Case Black (German: Fall Schwarz), also known as the Fifth Enemy Offensive (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Peta neprijateljska ofanziva) in Yugoslav historiography and often identified with its final phase, the Battle of the Sutjeska (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Bitka na Sutjescipronounced[bîtkanasûtjɛst͡si]) was a joint attack by the Axis taking place from 15 May to 16 June 1943, which aimed to destroy the main Yugoslav Partisan force, near the Sutjeska river in south-eastern Bosnia. The failure of the offensive marked a turning point for Yugoslavia during World War II. It was also the last major German-Italian joint operation against the partisans.[12]
The operation immediately followed Case White which had failed in accomplishing the same objectives: to eliminate the central Partisan formations and capture their commander, Josip Broz Tito.
Background
During the previous operation Weiss, Chetniks fought against Partisans under Italian command. However, even during the operation, negotiations were held between the German and Italian leaders on the disarmament of the Chetniks. German Wehrmacht deeply believed that the Allies would invade the Balkans after victory in the North African campaign. In operations Weiss I and Weiss II, the Wehrmacht did not achieve their desired goals of destroying the Yugoslav partisans and establishing control over the region, so preparations began for a new venture.
With operation Schwarz, the Wehrmacht intended to clear the background of the Adriatic coast by destroying both the Chetnik and Partisan movements, which were still firmly established in Herzegovina and Montenegro. Hitler calculated that, in the event of a British invasion of the Balkans, Chetniks under Italian care would switch sides and join the Allies.[13]
However, in the first phase, there were tensions and misunderstandings between the German and Italian armies on that issue. Since the Italian commanders in Yugoslavia were very reluctant to disarm the Chetniks, Hitler won the consent through Mussolini government and the Italian Supreme Command. General Mario Robotti was fiercely against the disarmament of the Chetniks, at least until the partisans were destroyed. This attitude was shared by Chief of Staff of the Italian Army, general Vittorio Ambrosio, but he had to obey the promise that Mussolini gave to Hitler. At the beginning of March 1943, general Ambrosio, summoned Robotti and Alessandro Pirzio Biroli to Rome for talks on the disarmament of Chetniks and operations against partisans.[13]
Axis plans
The Axis rallied 127,000 land troops for the offensive, including German, Italian, Croatian, Bulgarian, and over 300 airplanes.
For this operation, the Commander of the Southeast, colonel-general Alexander Löhr, received elite 1st Mountain Division from the Eastern Front as reinforcements. Löhr entrusted the tactical command to the German troop commander in Croatia, Rudolf Lüters. The combat group for this operation was therefore called the Croatian Corps.
The German command adjusted the operational plan of action against Partisans to the characteristics of the terrain. They planned to concentrate main partisan divisions and their Supreme Headquarters on the naturally isolated and almost uninhabited area between the Tara and Piva canyons, and the Durmitor mountain, and to destroy it there with the mass use of aviation, artillery and mountain troops. The 1st Mountain Division with its northern wing, the Italian 19th Infantry (Mountain) Division Venezia, the battle group Ludwiger (724th German, 61st and 63rd Bulgarian Regiments), the 369th Infantry Division, the 118th Jäger Division with the 4th Home Guard Jäger Brigade of the Independent State of Croatia were deployed in a semicircle on the east and north sides. In the first phase, these forces were supposed to take control of Sandžak and push Partisan forces to the left side of River Tara. The southern wing of the 1st Alpine Division Taurinense, 23rd Infantry Division Ferrara and the 7th SS Mountain Division Prinz Eugen were supposed to push Partisans from the south and southeast. After that, the 118th Jäger Division had the task of occupying the left bank of the Piva and thus closing the environment, so that the breakthrough was hindered not only by strong forces but also by deep river gorges. This would bring Partisan forces to a dead end and destroy them.
While the Axis were preparing for Operation Schwarz, fierce battles were fought on the territory of Herzegovina and Montenegro. After operation Weiss, the operative group of Partisan divisions set out with all its might through Herzegovina to break into Montenegro, destroying the Chetniks and Italians units on its path, and taking control over the area. In that area, the exhausted fighters would rest, the wounded would be treated, and then they would move towards Kosovo and southern Serbia.
Fierce battles between partisans and Italian-Chetnik forces were fought in the sector Foča-Kalinovik-Gacko-Šavnik. Nevesinje passed from hand to hand as many as eight times. On April 6, Partisan forces forced the Drina, defeated parts of the Taurinense division and the Chetniks near Ifsar, captured Čajniče and besieged Foča, where an Italian battalion and about 1,000 Chetniks were surrounded. Chasing the Chetniks deeper and deeper into Montenegro, the Supreme Headquarters moved to Mount Durmitor.
After the heavy defeat inflicted on the Italians in Pivka Javorka, on May 1, the First and Second Proletarian Divisions embarked on a comprehensive offensive to liquidate the Italian-Chetnik garrison in Kolašin, with the intention of continuing the advance towards Berane.[15] As part of the siege of Kolašin, a strike group of battalions (two battalions of the Fourth and one battalion of the Fifth Montenegrin Brigade) defeated the Italian regiment near Bioč on May 15.
At the beginning of operation Schwarz, the Yugoslav National Liberation Army had 22,148 soldiers in 16 brigades.[9] There were 8,925 Partisans from Croatia (5,195 of those from Dalmatia), 8,293 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1,492 from Serbia (including Vojvodina and Kosovo) and 3,337 from Montenegro. By ethnicity 11,851 were Serbs, 5,220 Croats, 3,295 Montenegrins and 866 Muslims.[16][17]
Partisan units were bringing with them central hospital with about 3,000 wounded.[18] In addition, YNLA troops suffered from severe lack of food and medical supplies, and many were struck down by typhoid.
Operation
Axis preparations
Wehrmacht forces were advancing towards Montenegro from the north and from the east. Partisan forces were keeping parts of the Italian Alpine Division "Taurinense" and about 1,100 Chetniks under blockade in Foča since April 15. In early May, parts of the German 369th Legionary Division penetrated as far as Foča, suppressing the Sixth East Bosnian and Fifteenth Majevica Brigades, liberating the Aosta battalion of the Italian Taurinense division and about 1,000 Chetniks, who had been under siege by Partisan forces for 23 days. The Chetniks were disarmed, and released.
The left wing of the 369th Legionary Division advanced from the direction of Priboj towards Pljevlja, and, without encountering any resistance, merged with the main body of the "Taurinense" division.
Disarmament of Chetniks
During the advance of the 7th SS Mountain Division and the 118th Jäger Division through eastern Herzegovina, German forces encountered a certain degree of Italian obstruction and skirmishes with the Chetniks. Hundreds of Chetniks were disarmed.
At the beginning of May, Pavle Đurišić established contacts with parts of the 1st Mountain Division and the 4th Brandenburg Regiment. The Germans decided to conceal their real intentions, so they let the first group of disarmed Chetniks go home. By accepting communication with the Chetniks, by mid-May 1943 they managed to concentrate a large number of Chetniks, led by Đurišić, around the town of Kolašin, where German combat units were already deployed. In a surprise raid on the morning of May 14, despite the established contacts and strong opposition of the commander of the Italian 14th Corps, general Ercole Roncaglia, the Germans captured the Chetniks in their sleep and disarmed them. German forces on the ground appealed to the higher command to reconsider the decision to arrest the Chetniks, because they proved to be reliable allies against the partisans, but the German command did not give up on the original idea. One part of captured Chetniks, including Đurišić, was to be interned in prison camps in Greece and Poland, and the rest for labor battalions in the upcoming fight against the Partisans. In the meantime, Mihailović left the village of Gornje Lipovo and headed for Serbia. After capturing the majority of Montenegrin Chetniks near Kolašin, the Germans continued with operation Schwarz.
Phase I: Initial battles (15–20 May)
After a period of troop concentration, the offensive started on 15 May 1943. The Axis troops used the advantage of better starting positions to encircle and isolate the partisans on the Durmitor mountain area, located between the Tara and Piva rivers in the mountainous areas of northern Montenegro and forced them to engage in a fierce month-long battle on waste territory.
The first clashes after operation Schwarz commenced, took place in the north, between Čajniče and Foča, with parts of the 369th Legionary Division, and in the east, near Brodarevo and Mojkovac, with the 1st Mountain Division.
Phase II: Breakthrough attempt toward eastern Bosnia (21–27 May)
Faced with the advance of large German forces from the east, the Supreme Headquarters decided to prevent the closure of the ring by capturing Foča and provide communication with eastern Bosnia. The attack was carried out from May 21 to 25 by the reinforced 1st Proletarian Division against the majority of the German 118th Jäger Division and the 4th Home Guard Jäger Brigade of the Independent State of Croatia. Despite certain tactical successes (breaking up of the 7th Mountain Regiment on May 21 and the 13th Mountain Regiment on May 24), after a flanking attack by parts of the 369th Division near Gradac on May 25, this attack proved hopeless. From there, on May 27, the Supreme Headquarters ordered the transfer of all forces to the left bank of the Tara.
The 118th Jäger Division had the task of breaking out on Piva from the west and blocking it. On May 22, her 738th Regiment, without contact with Partisan units, broke out on Vučevo, a plateau west of Piva. However, they could not organize communications and supplies in this wide and impassable area, so the regiment commander, lieutenant colonel Anacker, sent one battalion to the south to establish a connection with the 7th SS Division, and one to the west, to connect with the headquarters of his division. The remaining, 2nd Battalion, in a battle on May 29, was repelled from dominant positions by the two battalions of the 2nd Proletarian Brigade. The intervention of parts of the division from the north, across the Drina, was suppressed by the forces of the 1st Proletarian Division, which moved across the Tara. Thus, the Partisan forces firmly occupied Vučevo and prevented the Germans from closing the ring on Piva. The next natural obstacle on which the 118th Division could do that was valley of river Sutjeska.
On May 18, the 7th SS Division and the Italian Division Ferrara began to appear from the south towards Šavnik, Žabljak and Mratinje. The successful defense of the First Dalmatian and the Fifth Montenegrin Brigades, which suppressed the appearance of the right wing of the 7th SS Division and the Italians, enabled the organization of an attack on the left wing of the 7th SS Division.
Phase III: Arrival of British mission (27 May – 3 June)
Informed on May 20, 1943 of the arrival of the British military mission, the Supreme Headquarters left Đurđevića Tara and settled in the forest near Black Lake, at the foot of Durmitor.
On the night of 27/28 May, the British Liaison Department arrived. At the head of this mission were Captain William F. Stewart, who worked at the British Consulate in Zagreb before the war spoke Serbo-Croatian, and William Deakin, a history professor at Oxford. In addition to the two of them, the mission had 4 more members.
The very next day, Tito received the British. He demanded military assistance and that the British Air Force bomb German concentration centers.
From May 31 until June 5, the 4th Montenegrin, 7th Krajina and 10th Herzegovinian brigades fought fierce and exhausting battles with the Germans on the rugged sides of the mountain Bioč and in the upper course of the Piva. The successes achieved were insufficient, given the reserves available to the Germans.
Phase IV: Supreme Headquarters in encirclement (4 June – 9 June)
Walter Stettner, commander of 1st Mountain Division during the battle
As the attempt to break through the front via Foča failed, the Supreme Headquarters had to return to its initial positions, which the Germans used to make an even stronger ring. In addition to the daily fighting, the Sutjeska canyon was bombarded by planes every day, in a very low flight. On June 3, Tito crossed the Piva near Mratinje with the Supreme Headquarters. Thus, in the first days of June, the entire Supreme Headquarters found itself encircled, together with the central hospital in the Sutjeska valley.
On the same day, at the session of the Supreme Staff, the position of the Partisan groups with the hospital was discussed, and it was concluded that the situation was critical. The Supreme Headquarters saw that the main operational group could only break toward the west, through the Sutjeska valley because there were weaker German forces there. However, the Germans foresaw this development, so they hurried to fortify the entire Sutjeska valley. Having established that this direction, through the source part of Sutjeska and Gatačko Polje, was densely occupied in depth, the Supreme Headquarters decided to divide Partisan forces into two parts. The first group consisted of the 1st and 2nd Divisions, which had already forced Piva, with the Supreme Headquarters, and the second of the 3rd (in a slightly changed composition) and the 7th Division, with the Central Hospital and part of the councillors of AVNOJ, located east of Piva. The second group was led by Milovan Đilas, as a delegate of the Supreme Headquarters, and Sava Kovačević, who was appointed commander of the 3rd Division. The two groups were to break through in divergent directions in order to stretch the German forces. The first group was to break through Sutjeska to the northwest, while the second was given the task of returning to the right bank of the Tara, toward Sandžak.
Soldiers of 2nd Dalmatian Brigade rest on Milinklade on June 9, 1943. Author: George Skrigin
The First Proletarian Division was sent to attack the valley of Sutjeska via Piva and Vučevo. As a dominant point, it was necessary take the hill at Vučevo, to make a corridor for the free passage over Sutjeska, in the direction of Zelengora and further to Bosnia. The German command also foresaw such a possibility, so it sent an advance force to take Vučevo. In a hand-to-hand battle, the forces of the 1st Proletarian Division managed to overcome the Germans and take control of this dominant point. The Germans then began to occupy the entire valley of the Sutjeska, from Tjentište to its confluence with the Drina near Čelebić. The 7th SS Division Prince Eugene penetrated in that direction, which surrounded the majority of forces and the central hospital.
In the area around the canyons of Sutjeska and Suha, fierce battles began for the surrounding heights, which alternately fell into the hands of both. An area of 5-6 km was made for the passage of the majority of forces. The wounded were supposed to go there as well.
The First Proletarian Division marched through Milinklade and on June 8, 1943, broke out on Zelengora. The Second Proletarian Division was less fortunate. At the place of Bare, not far from Volujak, there was a scene of bloody battles with units of the 118th German Division.
On 9 June Tito was nearly killed on Milinklade when a bomb fell near the leading group, wounding him in the arm. The popular post-war report of the event credited Tito's German shepherd dog Luks, for sacrificing his life to save Tito's.[19] Captain William F. Stewart (a Special Operations Executive operative who was parachuted into Tito's headquarters alongside Captain William Deakin during May[20]) was also killed by the explosion.[21]
Phase V: Partisan breakthrough toward eastern Bosnia (10 June – 15 June)
Situation in June and direction of partisan breakthroughCommanders of 1st Proletarian Division Koča Popović and Danilo Lekić during battle of Sutjeska
Facing almost exclusively German troops, the Yugoslav National Liberation Army (YNLA) finally succeeded in breaking out across the Sutjeska river through the lines of the German 118th and 104th Jäger and 369th (Croatian) Infantry divisions in the northwestern direction, towards eastern Bosnia. Three brigades and the central hospital with over 2000 wounded were surrounded. Following Hitler's instructions, German commander in chief Generaloberst Alexander Löhr ordered their annihilation, including the wounded and the unarmed medical personnel.
War crimes
Of the more than 6,000 killed Partisan fighters in Sutjeska, a large number were exhausted fighters and wounded who were executed by the Germans. The report of the 1st Mountain Division says: "Captured: 498, of which 411 were shot." Most of the immobile wounded (about 700 of them) were hidden by partisans, with nurses. However, the Germans, searching the terrain with search dogs, killed them almost to the last, together with the nurses. In addition, a large number of civilians were also killed.
The SS Mountain division was also notorious for killing civilians suspected of helping partisans.
In total there were 7,543 partisan casualties, more than a third of the initial force.[9] The German field commander, General Rudolf Lüters in his final report described the so-called "communist rebels" as "well organized, skillfully led and with combat morale unbelievably high".
The successful Partisan breakout helped their reputation as a viable fighting force with the local populace. Consequently, they were able to replenish their losses with new recruits, regroup, and mount a series of counterattacks in eastern Bosnia, clearing Axis garrisons of Vlasenica, Srebrenica, Olovo, Kladanj and Zvornik in the following 20 days.
The battle marked a turning point toward Partisan control of Yugoslavia, and became an integral part of the Yugoslav post-war mythology, celebrating the self-sacrifice, extreme suffering and moral firmness of the partisans.
61st Infantry Regiment also in the area (both units under the command of the 369th (Croatian) Infantry Division)
In film
Battle of Sutjeska was made into a movie in 1973, Sutjeska, with Richard Burton playing the lead as Josip Broz Tito, leader of the partisan forces.
In song
There are several songs about the Battle of Sutjeska. One of the more popular is called "Sivi Sokole" which translates to peregrine falcon. It mentions the death of Commander Sava Kovačević.
Sivi sokole, prijatelju stari, Daj mi krila, sokole da preletim planine.
Visoka je planina, nebo iznad nje, A na nebu sivi soko, gleda na mene.
Duboka je Sutjeska, kanjon iznad nje Na kanjonu Tito stoji, gleda ranjene
Na kanjonu Tito stoji i poručuje Sutjeska se mora proći, da spasimo ranjene Sivi sokole...
Sutjeska je probijena, ranjeni su spašeni A naš stari heroj Sava osta mrtav da leži Sivi sokole...
Radili smo, radimo, radit ćemo još Druže Tito, kunemo se, pobijedit ćemo
Peregrine falcon, old friend of mine, Give me wings, falcon, that I may fly over the mountains.
The mountain is high, the sky above it, And in the sky the peregrine falcon, looking down upon me.
Sutjeska is deep, the canyon above it Above the canyon stands Tito, watches over the wounded
Above the canyon stands Tito and commands, The Sutjeska must be crossed to save the wounded, Peregrine falcon...
Sutjeska is breached, the wounded are saved But our old hero Sava remained lying dead Peregrine falcon...
We have toiled, we toil, we will toil still Comrade Tito, we pledge, we will triumph.
Memorial complex
Sculptor Miodrag Živković designed the memorial complex, dedicating to the Battle of the Sutjeska in the 1970s.[22] The complex contains frescoes by the Croatian artist Krsto Hegedušić.[23]
1 2 Report of the commander of German troops in Croatien (Befehlshaber der Deutschen Truppen in Kroatien), June 20th 43, National Archive Washington T314, roll 560, frames 750-751
1 2 Cloutier, Patrick (2013). Regio Esercito: The Italian Royal Army in Mussolini's Wars, 1935-1943. lulu.com. p.182. ISBN978-1105074011.
1 2 Ante Cuvalo, The A to Z of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 237
Case White, also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive, was a combined Axis strategic offensive launched against the Yugoslav Partisans throughout occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. It was one of the most significant confrontations of World War II in Yugoslavia. The offensive took place in early 1943, between 20 January and mid-to-late March. The Axis operation prompted the Partisan Supreme Command to enact its plans to drive toward eastern Herzegovina, Sandžak and Montenegro.
Sava Kovačević was a Yugoslav Partisan divisional commander during World War II, and one of the heroes of the communist Partisan movement.
Operation Rösselsprung was a combined airborne and ground assault by the German XV Mountain Corps and collaborationist forces on the Supreme Headquarters of the Yugoslav Partisans in the Bosnian town of Drvar in the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. It was launched 25 May 1944, with the goal of capturing or killing Partisan leader Marshal Josip Broz Tito and destroying the headquarters, support facilities and co-located Allied military missions. It is associated with the Seventh Enemy Offensive in Yugoslav history, forming part of the Seven Enemy Offensives historiographical framework. The airborne assault itself is also known as the Raid on Drvar.
The 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen", initially named the SS-Volunteer Division Prinz Eugen, was a mountain infantry division of the Waffen-SS, an armed branch of the German Nazi Party that served alongside but was never formally part of the Wehrmacht during World War II. At the post-war Nuremberg trials, the Waffen-SS was declared to be a criminal organisation due to its major involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity. From 1942 to 1945, the division fought a counter-insurgency campaign against communist-led Yugoslav Partisan resistance forces in occupied Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1941 from both Reich Germans and Volksdeutsche – ethnic German volunteers and conscripts from the Banat, Independent State of Croatia, Hungary and Romania. The division surrendered on 11 May 1945 to Yugoslav Partisan forces, with thousands of stragglers surrendering by the 15th near the Austrian border.
Operation Southeast Croatia was a large-scale German-led counter-insurgency operation conducted in the southeastern parts of the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. It was the first of two German-led operations targeting mainly Yugoslav Partisans in eastern Bosnia between 15 January and 4 February 1942. Several days after the conclusion of Operation Southeast Croatia, a follow-up operation known as Operation Ozren was carried out between the Bosna and Spreča rivers. Both operations also involved Croatian Home Guard and Italian troops and are associated with what is known as the Second Enemy Offensive in post-war Yugoslav historiography. The Second Enemy Offensive forms part of the Seven Enemy Offensives framework in Yugoslav historiography.
Operation Trio was the first large-scale joint German-Italian counter-insurgency operation of World War II conducted in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), which included modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was carried out in two phases within eastern Bosnia from 20 April to 13 May 1942, with Ustaše militia and Croatian Home Guard forces taking part on the Axis side. The aim of the operation was to target all insurgents between Sarajevo and the Drina river in eastern Bosnia. These included the communist-led Yugoslav Partisans and Serb nationalist Chetniks. Differentiating between the rank and file of the two insurgent factions was difficult, as even the communist-led insurgent groups consisted mainly of Serb peasants who had little understanding of the political aims of their leaders.
World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was invaded and swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned among Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the USSR on 22 June 1941, the communist-led republican Yugoslav Partisans, on orders from Moscow, launched a guerrilla liberation war fighting against the Axis forces and their locally established puppet regimes, including the Axis-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and the Government of National Salvation in the German-occupied territory of Serbia. This was dubbed the National Liberation War and Socialist Revolution in post-war Yugoslav communist historiography. Simultaneously, a multi-side civil war was waged between the Yugoslav communist Partisans, the Serbian royalist Chetniks, the Axis-allied Croatian Ustaše and Home Guard, Serbian Volunteer Corps and State Guard, Slovene Home Guard, as well as Nazi-allied Russian Protective Corps troops.
The Belgrade offensive or the Belgrade strategic offensive operation was a military operation during World War II in Yugoslavia in which Belgrade was liberated from the German Wehrmacht through the joint efforts of the Soviet Red Army, Yugoslav Partisans, and the Bulgarian Army. Soviet forces and local militias launched separate but loosely cooperative operations that undermined German control of Belgrade and ultimately forced a retreat. Martial planning was coordinated evenly among command leaders, and the operation was largely enabled through tactical cooperation between Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin that began in September 1944. These martial provisions allowed Bulgarian forces to engage in operations throughout Yugoslav territory, which furthered tactical success while increasing diplomatic friction.
Pavle Đurišić was a Montenegrin Serb regular officer of the Royal Yugoslav Army who became a Chetnik commander (vojvoda) and led a significant proportion of the Chetniks in Montenegro during World War II. He distinguished himself and became one of the main commanders during the popular uprising against the Italians in Montenegro in July 1941, but later collaborated with the Italians in actions against the Communist-led Yugoslav Partisans. In 1943, his troops carried out several massacres against the Muslim population of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and the Sandžak in which an estimated 10,000 people were killed between January and March, including thousands of women, children, and the elderly. He then led his troops during their participation in the anti-Partisan Case White offensive alongside Italian forces. Đurišić was captured by the Germans in May 1943, escaped, and was recaptured.
Ljubo Novaković was a Montenegrin officer in the Royal Yugoslav Army who became a Chetnik commander during World War II. He initially fought for the Chetniks of Draža Mihailović and those of Kosta Pećanac, but became disillusioned with both movements. He went to eastern Bosnia in late 1941, and raised Chetnik bands to fight Yugoslav Partisans there. He was captured by the Partisans in January 1942 and taken to Foča, where he was kept under constant surveillance. Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito likely believed that Novaković could be used to counteract Mihailović's influence among Chetniks in eastern Bosnia. Novaković left Foča with a British mission in April 1942 and returned to Montenegro with the intention of reassembling the disorganized Chetnik formations there. He was killed in late 1943, either by the Partisans or Mihailović's Chetniks.
The 369th (Croatian) Infantry Division was a legionary division of the German Army (Wehrmacht) during World War II.
The 373rd (Croatian) Infantry Division was a division of the German Army during World War II. It was formed in June 1943 using a brigade from the Home Guard of the Independent State of Croatia with the addition of a German cadre. The division was commanded by Germans down to battalion and even company level in nearly all cases, and was commonly referred to as a "legionnaire division". Originally formed with the intention of service on the Eastern Front, it was used instead for anti-Partisan operations in the territory of the NDH until the end of the war. It fought mainly in the western areas of the NDH, and was involved in the attempt to kill or capture the leader of the Partisans, Josip Broz Tito, in May 1944. Severely depleted by desertion, the division withdrew towards the Reich border in the early months of 1945, eventually surrendering to the Partisans on 10 May 1945 near Brežice in modern-day Slovenia.
Vojislav Lukačević was a Serbian Chetnik commander in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during World War II. At the outbreak of war, he held the rank of captain of the reserves in the Royal Yugoslav Army.
The 1st Proletarian Brigade, later the 1st Proletarian Division, was the first brigade-size formation raised by the Yugoslav Partisans during World War II. The unit was one of the elite formations of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia. Its combat value was respected by the enemy. Artur Phleps, V SS Mountain Corps commander, in his war journal in 1944 assessed as a serious opponent, very well managed and well trained, who fights like a regular troop.
Vicko Krstulović was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary, the most prominent Partisan military commander from Dalmatia during World War II, and a post-war communist politician. He was an illegal communist activist during the 1920s and 1930s in Split at a time when communist sympathizers were brutally persecuted by the Yugoslav monarchy. As an officer in the Partisans during World War II, he was in charge of creating and organising the resistance movement in Dalmatia. In Socialist Yugoslavia, he worked in various government offices and was remembered for his work and contribution to his native Split.
The Partisan Long March was the redeployment of Josip Broz Tito's Partisan Supreme Headquarters and the major fighting elements of the Yugoslav Partisans across the Independent State of Croatia, from south-eastern to north-western Bosnia that commenced in late June 1942. The march followed the first large-scale joint German-Italian counter-insurgency operation in the NDH, Operation Trio, and the combined Italian-Montenegrin Chetnik offensive in Montenegro and eastern Herzegovina.
The First Proletarian Division of the NOVJ was formed on November 1, 1942 from the First Proletarian Brigade, the Third Proletarian Brigade and the Third Krajina Brigade in Bosanski Petrovac, under command of Koča Popović. It was considered one of the elite units of the NOVJ.
The Bihać operation was a military operation conducted by Yugoslav partisans against the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and Nazi Germany during World War II. The aim of the operation was to capture Bihać and the surrounding towns to connect Partisan held areas in Bosanska Krajina, and Knisnka Krajina. The battle for the city of Bihać lasted from 2 November to 4 November 1942. After capturing the city, the partisans continued to fight in surrounding areas until 15 November. The operation resulted in a major Partisan victory, with Bihać and the surrounding areas being captured, and the NDH suffering significant casualties.
The 6th Proletarian Assault Lika Division "Nikola Tesla" was a Yugoslav Partisan division formed on 22 November 1942. It was formed from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Lika Brigades. On 11 November 1943, it became part of the 4th Corps and later a part of the 1st Corps. It operated in Dalmatia until November 1943 when it crossed into Bosnia, later it fought in Serbia and on the Syrmian Front. From October 1944, the 22nd Serbian Kosmaj Brigade also fought as part of the division, and in December 1944 an Artillery Brigade was formed within the division.
Đuro Bošković was a Yugoslav lawyer, revolutionary, participant of the National Liberation struggle and an officer of the Department for People's Protection (OZNA). Bošković became particularly prominent during the World War II battle of Sutjeska when he reported to the military commanding staff that even though they lost two-thirds of the fighters, they could count on them as being in full force.
References
Books
Hoare, Marko Attila (2006). Genocide and Resistance in Hitler's Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks. Oxford University Press. p.341. ISBN978-0-19-726380-8.
Schmider, Klaus (2002). Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944[Partisan war in Yugoslavia 1941–1944] (in German). Hamburg: Mittler. ISBN978-3-8132-0794-1.
Kučan, Viktor (1996). Borci Sutjeske. Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva: Beograd. ISBN978-86-17-04984-1.
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