the acting minister of defence in the Yugoslav government. He is of Serbian ethnicity. Although his rank was Colonel General, he was in charge of the Yugoslav People's Army after the resignation of general Veljko Kadijević in 1992...	1932–	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	29 September 1989	27 February 1992
2	Života Panić Života Panic Života Panić was the last acting minister of defense and army chief of staff in the Yugoslav government....	1933–2003	Colonel General Colonel General Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...	27 February 1992	20 May 1992	Since 20 May 1992 Chief of the General Staff of the Military of FR Yugoslavia

Source

• Chief of the General Staff: 1876-2000, Ivetić Velimir, Belgrade 2000.