Partisans in the Balkans.

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a point of view..................................

Partisan struggle in Albania.

With Italy's surrender and its declaration of war on Germany in August 1943, two German infantry divisions marched into Albania, already standing by on the Albanian border. I first led my infantry battalion (1) to Prizren, a small town with a Mohammedan population in the friendly Kosova region.

There we moved from the major battle in the open terrain, in which we had always taken part as infantrymen in the front line in the Soviet Union from Sokal on the Bug to Stalingrad on the Volga, to the mountain battle in the wild and inaccessible karst mountains of the Balkans. This caused us little difficulty. The necessary equipment was available in abundance from the existing stocks of the Italian troops, two armies that had been in Albania since 1939. It was only up to the initiative of the individual commanders and company commanders to find it.

Abandoned pack animals, mules, donkeys and small horses stood in a neglected state tied to rickety fences, starving or grazing half-wild on dried-out grassy areas outside the towns and villages. Wooden saddles, clumsy and hard, were usually found near the animals. In the numerous warehouses of the Italian barracks camps there were cooking boxes made of light metal, which were now supposed to replace the good old field kitchens. At first there was only a shortage of mountain boots.

The few we found looked very nice when new, but were completely worn out after a few marching in high mountains. The rough upper leather absorbed the moisture instead of keeping it out. Many Italian mountain batteries fell into our hands without a fight. The gun barrels had a caliber of 7.5 cm. For a gun with the initial supply of ammunition, 6 strong pack animals were required. There were enough grenades packed in carrying baskets. Backpacks, very practical and functional, now replaced our knapsacks and the assault pack of the German grenadiers. Italian soldiers who were willing to help helped us load the pack animals and were their guides.

The German officers and soldiers quickly adapted to the new equipment. What else could shake the old Russian fighters; They had become masters at improvising.

But the high mountain battle against partisans soon began. The Albanian gangs, together with Italians loyal to Badoglio, attacked the weak German units in a sneaky and devious manner. Very soon the German soldiers, who had fought for almost two years in the toughest battles against numerically and materially far superior opponents with great success, had to realize that war in the high mountains is completely different than in open, open terrain. (Although artillery, anti-tank guns, tanks and aircraft were not available to the enemy or were only used very sporadically, the battle was much more difficult and very costly and placed the greatest physical and psychological demands on the leadership and troops.

(1) This unit was part of the new 297th Infantry Division, reorganized in Bordeaux France, under the command of Generalmajor Friedrich-Wilhelm Deutsch. In June 1943 it was subordinated to the Kommandierender General und Befehlshaber in Serbia (General Paul Bader) to carry out security tasks and operations against the partisans. In September 1943 it was assigned to the XXI. Gebirgskorps (General Paul Bader).

Sources: Partisanenkampf in Albanien. Frank. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 120 (1954). Heft 4-5
https://www.maparchive.ru/division/part ... vision.pdf
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gl ... bKorps.htm

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more..................................

Partisan struggle in Albania.

Albania, on the territory of ancient Illyria on the Adriatic Sea, bordered to the north and east by Yugoslavia and to the south by Greece, apart from a Macedonian dispute, is a wild and difficult to access mountainous country with a warlike population of farmers and hunters. Only on the narrow coastal strips is a layer of urban culture visible. The residents, who numbered just over a million at the time, were considered to be the Illyrians and called themselves Skipetars (*). The main tribes are the Gegen and Tosken. About two thirds of Albanese are Mohammedans. The rest is Greek Orthodox. There are very few Roman Catholics in the country.

The Albanians are not related to the other Balkan peoples. They have their own language and only recently began to form a written language. There is no Albanian literature yet. Only among the numerous emigrated Skipetars did an Albanian literature develop, especially in Italy. There are no railways in the whole country, only a few, but good ones roads built by Italians that can be easily closed with little effort in the wildly rugged rocky terrain.

After ancient Illyrien was subjugated by Rome in the 3rd century, a Slavic flood began in the 7th century. Independence and foreign rule alternated until the battles against the Turks, which reached their climax in the Battle of Amselfelde (Kosovo) in 1389 and were resumed in the 15th century by Skanderbeg, the Albanian national hero who is still revered today. Despite brave uprisings against the Turks, Albania became a Turkish province and remained so until 1912. On November 28th of that year, Albania became independent by declaring itself free in the southern Albanian port city of Valona (Vlora in Albanian).

In 1914, Prince Wilhelm zu Wied tried to rule there as Prince Wilhelm. However, he left the country shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. During this war, Albania was occupied by the English and Austrians, but their fighting soon had to be stopped due to numerous cases of malaria. Albania became a republic on January 21, 1925. In 1928 the elected president Achmed Zogu (Albanian - Vogel) was proclaimed king. Austria, Hungary and Italy had previously fought for dominance in this part of the Adriatic.

Now Mussolini's policy prevailed over Yugoslavia's. Italian troops landed in 1939. Ahmed Zogu fled. Italy now vigorously pursued the economic and technical development of Albania. The outbreak of the Second World War and the fierce battles of the freedom-loving, proud people divided into tribes against the Italian troops prevented greater success.

Clans, tribes, religious communities and the many political interest groups fought each other and, often for little reason, fought fierce, loss-making battles. The cruel law of blood revenge still prevails in Albania today. Wild guerrilla warfare raged throughout the country when the German units entered the country. There was live fire everywhere, including in the cities. None of the Germans knew who was shooting at whom or why they were shooting.

(*) Shqiptar is an Albanian ethnonym, by which Albanians call themselves. They call their country Shqipëria.

Sources: Partisanenkampf in Albanien. Frank. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 120 (1954). Heft 4-5

Cheers. Raúl M .

Feliz Navidad - Feliz Natal - Frohe Weihnachten - Joyeux Noël - Merry Christmas - Wesołych Świąt!

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more..................................

Partisan struggle in Albania.

The political situation was very unclear; the conditions were confusing. There was no Albanian government. Prices rose daily. There was a shortage of water and food everywhere. Only in the coastal strip were there a few fertile areas. For us Germans, Albania was considered a friendly country. All coercive measures were forbidden to German troops. They were not allowed to enter residential buildings. We behaved correctly and settled in as best we could in the numerous barracks and garrisons. The first days in the country almost forgotten by Europe were quiet.

But then a terrible battle began; cunningly managed and very costly. For us it began with the fact that vehicles that were supposed to fetch wood to cover splinter trenches were shot at and attacked a few hundred meters from the barracks. The soldiers were killed or wounded, the horses were dead. An immediate attempt on my part was unsuccessful. We hit nothing. We found no trace of the bandits.

The next day I drove my car along the southern road from Tirana to Durazzo. German pioneers were working on a bridge that led over the Lumi Arzen. They cleared the road for me and greeted me in a friendly manner. I went to a former Italian ammunition depot guarded by my men. Near the entrance gate I found the entire security guard lying murdered on the ground. The soldiers had fallen after hard resistance, as I noticed from the many bullet wounds. The camp had been looted. Rifle and pistol ammunition were missing. The partisans also had taken flares and hand grenades.

Almost all of the stacked boxes were forced. The telephone had been stolen. The lines had been disrupted. From that day on I always took a field telephone with me in the car so that I could put myself on the line at any time. I drove back and came back to the Arzen Bridge after half an hour. Even from a distance, my eyes focused on the dark lumps lying there. When I got there I found that the pioneers had been attacked. All four were dead and completely looted. In vain I searched the area covered in bushes for meters with my binoculars. But there was no trace of the murderers.

After a few more kilometers of driving, I found one of our medical vehicles stopped on the side of the road. It seemed deserted and empty. I stopped and opened the doors. The driver, passenger and sick people lay dead in their blood inside the vehicle. All were stripped of their equipment and personal property. But the landscape was peaceful. Quietly, the river roared. Insects buzzed from flower to flower. Goats and sheep grazed on both sides of the road.

My companions looked at me. They felt terrible. I, too, shuddered inside. With the submachine gun on my lap ready to fire, I drove on, watching ahead. My men did the same to the right and left. On the outskirts of Tirana, the capital of Albania, we stopped at the foot of a cone-shaped mountain on which two groups were positioned to protect themselves. Halfway up, the cadet non-commissioned officer (Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier) who was assigned as guide met me and reported that about 30 men had sneaked up to his position the previous night. When the guards opened fire, the unknown enemy withdrew. Wounded people could be heard screaming.

Some time later, lights were turned on in the houses on the slope on the other side. In addition, the dogs had been barking for a long time. I orientated myself on the spot. The position had already been expanded and occupied by the Italians. From there you could dominate the entire area. However, the approximately two meter high, dense bushes that grew on the site allowed the enemy to approach under cover.

Sources: Partisanenkampf in Albanien. Frank. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 120 (1954). Heft 4-5

Cheers. Raúl M .

Feliz Año Nuevo - Happy New Year - feliz Ano Novo - gluckliches Neues Jahr - Bonne Année - Felice Anno Nuovo - Szczęśliwego nowego roku!

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more..................................

Partisan struggle in Albania.

When I returned to Tirana, "the most modern European city in the making," my patrol leaders reported that the Albanians were looting the Italian supply depots. I used forces to prevent it. During the night, however, despite our guard, several camps burned down completely. Despite all investigations, the arsonists could not be found.

The young men from my battalion's machine gun company, who had come with the last replacement, held a school shooting competition. When the target construction commando set up the targets in the area, they were shot at from close range by bandits with rifles. When the company arrived at the location there was peace and quiet again.

If it was dangerous to leave the city at that location, once darkness fell you could no longer stay outside your accommodation. There was shooting on every corner and in every street of Tirana. Bullets flew everywhere as ricochet and ricochet. However, it could not be determined why, where and by whom the shots were fired.

I ordered that the soldiers were only allowed to leave the barracks in groups of four and that they had to have various hand weapons with them: rifles, submachine guns and pistols. By nightfall everyone must have returned to their accommodation. A general feeling of uncertainty arose. Our self-confidence suffered greatly. You no longer felt safe at any time or anywhere. You were practically powerless.

One day I received an order from the regiment to explore and develop a reinforced rifle company in a rear position between the coast and the regimental command post to defend against an enemy that would have landed and broken through the coastal defense line. A vegetated ridge between Durazzo and Voree was suitable for this. The road from the harbor into the interior of the country ran at right angles through the middle of this area.

I put together a reinforced company, reconnoitred the positions for the individual weapons, determined the direction of fire, cleared the field of fire and began to expand the positions in detail. We marked all the details on pegs driven into the ground so that each work team could take over and complete the further expansion. Then other tasks awaited us.

When the tank destroyer company, which was deployed in this section, wanted to continue with the expansion the next day, they were greeted with heavy rifle and machine gun fire by partisans from the positions we had prepared as they approached their workplace. Their failures were corresponding. When our own forces were deployed in response to the noise of the battle, the partisans had disappeared. The attack came to nothing.

A short time later I was placed directly under the army corps and was therefore removed from the regimental unit for tactical tasks. I now received my orders directly from the Chief of Staff or the Commanding General himself.

Sources: Partisanenkampf in Albanien. Frank. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 120 (1954). Heft 4-5

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more..................................

Partisan struggle in Albania.

On a reconnaissance trip in the area west of Tirana, I came to a former Italian fuel storage facility that was guarded by German Air Force personnel. The sergeant on duty reported to me that he had observed 13 heavy trucks last day, apparently fully loaded, driving along the Lumi Arzen valley and disappearing into the area in the direction of the village of Furtuzey. Given the situation and the position of our weak defenses, these could only be enemy forces.

I observed the Lumi Arzen valley from behind the tombstones of a dilapidated Mohammedan cemetery on a height directly near the camp. The place offered a wonderful, wide view of the wildly romantic mountain terrain on both sides of the winding river valley. About a kilometer away from me, the stone houses of the town of Furtuzey were scattered on the steep mountainside. I recognized strong movements there.

Entire columns of Italian soldiers marched to individual houses. About 40 men in uniform moved to a certain spot with cooking utensils. A long line of burdened pack animals was just leaving the village and turning into a nearby ravine. Individual riders trotted along the valley. So there seemed to be at least one battalion there, feeling very safe and making some sort of preparation.

These forces posed a threat to Tirana. I prepared an operation against them as thoroughly as a peacekeeping exercise. I personally instructed the leaders of my units in the area with their company squad leaders. I felt strong and safe. In addition to a rifle company and my battalion's machine gun company, I had an engineer company, 10 light Italian tanks, 3 assault guns and several self-propelled guns at my disposal. In addition, the entire infantry gun company of another regiment acted on the identified enemy at the start of the attack.

The attack got off to a good start. My units broke all resistance in an instant. We gained ground. Even the motor vehicles crossed the river, to my own surprise. We took Furtuzey “temporarily”.

Soon the poor village of Dort Bultize in the middle of the valley was taken by the front parts of the battle group. In the most difficult, rugged terrain, the machine gun company remained at the same height as the rifle company in a rapid operation. Only the engineer company securing the left flank was still hanging back a little.

I moved the command post to the outskirts of town and was therefore in the front line. Two tanks were nearby and a heavy grenade launcher remained with me in reserve.

I reported the battle success to the corps. The radio connection, which is otherwise often difficult in the high mountains, worked well. Italians defected or were captured. Their statements were very important. Accordingly, the enemy consisted of strong Italian forces and Albanian civilians who had been equipped and armed by the Italians.

Sources: Partisanenkampf in Albanien. Frank. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 120 (1954). Heft 4-5

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more..................................

Partisan struggle in Albania.

Gradually the enemy's resistance increased. More than 12 machine guns fired at us. The command post also received fire from a small-caliber gun. A dense, sprawling cornfield obscured the view. Fierce fire came from the heights on both sides of the Arzen valley, whose dense hillside vegetation offered the enemy the best cover. It was not possible to see the weapons firing.

Although parts of the pioneer company had reached a plateau on the right wing, the enemy could not be seen below them or above the own parts fighting in the valley. We peppered the slope with one heavy machine gun, a medium grenade launcher fired at the suspected enemy position and a captured tank did the same. Nevertheless, the enemy could not be put out of action. I had no choice but to move the command post behind a small group of houses.

The left company reported that the enemy was attacking and that hand-to-hand combat was already ensuing. Hand grenades flew back and forth. The rifle and machine gun fire steadily increased. A fight had broken out that we had never suspected. The infantry battle raged in full force. Now we also recognized the enemy. The attackers were Mohammedan partisans. Their white fez shone in large numbers in front of the section of the battle group that had now gone over to the defense.

Both companies deployed on the wings reported that they were receiving heavy enemy fire from the flanks and were already being outflanked. My captured tanks and assault guns reported a lack of ammunition and fuel. Besides, the day was coming to an end. It was getting dark. But once the sun disappeared behind the mountains, night came very quickly. But now I saw machine guns firing on the heights on both sides of my units, far into the rear area.

The enemy had formed a horseshoe-shaped ring on the mountains around us and were firing into our flanks and rear. Only the end of the valley towards the road still seemed to be free. My report was received with skepticism by the corps. My request to cancel the operation required the approval of the commanding general.

In the meantime I had to have the tanks driven back so as not to lose them; and the companies received the order to withdraw from the enemy unnoticed by fighting under mutual fire protection. At the same time, I set up a barrier and containment position on this side of the street. Wounded people dragged themselves back along the entire section. It was a picture that I knew from the major battles in the Soviet Union and that I would not have thought possible in Albania. I stayed with the enemy with my radio squad until the corps gave the order to “drop off”.

Sources: Partisanenkampf in Albanien. Frank. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 120 (1954). Heft 4-5

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more..................................

Partisan struggle in Albania.

With a heavy heart I drove back and received the battle reports from the unit leaders. The loss of people, weapons and equipment was very high. Despite careful internal self-examination, I found no fundamental leadership flaw in myself. However, I was deeply impressed by the extreme failure we had suffered and was enriched by many experiences on that first day of fighting.

There was no railway in Albania. The entire supply of the troops had to be brought in by motor vehicles on a few roads and delivered to the individual units on pack animals.

The general insecurity throughout the country increased daily. Army vehicles drove up on roads and paths, well camouflaged as donkey droppings, stones, etc. They were recognized shot at, looted and burned. The accompanying personnel were dead. The wounded were murdered or, if they were able to walk, captured. No vehicle or rider could dare to leave a town alone without being shot at from ambush, often on the outskirts of the village. We put together convoys and only drove through the sparsely populated country in a convoy. But even strong columns were ambushed by the enemy. The losses of vehicles, supplies, soldiers and weapons increased steadily.

We secured the parts of the terrain suitable for the attack like bases. But the mostly weak forces deployed there were also picked up and massacred by partisans. Weapons and ammunition fell into enemy hands. Our own powerful scouting parties penetrated deep into the rugged mountains. They rarely came back, but were shot together in suitable places. Securing their action with heavy weapons was only possible from the starting point, i.e. at the first attempt, but due to difficulties in the terrain it ended at the maximum firing range of the employed individual weapons. Reconnaissance could only be carried out with a limited target within the firing range of heavy weapons.

The troops therefore never received a reasonably clear picture of the strength, composition and whereabouts of the hidden but all the more dangerous enemy. In large-scale operations, conducted simultaneously from different directions, with a mixed composition of our own forces, with the intention of finding the partisans in their hiding places, rounding them up and putting them to fight, the units usually came up empty. Their leaders knew neither the terrain nor the enemy situation. They only had insufficient maps at a scale of 1:200,000.

Most had no experience in high mountain combat. Like most Western Europeans, Albania was a foreign, mysterious country to them. The advancing combat groups achieved high alpine feats. The physical exertion for soldiers and pack animals reached the limits of what was possible. They did an outstanding job. But they rarely achieved real success. The course of these operations, which placed the toughest demands on the troops, was always the same:

When columns, almost exhausted, advanced in a long line on donkey paths in the most difficult terrain on steep, unprotected rocky slopes, they were attacked with good fire. Many pack animals fell down and fell into the inaccessible depths with their valuable loads. Heavy weapons of various kinds, ammunition, communications equipment and troop supplies were lost. The well-camouflaged enemy, consisting of a few rifle and machine gunners, was able to retreat and rally unnoticed in the resulting chaos. As our own troops cautiously felt their way along, they came under his fire again, often in places where it would least be expected. The German units suffered heavy losses. They lost a lot of time and, despite the best leadership, great achievements and good soldierly qualities, had little or no combat success. The partisans, fighting and retreating deep into the mountains, set fire to all the buildings on their way. Fences, piles of hay and corn stalks. In doing so, they took away accommodation and feed from the German units that were following them in the area they had designated for this purpose.

Sources: Partisanenkampf in Albanien. Frank. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 120 (1954). Heft 4-5

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more..................................

Partisan struggle in Albania.

The supply and pack animal columns that followed deeper and deeper into the impassable, waterless Karst mountains were ambushed or captured far behind them. It was not possible to provide them with adequate infantry protection. The combat groups often had to lie there for days without supplies and, guarding on all sides, exposed to constant attacks, waiting for orders to resupply or for orders to retreat.

The use of communications media was particularly difficult. In high mountain mobile combat, only radio is possible. Radios are very heavy and only have a limited range (radius of action). My combat group had a 30-watt device at its disposal. It was carried loaded on 5 pack animals. Listing everything, setting up and establishing the connection with the remote station took a long time, even with well-trained staff. Messages could only be sent in encrypted form.

Encrypting and decrypting requires documents and good specialists. Orders from the superior office were often outdated due to the changing combat situation. As darkness fell, radio communication also ended. All the signals arrived at night in a distorted form, had to be repeated several times and often led to misunderstandings and incorrect tactical measures.

Troop movements and fighting are not possible at night in unfamiliar mountain terrain. Each leader therefore endeavored to have a suitable area by dusk in which his troops could spend the night without being attacked or wiped out. Tactical intentions of the higher authorities had to subordinate themselves to this fact. The difficulties in coordinating the leadership of several units fighting far apart from each other were very great. It rarely worked.

Anyone who knows large-scale combat at the front and gang combat in the high mountains and has the choice between the two prefers large-scale combat.

Sources: Partisanenkampf in Albanien. Frank. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 120 (1954). Heft 4-5

It's all. Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; some articles on this topic.................

Resistance and Its Opponents in the Region of Sandžak and Kosovo
https://www.cairn.info/revue-les-cahier ... tm?ref=doi

Albania (Guerilla Activities) Volume 400: debated on Tuesday 23 May 1944
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1 ... ivities%29

EAGLE. A Study in Guerrilla War. By Julian Amery. Illustrated. 354 pp.
https://www.nytimes.com/1949/03/13/arch ... ar-by.html

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a partisan point of view..................

The Yugoslav guerrilla war.

I.

The pre-war Yugoslav army was crushed and destroyed in 12 days, in April 1941. After the capitulation: the territory was divided between Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary and Albania; New borders were established and strong military and police forces were deployed in the country. The entire army was taken prisoner. The official leadership had fled abroad and the population was left without protection.

The first months of the occupation were spent preparing for resistance. The first attacks by Yugoslav detachments took place in June 1941. The first uprisings broke out in July. The entire country was in a state of fermentation.

The first forms of organization were detachments of 10, 100, 1,000 and up to 3,000 men, built on territorial principles and linked to the terrain or to specific towns in terms of organization, psychology and nutrition. A national general staff was formed for each of the countries and a higher general staff for all of Yugoslavia under Tito.

From the beginning, the strategy of the resistance movement was based on the most effective and offensive struggle. The course of the war has shown that only constant activity can feed and strengthen the spirit of resistance among the people, that only activity can allow the expansion of the uprising and the organizational development of the army.

The Yugoslav detachments, following the general strategy of their military leadership, developed effective offensive tactics. They began first with attacks on individual soldiers and guards of the occupying power, then continued with attacks on individual enemy patrols and columns wandering through villages and forests.

In this way, the occupation forces were expelled from certain areas, which gave the Yugoslav detachments a certain security of residence, movement and supply. Furthermore, the resistance detachments carried out a systematic extermination of traitors, enemy spies and collaborators, which not only guaranteed their safety but also that of the civilian population.

Sources: Der jugoslawische Partisanenkrieg. Von Generalleutnant Dusan Kveder, Ausbildungschef der jugoslawischen Armee. ASMZ: Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 119 (1953) Heft 7

Cheers. Raúl M .

[Prosper Vandenbroucke]

Very Interresting post. Thanks Raul
Kindly regards
Prosper

[tigre]

Hello to all ; thanks for joining Prosper . More...............

The Yugoslav guerrilla war.

Once a certain security inside has been obtained in this way, in the sense of a somewhat free base of operations, step by step; Partisan detachments were now significantly larger, for general surveillance of the enemy's transportation network. Due to incessant ambushes and attacks on enemy patrols and columns, the destruction of communications and objectives, connections between the occupying garrisons were interrupted or were in constant danger.

Reinforced partisan detachments acquired heavy weapons, which they took from the enemy, which gave them the opportunity to carry out attacks on enemy garrisons, first on the smaller ones, and then on the larger ones. As a result of this activity, the occupying power was forced to disband small garrisons and concentrate on larger cities that were carefully fortified. As a result of the liquidation of such bases, the areas of various partisan detachments could be united and the first free territories could be created. In these free territories, the people in assemblies democratically created Popular Liberation Committees, which exercised the function of civil authority in these areas.

In July and August 1941, general uprisings occurred in entire population areas. On July 7, an area the size of Switzerland in western Serbia was liberated. Then, on July 13, the Montenegrin people unanimously rose up against the Italian occupation forces and liberated the entire country except three largest enemy bases. Over the course of a few weeks, almost all Italian troops were disarmed. Uprisings soon broke out in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The occupying power was confused and surprised by the uprisings. He did not expect such resistance and took no immediate countermeasures; She had to admit to herself that the “little war” was turning into a truly great war.

In the fall of 1941, the occupation forces (German, Italian, Bulgarian and Hungarian) in Yugoslavia had 24 divisions with 390,000 men and with the partisans (Cernici) of Neditsch and Mihajlovitsch ("Chetniks") in Serbia and Montenegro, the partisans of Pavelitsch ("Ustashi")) in Croatia and the White Guard in Slovenia, this number increased to half a million men. At that time there were partisan detachments in Yugoslavia with around 80,000 combatants; They had a small arms factory (rifles, bombs and ammunition) in Uzize, in western Serbia.

The occupation forces could no longer successfully resist the partisans with punitive expeditions and search detachments. They were forced to carry out large-scale operations, that is, to carry out real offensives. In three and a half years of war, that is, from 1941 to the first half of 1944, seven major offensives were launched. In addition to these large-scale offensive operations, a whole series of smaller attacks were carried out on individual areas and critical points of the uprising, in which troops of two, five, ten to thirty thousand men were deployed.

Sources: Der jugoslawische Partisanenkrieg. Von Generalleutnant Dusan Kveder, Ausbildungschef der jugoslawischen Armee. ASMZ: Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 119 (1953) Heft 7

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more...............

The Yugoslav guerrilla war.

The German offensives.

The first real operation against the Yugoslav forces was carried out with a focus on western Serbia. At that time there were 23 partisan detachments in Serbia with around 25,000 fighters. A free area had been created in western Serbia, the size of which was as of Switzerland, with relatively large towns such as Chachak, Uzize and Pozega. In this offensive, the Germans deployed five and a half divisions with artillery, tanks and air power.

Immediately after the first offensive, on December 22, 1941, the first Yugoslav partisan brigade was formed. This was the first regular Allied unit in continental Europe, excluding Russia. The Yugoslav People's Army celebrates this date as its birthday, Army Day.

This was the situation in Yugoslavia at the end of 1941, when the Germans stood before Moscow and Leningrad, the Western allies had to struggle with crisis-like difficulties in North Africa and the entire European continent endured the occupation relatively calmly.

At the beginning of 1942 the occupying power began its second offensive. Two German divisions and certain Ustashi and Chetnik forces took part in this. A number of Italian divisions were also scheduled to take part, but they failed to attend due to the situation in Montenegro and Herzegovina.

Despite the offensive in eastern Bosnia at the beginning of 1942, partisan forces throughout the country increased significantly. In Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia, new large areas were liberated and new regular brigades were set up. In this situation, the German command decided to launch the third offensive, which was carried out from April 15 to the end of June 1942 with two German and eight Italian divisions and significant Ustashi and Chetnik forces. The Italians attacked Slovenia from July to November 1942 with approximately 100,000 men.

During this offensive, the Yugoslav high command formed new brigades from the partisan detachments of Serbia, Montenegro, eastern Bosnia and undertook a counteroffensive with five brigades into eastern Bosnia.

The number of brigades grew to such an extent that it became impossible to command such a number from one center. Larger operational troops, divisions and army corps, were therefore formed. Before the end of 1942, the Yugoslav Liberation Army numbered 150,000 fighters, formed into two army corps with a total of nine divisions, 36 independent brigades, 70 battalions, 15 companies and 79 partisan detachments.

At this time, the occupying powers increased their forces in Yugoslavia to 630,000 men, namely: 35 divisions, 5 brigades, 15 regiments and 146 battalions, to which numbers must also be added the Ustashi and Chetnik formations, which numbered 170,000 men, which is a total 800,000 men. For the Allied fronts, the commitment of these strong Axis forces meant considerable relief.

Sources: Der jugoslawische Partisanenkrieg. Von Generalleutnant Dusan Kveder, Ausbildungschef der jugoslawischen Armee. ASMZ: Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 119 (1953) Heft 7

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a more.................

The Yugoslav guerrilla war.

The German offensives.

The Yugoslav army conducted seven and a half months of offensive operations in 1942 and re-established a liberated area in the center of Yugoslavia. “Tito's state,” as the Germans called it, was created; it included a large part of Croatia, western and central Bosnia and part of Dalmatia and Herzegovina.

The problem of conducting the liberation struggle became even more complicated, since in this large free area questions had to be resolved that would normally be dealt with by a government. The “Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation” was formed on November 26, 1942 in Bihac by representatives of all peoples and parties that had taken part in the struggle as the political representative body of the peoples of Yugoslavia.

The situation in Yugoslavia and the fact that things were getting worse for the Axis powers on the fronts in Russia and Africa forced the Germans and Italians to liquidate the Yugoslav theater of war as quickly as possible or at least to restrict it to such an extent that part of the forces used could be transferred to the Eastern or African front or at least secure connections across the Balkans to Africa. Furthermore, the Germans and Italians seriously expected an Allied landing in the Balkans and therefore planned a new offensive, the fourth, with the aim of liquidating the partisan movement before the landing took place.

For this offensive, which began at the end of January 1943, the Germans deployed six divisions and the Italians five divisions with the intention of encircling Tito's state in order to apply the comb-out tactics to it, thus defeating the partisans on the Petrova gora, the Grmetsch and in Destroy the Neretva cauldron.

At the beginning of the German-Italian offensive, the Yugoslav high command formed an operational group of 5 divisions and decided to carry out a counteroffensive in the direction of Montenegro in order to rekindle the uprising in these areas where the occupiers and Chetniks had regained the upper hand. The Yugoslav high command also decided to bring 4,000 wounded from the earlier battles. The operational group made a surprise advance on a broad front to the Neretva and destroyed the Italian “Murge” Division. On this occasion the armament of this Italian division fell into Yugoslav hands.

The opposing forces quickly took advantage of the standstill on the Neretva to create a general encirclement. The Germans deployed two divisions and an Ustashi brigade in the Neretva Pocket, while the Italians committed two divisions. The operational group was surrounded with its wounded; the diameter of the cauldron in the most critical phase of the operation was no more than 35 km. The Battle of the Neretva broke out, in which the Yugoslav group first crushed the opposing forces, forced the Neretva and thus made the evacuation possible.

As a result of the tremendous effort and difficult living conditions, an epidemic of typhus broke out among the wounded and troops. Vaccine was not available and a large number of the brave fighters fell victim to this disease. The required medication was not available.

Sources: Der jugoslawische Partisanenkrieg. Von Generalleutnant Dusan Kveder, Ausbildungschef der jugoslawischen Armee. ASMZ: Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 119 (1953) Heft 7

Cheers. Raúl M .