Operation Floxo

Last updated

Operation Floxo
Part of World War II in Yugoslavia
JUGOSLAVIA - BATTLE FOR RISAN.webp
A section of 31st Light AA Battery, Royal Artillery 75mm mountain Howitzers pound the German garrison at Risan from a distance of 1,200 yards.
Location
Yugoslavia
Commanded by'Floydforce'
  • Brigadier J P O'Brien-Twohig

'Finneyforce'

  • Major Pat Turner
ObjectiveSupporting Yugoslav Partisans during Axis withdrawal from Greece and Albania
Date30 October – 22 December 1944
Executed byFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
OutcomeOperational success
Casualties
  • German - 300-400
  • British/Partisan - unknown

Operation Floxo was an intervention by the British army in Yugoslavia in October 1944, during the Second World War. [1] The operation's main objective was to aid Yugoslav Partisans, led by Marshal Tito, in preventing the German withdrawal from Greece and Albania via Montenegro, and "to give the greatest possible artillery support to the Yugoslav National Army of Liberation". [2]

Contents

Background

Following the Maclean Mission and in Tito's meeting with Winston Churchill in Naples in August 1943, British Government policy was to support and supply the Communist partisans. [3]

The following year as Allied troops from the East and West were moving towards the German borders, they realised that large German military formations such as Army Group E would eventually abandon Greece, Albania and Yugoslavia and withdraw to defence lines further north. This would reinvigorate and resupply their troops in the region and likely extend the war. [4]

In September 1944, Operation Ratweek was launched, aiming to frustrate German movements through Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. [5] The secondary route in Montenegro was to be disrupted as well. The mountainous terrain made aerial bombardment unsuitable, so heavy artillery and land troops were to be deployed. The Partisans, equipped with only small arms and used to hand-to-hand warfare, had neither the long-range guns nor the experience. [6] After a number of successful raiding operations by the British on islands in the Adriatic, the Partisans were impressed by the power of their artillery and began to demand help with its use. With this the British began to devise a plan to help the Partisans, and from it Operation Floxo was set up. [7]

Floxo

Arrival

A British combat unit was put together with two units; the first known as 'Floydforce' which consisted of batteries from 111th (Bolton) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, No. 43 (Royal Marine) Commando and 579th Army Field Company, Royal Engineers. Commanded by Brigadier J P O'Brien-Twohig, it sailed in four Landing craft, tank (LCT) and three Landing Craft, Infantry (LCI) from Bari to Dubrovnik on 27 October 1944 and arrived the following day. [8] [9] Another dedicated group, named 'Finney Force' which consisted of 211 Field Battery with eight 25-pounder guns and 'C' Troop of No. 43 Commando. The Battery Commander Major Pat Turner was in overall command, while 'C' Troop was led by Captain Robert Loundoun. The two commanders travelled via Trebinje, Bileća and Vilusi, to reach Podhan - a strategic location from which they could see and shell the German troops in the town of Risan, Ledenice barracks and in five old Imperial Austrian forts nearby. They arrived on 29 October, preparing for the first battle the following morning. [10] Their first target was to block the German breakout at Risan, along the coastal route of the Bay of Kotor. [1]

Battle of Risan

The advanced guard of German Army Group E, the XXI Mountain Corps, had already entered Montenegro and used a narrow, meandering road that follows the Bay of Kotor, eventually reaching Risan.

On October 30 the British fought their first action, when they became the first British Army unit to fight directly alongside communists. [1] Both the Partisans and the British gunners on the high rock shelf, 1,600 feet above the bay, could see German movements and once the weather had cleared, heavy bombardment started. After seeing the volume and accuracy of the shelling, the Germans realised that they were not dealing with Partisans, but rather much better trained and equipped army units. Some tried to surrender to the British, hoping for better treatment, but it had already been agreed that all prisoners of war were to be handed over to the Partisans. [11]

By 4 November, the bombardment had been so heavy that an attempt was made to ask Germans to surrender where they were barricaded in a local sawmill and hospital. The negotiations failed and three days later the first German fort was breached, and two days later the second. The Germans tried to send reinforcements from Kotor to Risan via the narrow and winding road. They also assembled a force at Mostar, 75 miles north-west, in order to free them up, but these were successfully contained by the local Partisans. [12]

By this time, the decision had been made to blow up the road and at least damage it enough to prevent heavy vehicles crossing. Captain Loundoun led the expedition which laid explosives in a culvert about two miles from Risan. This operation was successful. [13]

By 17 November, the last three forts fell and Ledenice barracks surrendered. The Germans suffered 43 dead and over 70 wounded, and 197 were taken prisoner. Shortly after, the Germans withdrew from Risan as well, and the town was taken over by the Partisans. One of the three routes, the southernmost one, was now closed off and Finney Force achieved its objective and withdrew to Bileća to await further instructions. [14]

Podgorica and withdrawal

British and Partisan commanders visit the bridge at Niksic, which is prepared for demolition by Royal Engineer sappers to hamper the German retreat Bridge at Niksit, prepared for demolition.jpg
British and Partisan commanders visit the bridge at Nikšić, which is prepared for demolition by Royal Engineer sappers to hamper the German retreat

The second, central, route for withdrawal was via Danilovgrad and Nikšić. British contingent consisting of Raiding Support Regiment, a troop of 43 Commando and No. 579 Field Company of the Royal Engineers gathered the troops and heavy artillery at Nikšić and prepared to demolish the 150 yard-long stone bridge nearby, should the need arise. However, the Partisans were able to enter Danilovgrad, thus making this route impassable for the Germans, leaving only the difficult northernmost route via Kolašin. [15]

The bulk of German troops was already on Montenegrin territory, in the town of Podgorica, desperate for a way north. On 5 December, Major W. H. Cheesman took a convoy of troops, heavy guns and a detachment of sappers with a flat-packed Bailey bridge to Risan. They knew the terrain well, as they had monitored and shelled it for weeks. Once in Risan, they followed the road to Kotor, installing and crossing the Bailey bridge on the way. After a couple of days on the coast, the mission reached Cetinje on 9 December. Just as they were preparing to continue on to Podgorica, an order was received to return to Vilusi, where their journey had started. They duly withdrew, taking back the Bailey bridge as ordered. [16]

Meanwhile, the troops remaining in Nikšić prepared to move on to Danilovgrad via a heavily damaged road. They passed the town on 13 December and started bringing artillery forward towards Podgorica and the road to Bioče, German's last remaining route. Heavy shelling started and lasted until 19 December together with aerial bombardment by the Balkan Air Force. Podgorica was liberated, and the pursuit of the Germans to Bioče and Kolašin continued. By 22 December, there was a diminishing number of targets that could be visually identified, and the risk of shooting at Partisans in error increased. This was the last day of British active intervention, and the troops and equipment were brought back to Italy to assist in the campaign[ clarification needed ] the following month. [17]

Aftermath

Floydforce was an unusual and somewhat strained operation. It spanned significant ideological, geopolitical and military contradictions.

"Those were the first shots of the first battle to have been fought by the only British body of formed troops to have soldiered alongside a Communist army on the European mainland during the Second World War."

— McConville, p. 277

At the same time, the Partisans feared a bigger British landing and intervention. The British Government still hosted and supported the Royal Yugoslav Government-in-Exile, as well as King Peter II of Yugoslavia. Finally, the futures of Istria, Rijeka and Trieste were yet to be decided. Winston Churchill thought of this as the key stumbling block and wrote to Tito on 3 December:

"You seem to be treating us in an increasingly invidious fashion. It may be that you have fears that your ambitions about occupying Italian territories of the north Adriatic lead you to view with suspicion and dislike every military operation on your coast we make against the Germans. I have already assured you that all territorial questions will be reserved for the Peace Conference. And they will be judged irrespective of wartime occupation. And certainly such issues ought not to hamper military operations now."

— Winston Churchill, McConville, p. 297

Tito was visiting Stalin in Moscow when the news of British units' arrival was received. Tito reassured Stalin that it must have been just a few batteries of artillery that he had asked for. Stalin then questioned what would he do if the British really tried to land against his will in Yugoslavia. Tito replied, "We should offer determined resistance." [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Case Black</span> Battle during World War II

Case Black, also known as the Fifth Enemy Offensive in Yugoslav historiography and often identified with its final phase, the Battle of the Sutjeska 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arso Jovanović</span> Yugoslav paritsan (1907–1948)

Arsenije "Arso" Jovanović was a Yugoslav partisan general and one of the country's foremost military commanders during World War II in Yugoslavia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Rösselsprung (1944)</span> German military operation

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armed Forces of Montenegro</span> Military forces of Montenegro

The Armed Forces of Montenegro are the military forces of Montenegro. The Armed Forces consists of an army, navy and air force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World War II in Yugoslavia</span>

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.

Operation Typical was the name of the first World War II British mission fully assigned to Yugoslav Partisans HQ and Marshal Tito organised by the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The six soldiers flew from Derna airfield on 27 May 1943 and parachuted to Black Lake in Montenegro at the height of a large German offensive Operation Schwarz which aimed to destroy the Partisan forces. The group was led by Col William Deakin and Capt William F Stuart, together with the two radio operators - Sergeants Walter Wroughton and Peretz 'Rose' Rosenberg. Canadian-Yugoslav Ivan ('John') Starčević acted as a translator and Sgt John Campbell (RM) was a cipher clerk, and bodyguard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian governorate of Montenegro</span> 1941–1943 Italian-occupied area of Yugoslavia

The Italian governorate of Montenegro existed from October 1941 to September 1943 as an occupied territory under military government of Fascist Italy during World War II. Although the Italians had intended to establish a quasi-independent Montenegrin kingdom, these plans were permanently shelved after a popular uprising in July 1941. Following the Italian surrender in September 1943, the territory of Montenegro was occupied by German forces which withdrew in December 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belgrade offensive</span> 1944 Second World War battle

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.

In 1941 when the Axis invaded Yugoslavia, King Peter II formed a Government in exile in London, and in January 1942 the royalist Draža Mihailović became the Minister of War with British backing. But by June or July 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had decided to withdraw support from Mihailović and the Chetniks he led, and support the Partisans headed by Josip Broz Tito, even though this would result in "complete communist control of Serbia". The main reason for the change was not the reports by Fitzroy Maclean or William Deakin, or as later alleged the influence of James Klugmann in Special Operations Executive (SOE) headquarters in Cairo or even Randolph Churchill, but the evidence of Ultra decrypts from the Government Code and Cipher School in Bletchley Park that Tito's Partisans were a "much more effective and reliable ally in the war against Germany". Nor was it due to claims that the Chetniks were collaborating with the enemy, though there was some evidence from decrypts of collaboration with Italian and sometimes German forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">18th Infantry Division "Messina"</span> Military unit

The 18th Infantry Division "Messina" was an infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The Messina was named for the city of Messina and based primarily in the Marche region, where it also recruited most of its troops. The division's headquarter and 93rd Infantry Regiment were based in Ancona, the 94th Infantry Regiment in Fano, and the 2nd Artillery Regiment in Pesaro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">151st Infantry Division "Perugia"</span> Military unit

The 151st Infantry Division "Perugia" was an infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The Perugia was formed on 25 August 1941 and named for the city of Perugia. The Perugia was classified as an occupation infantry division, which meant that the division's artillery regiment consisted of two artillery groups instead of the three artillery groups of line infantry divisions and that the divisional mortar battalion was replaced by a divisional machine gun battalion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">155th Infantry Division "Emilia"</span> Military unit

The 155th Infantry Division "Emilia" was an infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during the World War II. The Emilia was formed on 1 December 1941 and named for the historic region of Emilia. The Emilia was classified as an occupation infantry division, which meant that the division's artillery regiment consisted of two artillery groups instead of the three artillery groups of line infantry divisions and that the divisional mortar battalion was replaced by a divisional machine gun battalion.

Operation Ratweek was a series of coordinated attacks on the Axis forces' communication lines in the Balkans during World War II. Launched on 1 September 1944. the attack was led by the combined operations units of the Yugoslav Partisans, Land Forces Adriatic, the heavy bombers of the U.S. 15th Air Force and the light and medium bombers of the Balkan Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4 Decembar Nikšić</span>

4. Decembar Nikšić is an intercity bus company based in Nikšić, Montenegro. With a fleet of coach buses, the company operates intercity routes to various destinations in Montenegro as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It was named after the date in 1943 when Josip Broz Tito and the Yugoslav Partisans declared government-in-exile during the occupation of Yugoslavia in World War II. Along with Glušica Nikšić, the carrier is one of the main intercity bus companies serving the Nikšić municipality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allied bombing of Yugoslavia in World War II</span>

The Allied bombing of Yugoslavia in World War II involved air attacks on cities and towns in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and Royal Air Force (RAF), including the Balkan Air Force (BAF), between 1941 and 1945, during which period the entire country was occupied by the Axis powers. Dozens of Yugoslav cities and towns were bombed, many repeatedly. These attacks included intensive air support for Yugoslav Partisan operations in May–June 1944, and a bombing campaign against transport infrastructure in September 1944 as the German Wehrmacht withdrew from Greece and Yugoslavia. This latter operation was known as Operation Ratweek. Some of the attacks caused significant civilian casualties.

The Maclean Mission (MACMIS) was a World War II British mission to Yugoslav partisans HQ and Marshal Tito organised by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in September 1943. Its aim was to assess the value of the partisans contribution to the Allied cause and the means to increase it. It was led by a recently promoted Brigadier Fitzroy Maclean and was the first such mission with full authorization and a personal message from Winston Churchill. His memoir of these years forms the final third of Eastern Approaches (1949).

The XXI Mountain Corps was a German military formation in World War II.

Mission Rogers was a World War II Special Operations Executive (SOE) medical and military expedition to Yugoslav Partisans in Dalmatia, western Bosnia and Slovenia. The group was led by Major Lindsay Rogers and included Sergeant William (Bill) Gillanders RAMC and an RAF Sergeant Ian McGregor. Codenamed "Vaseline" the mission left southern Italy in a Royal Navy submarine and reached the island of Vis in late November 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">111th (Bolton) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery</span> Military unit

111th (Bolton) Field Regiment was a Royal Artillery (RA) unit of Britain's part-time Territorial Army (TA) formed just before World War II. It was descended from the Bolton Artillery, first formed in the Lancashire town of Bolton in 1889. After serving in home defence it was sent to the Middle East where it participated in the Second Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Mareth. It served in the Italian Campaign, and was then transferred to Yugoslavia, fighting alongside Tito's Partisans. The regiment was disbanded at the end of the war.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Forty & Forty 2023, p. 52.
  2. ↑ McConville, p. 273
  3. ↑ Maclean (1991), pp. 457-469
  4. ↑ McConville, p. 273
  5. ↑ McConville, p. 268
  6. ↑ McConville, p. 280
  7. ↑ 111th Fd Rgt at RA 1939–45.
  8. ↑ McConville, pp. 273-275
  9. ↑ Williams, p. 232
  10. ↑ McConville, pp. 275-277
  11. ↑ McConville, pp. 278-281
  12. ↑ McConville, pp. 281-284
  13. ↑ McConville, pp. 285-286
  14. ↑ McConville, pp. 286-291
  15. ↑ McConville, pp.298-299
  16. ↑ McConville, pp. 299-305
  17. ↑ McConville, pp. 305-313
  18. ↑ Maclean (1957), p. 245

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.