Background
Navratil was born in Sarajevo, within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Navratil was born in Sarajevo, within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
He attended gymnasium in Sarajevo, and finished cadet"s school in Graz.
In World War I he served in the military of Austria–Hungary, as a fighter pilot in the Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops. While on the Eastern and Italian fronts, he scored a victory with Flik 41J on 14 April 1918, before assuming command of Flik 3J on 9 June 1918. Flying Albatros Doctorate.IIIs, he scored nine more victories.
His victory string ran until 31 August, when he downed a Bristol F.2 Fighter, but lost all four of his inexperienced wingmen in the process.
Navratil blamed himself for their loss. He largely removed himself from combat operations.
On 21 October, during a test flight of an Albatros Doctorate.III, his seat broke, and he was injured in the resultant crash landing. He did not recover before the Armistice.
In 1918, Austria-Hungary dissolved and Navratil moved to the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, where he took on a position in the royal army.
He rose to the rank of colonel, but was eventually retired from the army in 1940 because of conflict with Serb officers within its ranks. With the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia on 10 April 1941 Navratil was brought back into active service. He was named as a military representative in Bucharest.
He served as minister of the armed forces from 2 September 1943 to 29 January 1944.
After he was relieved of his post, reportedly due to complaints about the brutality of the government, he traveled to Vienna, where his family was located and remained there until the end of In 1945 he moved to Zell am See, where he lived until he was located by American troops in 1946. He was extradited to communist Yugoslavia in December 1946.
In Zagreb he was sentenced to death on charge of war crimes, and executed on 7 June 1947.