During the "April War" of 1941, the armed forces of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were defeated within a few days. The kingdom disintegrated, and its territory was divided into German, Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian occupation zones. The Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) was formed on part of the German and Italian zones of occupation. A number of other, weak, puppet quasi-state formations also appeared.
Germany was only interested in strategically important resources - ore and oil, as well as free transport links with Greece and Romania. In this situation, smoldering interethnic conflicts escalated, and the "Balkan cauldron" seethed. In fear of ethnic cleansing, part of the population joined monarchist or communist rebel movements.
The Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) was founded in Moscow in 1919 and since the establishment of the dictatorship in Yugoslavia in 1929 has existed in an illegal position. After the defeat of Yugoslavia and the flight of the king and the government, the CPY used the discontent of the population to strengthen its position.
At first, the communists awaited orders from Moscow, since Stalin and Hitler were allies at that time. After the German attack on the USSR, Stalin ordered the leader of the Communist Party of Yosif Broz Tito to start an armed struggle in order to divert the Wehrmacht forces from the Soviet-German front. From the summer of 1941, Tito began to unite scattered resistance groups, create new ones, organize them first into small, and then into ever larger armed formations. They called themselves partisans.
There was also a movement of monarchists (chetniks), led by Colonel Drazha Mikhailovich. The colonel did not flee abroad, but remained in the country and united the monarchists in the Ravna Gora region.
The communist partisans and Chetniks succeeded in creating a “liberated region” in western Serbia.
Small and weak German garrisons were concentrated mainly in cities to control transport routes and copper mines. Therefore, at first they did not pay attention to the weakly armed "gangs". Also, the Germans did not trust the puppet regime of Serbia, and the local authorities could not seriously oppose the rebels. The Germans did not understand the scale of the insurgency and tried to intimidate the population with punitive actions. But the effect was the opposite - more and more people went to the forests.
At the end of September 1941, the partisans managed to seize the city of Užice without resistance, where the largest arms factory in Yugoslavia was located. For 67 days of the existence of the so-called. Uzhitskaya republic at the plant produced 21041 rifles and carbines "Mauser", 2, 7 million rifle and 90 thousand pistol cartridges, 18 thousand hand grenades, 38 thousand shells and mines. In addition, 2 tanks, 3 guns, 200 heavy machine guns and 3,000 light machine guns were repaired or manufactured. After the Germans became clear about the scale of the uprising and they managed to re-occupy the partisan land, it was already too late. By this time, the partisans already had more weapons at their disposal than all the puppet governments combined. After the fall of Uzice, the partisans retreated into the wooded mountains of Eastern Bosnia. In this region, back in April of the 41st, four divisions of the royal army abandoned their weapons and equipment before going home. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, all this lay for many days on the roadsides and in the fields, and the locals took what they wanted. People stockpiled piles of weapons at home, hoping to cash in on them later.
Guerrilla war
In 1938, Germany bought from Yugoslavia the annual production of bauxite, a raw material for the production of aluminum. Large deposits of bauxite are located in the Siroki Brieg area of Herzegovina. The most important railway from there to Germany passed through Eastern Bosnia, where the partisans who had retreated from Serbia gathered.
The Croatian army (NDH) and local self-defense (domobran) were too weak and poorly armed and could not protect the railway from partisan sabotage. The Chetniks were still neutral. In winter, the Germans and Croats (NDH) managed to push the partisans away from the railway for a while, but after the main forces left, the partisans returned. Ultimately, it was necessary to attract large forces and drive the partisans further into the mountains of Bosnia.
At this time, Tito, at the direction of Moscow, gathered and strengthened the insurgent forces. Large mobile connections were created. At the end of 1941, the first partisan brigade of 1199 fighters was formed, which, according to the communist tradition, was called proletarian. Tito became the commander-in-chief of the partisan army and the head of the Supreme Headquarters. At the same time, he remained the general secretary of the CPY. Thus, Tito concentrated in his hands all military and political leadership positions. He kept them until his death in 1980.
Operations "Weiss" and "Schwarz"
In the second half of 1942, the German special services took Tito seriously. After several major but unsuccessful operations against partisans threatening the transport arteries of the Germans, it became clear that the success of the rebels was based on three factors:
- mobility;
- support of the local population;
- a capable leader.
From the end of the 42nd, the partisan war, especially in the mountainous regions of western Yugoslavia, became more and more intense. Along with Tito's brigades, it was possible to form the first divisions - light infantry formations of up to 3,000 people.
After the loss of North Africa, the Germans were very afraid of the landing of Anglo-American forces in Greece, and the Wehrmacht was faced with the task of completely eliminating the partisans. At a conference at Hitler's headquarters "Wolf's Lair" near Rastenburg on December 18-19, 42, in which the foreign ministers of Germany, Italy and Croatia took part, it was decided to conduct large-scale operations in the winter of 42-43 with the participation of Italian and Croatian troops. They were planned to be held in Bosnia, where partisan regions with headquarters, warehouses, rear units and hospitals were located in the rugged mountainous areas.
Operation Weiss began in January 1943. It involved 14 German, Italian and Croatian divisions with a total strength of about 90,000 men, as well as about 3,000 Chetniks. The partisan forces included three corps with over 32,000 fighters. After the partisans were besieged from all sides, at the cost of heavy losses and with a large number of wounded, they managed to break out of the encirclement in its weakest place - on the Neretva River, held by the Chetniks.
After the breakthrough on the Neretva, about 16,000 partisans with 4,000 wounded retreated to the mountains of Montenegro.
At the end of the operation, the forces of the Axis countries were put in order and replenished to 127,000 people (70,000 Germans, including a large number of foreign legionnaires, 43,000 Italians, 2,000 Bulgarians, 8,000 Croats and 3,000 Chetniks). On May 15, 1943, an operation codenamed "Schwarz" began.
The forces involved in the operation were supported by a tank battalion, eight artillery regiments and twelve air squadrons (Geschwader - so in the text; I assume that this means Staffel - squadron. - Approx. Trans.).
The operation continued until June 15, and Tito, with a small force, again managed to slip out of the encirclement.
Hunt for Tito
During fierce battles on the Montenegrin river Sutjeska, scouts of the Lau group from the Brandenburg Special Forces division revealed the location of Tito and his headquarters and on June 4 received an order to destroy them. This failed, but this was the first time that Tito personally became the target of a strike. A few months later, the radio intelligence of the Brandenburg division, after decrypting the intercepted radiograms of the Supreme Headquarters of the partisans, reported that on November 12, 1943, Tito would take part in a political conference in the Bosnian town of Jajce. The divisional commander decided to eliminate Tito and his headquarters with a blow from two airborne battalions. Seven days later, Tito received a telegram from Moscow warning of an impending attack. From that moment on, the protection of Tito was entrusted to the guard battalion of the Supreme Headquarters. One company of the battalion was constantly at Tito, and the rest were nearby.
The command of the German troops shared the opinion that the destruction of Tito would significantly weaken the forces of the partisans, and planned to do this with the help of special forces. With this task, Kirchner's special detachment, also from the Brandenburg division, was sent to Bosnian Banja Luka. German commandos tried in vain to find the partisan leader and on February 15, 1944, they were returned to the division's location.
Then Hitler personally gave the order to destroy or capture Tito and entrusted this task to the commander of the German troops in the southeast, Maximilian von Weichs. At the same time, SS Hauptsturmführer Otto Skorzeny, the most famous German commando, famous for the spectacular operation to free Mussolini, arrived in the Croatian capital Zagreb.
If you believe Skorzeny's stories, Hitler personally gave him the order to start hunting Tito, but most likely the order was received from the SS chief Himmler or someone from the lower leaders.
Skorzeny drove 400 kilometers from Zagreb to Belgrade in a Mercedes, accompanied by only a driver and two soldiers. The Belgrade commandant did not believe that they had not seen a single partisan on the way.
During the interrogation of the defector-partisan Skorzeny, it became known that Tito was in one of the caves in the Drvar area under the protection of 6,000 soldiers, and additional forces could arrive at him in the shortest possible time. Skorzeny believed that the only way to capture Tito would be a raid by a small detachment disguised as partisans. He offered to pick up his best people from the training center in Friedenthal and "quietly and unnoticed" to neutralize Tito. General Rendulich considered this venture too fantastic, with an insignificant chance of success, and Skorzeny rejected the offer.
General situation at the beginning of 1944
After Italy's surrender on September 8, 1943, Italian troops in the Balkans were disarmed. At the same time, most of the weapons and equipment fell into the hands of the partisans. Since the coasts of Yugoslavia and Albania were left without protection after that and, together with Greece, could become a springboard for the landing of the Western allies, the German command was forced to respond quickly. Immediately after Italy's surrender, significant reinforcements were sent to the regions of threats, and thus 14 divisions were at the disposal of Field Marshal von Weichs within less than a month. Until the end of November, their number had increased to 20. The total number of German and allied forces was 700,000, of which 270,000 were in Yugoslavia. On October 29, 1943, within the framework of measures to stabilize the situation in the Balkans, Hitler issued an order on "Uniformity of the fight against communism in the southeastern region."
When it became clear that the Allied landings in Yugoslavia should not be expected until the spring of 44, von Weichs decided to use the winter of 43-44 to create a defensive belt on the coast and at the same time for offensive operations against the partisans. Despite some successes of operations "Ball lightning", "Snow storm", "Eagle", "Panther", "Vainakhtsman" ("Santa Claus" with German), the problem was not resolved. The partisans continued to control large areas through which important transport communications passed. As a result of the Wehrmacht's defeats on the Eastern Front, by the beginning of May 44, the Red Army reached the Romanian border. In addition, signs of an impending invasion by the Western Allies in France were multiplying.
No movement of troops in the mountains, where there were only goat paths, without specially trained horses was impossible. The advantage of the partisans was that they did not have large carts and provided themselves to a large extent at the expense of the local population.
Preparing an amphibious operation
In such a situation, von Weichs decided to suddenly invade the center of the "liberated region" in Bosnia with the aim of "disrupting the activities of the leadership of the partisan movement and further destroying the scattered remnants of the insurgents." In light of this, he issued a directive to the commander of the 2nd Panzer Army, Colonel General Lothar Rendulich. At a conference in Vrnjacka Banja on May 17th, this operation was codenamed Roesselsprung.
The uniform adapted for operations in the mountains had different colors on both sides: protective on one and white on the other. This provided camouflage both against the background of rocks and against the background of snow.
The preparation of the operation was carried out by the XV Mountain Corps of General Ernst von Leiser with headquarters in Knin. On May 19, corps headquarters presented a plan of operation, which was adopted with minor changes. It should have involved 20,000 people. The plan was as follows.
1. In western Bosnia, the communist leadership organized its own Headquarters - Tito's headquarters and allied military missions. There is an airfield and warehouses in the Bosanski Petrovac area. There are about 12,000 people there with heavy weapons, artillery and anti-tank weapons and several tanks. Roads are blocked by ditches, minefields and prepared ambush positions. Strong resistance is to be expected from the 1st Proletarian Division southeast of Mrkonjic-Grad and the 6th Division in the upper reaches of the Unac River.
2. Our aviation and airborne troops must destroy the enemy command posts and key positions in Drvar. The success of this operation should have a decisive influence on the outcome of hostilities on the Adriatic coast and in the rear. Accurate planning, decisive command and full exertion of all the soldiers involved will be essential.
3. The regimental group of the 7th SS division "Prince Eugen", supported by the assault panzer-grenadier battalion of the 2nd Panzer Army, must break through the enemy defenses east of the Sana River and advance north on a wide front between the Sana and Unac rivers. The Panzer-Grenadier Kampfgroup with a dowry of the tank company of the 202nd Tank Battalion should advance from Banja Luka and take the Key. The second regimental Kampfgroup of the 7th SS Division is to advance along the railway line from Jajce and capture Mlinista, where, among other things, the power plant is located. The 105th SS reconnaissance battalion, reinforced by a tank company (ten Italian tanks М15 / 42), must defeat the enemy on the Livanjsko pole, seize the partisan warehouses located there and attack through Bosansko Grahovo to Drvar to prevent the retreat of the "partisan bands", headquarters and allied missions to south. The reconnaissance battalion of the 369th Croatian division, subordinate to the 105th SS reconnaissance battalion, must advance through Livno to Glamocko Polje and cut off the enemy's escape routes to the southeast. Livno's defense must be ensured anyway.
4. On X-day, the 373rd Croatian division, together with battle group William, should advance from the Srb area to Drvar and on the same day at any cost to link up with the 500th SS paratrooper battalion. All guerrilla command structures and allied missions must be destroyed. After the capture of Drvar, the offensive continues in the direction of Bosanski Petrovac. Battle group Lapac advances through Kulen Vakuf to Vrtoce and takes control of the Bihac-Vrtoce road.
5. On X-Day, the 92nd Motorized Grenadier Regiment with the 54th Mountain Reconnaissance Battalion of the 1st Mountain Division and the 2nd Jaeger Battalion of the 1st Self-Defense Regiment of Bihac, subordinate to it, should attack Bosanski Petrovac from the southeast with the task the fastest possible capture of warehouses and airfield. The actions of this group are crucial. Also, part of the forces of this group is advancing on Drvar to join with the 500th SS paratrooper battalion and battle group "William" in order to cut off the enemy's retreat to the north.
6. The 1st regiment of the "Brandenburg" division with the Chetniks subordinate to it advances from Knin in the direction of Bosansko Grahovo to carry out sabotage on the Drvar-Prekaja line.
7. In the early morning of the X day, dive bombers strike at enemy positions, command posts and anti-aircraft weapons, after which the 500th battalion is parachuted and landed on Drvar and destroys Tito's main headquarters.
8, 9, 10. Supply, communication, etc.
11. On day "X" headquarters XV. The mountain building is located in Bihac.
Archive XV. The Mountain Corps preserved the order of the Commander of the Air Force in Croatia, General Walter Hagen, dated May 24, 1944. It lists the air forces assigned to Operation Horseback:
- 4th, 5th and 6th Squadrons II. groups of the 151st assault squadron (4., 5., 6./SG151) and the 13th separate squadron of the same squadron (13./SG151). The composition of only the 13th squadron is known - 6 Ju-87 aircraft;
- IV. Group of the 27th Fighter Squadron (IV./27JG) - 26 Messerschmitt Bf-109G;
- three squadrons (headquarters, 1st and 2nd) of the 7th night bomber group (Stab. 1., 2./NSGr.7). The composition of the group is mixed: Heinkel Not-46 (19 pieces), Henschel Hs-126 (11 pieces). The 3rd Squadron, with 19 Fiat CR-42 fighters, was formed in April 1944 and was officially recognized as operational only in August, but its CR-42 took part in Operation Horse Ride;
- headquarters and 2nd squadrons of the 12th short-range reconnaissance group with nine Bf 109G-6 and Bf 109G-8 (Stabs-, 2./NAGr. 12);
- short-range reconnaissance squadron "Croatia" (NASt. Kroatien) - 9 Henschel Hs-126B-2 and 4 Dornier Do17P-2.
The order also contains two more groups by hand:
- I group of the 2nd squadron of direct support of the troops "Immelman" (I./SG 2) - 32 Ju-87D. The base is indicated at the Pleso airfield in the Zagreb region. However, in the history of the squadron, such an airfield does not appear. From January to August 1944, she was based at the Husi airfield in Hungary and, apparently, was a reserve and could be involved in an operation if necessary;
- Group II of the 51st Fighter Squadron "Melders" (II./51 JG) - 40 Bf 109G fighters. In the period from May 27 to May 31, 44, she was transferred from Sofia to Serbian Nis. Most likely, she was also in reserve, but it is not excluded that she was used to blockade the area of Operation Knight's Ride.
The aviation was supposed to attack targets in the Drvar and Bosanski Petrovac areas in the early morning of May 25 of the 44th and further support the offensive of ground forces on Drvar. In total, General Hagen allocated 222 vehicles for the operation.
The following air forces were intended for landing, towing amphibious gliders and further supply of troops:
- Group III of the 1st Airborne Squadron (III./LLG 1), transferred from Nancy. The group included 17 "bundles" (airplane + glider). Two squadrons (7th and 8th) were equipped with Hs-126 tugs and DFS-230 gliders, and 9th with Heinkel He-111 tugs and Gotha Go-242 gliders;
- 4th squadron of the II group (4. II./LLG 1) of the same squadron with eight Ju-87 and eight DFS-230. She was transferred from Strasbourg to the Luchko airfield near Zagreb. In one of the documents it is noted that the 5th and 6th squadrons of II were also in Luchko. groups. The surviving German aerial photograph of the airfield shows 41 landing gliders. This could be a confirmation that more than one squadron was stationed at Luchko;
- Group II of the 4th transport squadron (II./TG 4) with 37 Junkers Ju-52 transport aircraft.
The Cossacks were mostly dressed in Soviet uniforms and armed with Soviet weapons. There was one Cossack battalion in Yugoslavia - the “Alexander” battalion, named after its commander, Captain Alexander. The battalion included two companies: "white", made up of people from the Ukraine and Belarus, and "black", from people from the Caucasus. Their Soviet weapons, uniforms and Russian language often misled the partisans.
The soldiers of the special forces division were trained to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage. They could impersonate partisans and therefore were especially dangerous. Only a small number of them did not allow them to particularly influence the course of the war with the partisans.
Operational plans of the 500th SS airborne battalion
Based on the information available to German intelligence and aerial photography by the headquarters of the 2nd Panzer Army under the leadership of Colonel von Warnbüller, a detailed plan was developed for the attack of the 500th SS Airborne Battalion (reinforced by two companies of the 1st Parachute Regiment of the 1st Parachute - airborne division). Due to the lack of aircraft, the simultaneous landing of all forces was impossible. Therefore, two waves of parachute and landing (from amphibious gliders) landing were planned. According to the plan, 654 paratroopers landed in Drvar in the first wave. Of these, 314 - with parachutes, from Ju-52 aircraft, the remaining 340 - from DFS-230 and Do-242 gliders. The landing force was divided into six groups with the following tasks:
- Combat group "Panther" (110 people in six subgroups) must capture the "citadel". The battalion commander, SS Hauptsturmführer Kurt Rybka, in his order described the area from the old market to Sobica Glavica as the most likely location for Tito and his headquarters. In aerial photographs, this area is marked in white and labeled as “citadel”;
- the group "Greifer" (grabbing, 40 people in three subgroups) must capture or destroy representatives of the British military mission;
- group "Stuermer" (attack aircraft, 50 people in two subgroups) must capture or destroy representatives of the Soviet military mission;
- the "Brecher" group (breaking, 50 people in four subgroups) must capture or destroy representatives of the American military mission;
- the group "Draufgaenger" (daredevils, 70 people in three subgroups) must capture the central intersection and the radio station. 20 people in this group were communications specialists, encryptors and translators. Their task was to capture partisan ciphers;
- the group "Beisser" (biting, 20 people) must seize and search the buildings in Jaruge.
Parachutists were divided into the following groups with the following tasks:
- the group "Blau" (blue, 100 people in three subgroups) takes control of the approaches to Drvar from the side of Mokronoge and Shipovlyan and together with the group "green" cuts off the escape routes of the partisans in these directions;
- the group "Gruen" (green, 95 people in four subgroups) was supposed to occupy the northeastern part of Drvar and the bridge over Unac and together with the group "blue" to hold these positions;
- the group "Rot" (red, reserve of the battalion commander, 85 people in three subgroups) was to take positions in Shobić-Glavica ("citadel") and establish contact with the groups "green", "blue", "panther" and "attack aircraft”.
The battalion command with a reserve of 19 people landed together with the Reds group.
The second wave of 171 paratroopers was to take off from the Zaluzani airfield at the command of the battalion commander and parachute to the south-west of Shobić-Glavits, unless other orders followed.
Position NOAU
The high headquarters of the NOAU was located in a cave at the foot of the Gradine mountain northeast of the Mandica Most bridge over the Unac river.
The Security Battalion of the Supreme Headquarters was responsible for the direct protection of the Supreme Headquarters, foreign military missions and other headquarters institutions. It included four companies, a cavalry squadron and a company of anti-aircraft machine guns - only 400 people. In the village of Trninicha - Breg, there was a tank platoon of the 1st Proletarian Corps, which had three captured Italian tanks (two L6 / 40 and one CV L3) and an AV-41 armored car. In Drvar itself there were numerous institutions of the Supreme Headquarters, local authorities and administrations of the “liberated territory”. There was also a hospital, various warehouses, training units, a theater, a printing house, etc.
In the village of Shipovlyany, 2 kilometers from Drvar, there was an officer's school (127 cadets). In total, there were about 1000 armed fighters in Drvar and its immediate environs.
In the area of Drvar, in the zone of the future operation "Horse Ride", large partisan formations were located:
- 1st proletarian corps - 1st and 6th divisions;
- parts of the 5th assault corps - the 4th and part of the 39th divisions, partisan detachments: Livansko-Duvansky, Glamochsky and Drvarsko-Petrovatsky;
- parts of the 8th corps - the 9th division and the Grahovsko-Peuljski partisan detachment.
The NOAJ command, based on previous experience, assumed that the German offensive would develop along the roads. Therefore, the forces of the 1st Proletarian and 5th corps blocked the path to Drvar.
The forces of the 1st Proletarian Division were located as follows:
- The 1st Proletarian Brigade blocked the tracks on Mlinishte;
- 13th brigade "Rade Koncar" - on the Key.
Both brigades sent out patrols on communications between Bugojno and Mrkonich-Grad.
The 3rd Krainskaya Proletarian Brigade blocked the Livno - Glamoch tracks.
Forces of the 6th Likskaya Proletarian Division "Nikola Tesla" performed the following tasks:
1st brigade blocked the direction to Martin Brod;
- 2nd brigade - Srb - Drvar;
- 3rd brigade - Gracac - Resanovci - Drvar.
Their scouts watched the Bihac-Lapac-Knin roads.
The 4th "Krainskaya" division included three brigades, but only two took part in the battles for Drvar: the 6th and 8th. Both covered the direction to Bosanska Petrovac: 6th - from Bihac, and 8th - from Bosanska Krupa.
The 9th Dalmatian division also included three brigades - the 3rd, 4th and 13th assault brigades. They defended the following areas:
- 3rd brigade - Knin - Bosansko Grahovo;
- 4th - Vrlika - Crni Lug;
- 13th - Livno - Bosansko Grahovo.
Specifications:
• Engine power: 3 × 725 hp.
• Maximum speed: 275 km / h
• Practical range: 1300 km
• Empty weight: 5750 kg
• Normal takeoff weight: 10500 kg
• Crew: 2-3 people.
• Passenger capacity: 20 people. (or 13 paratroopers with full armament).
• Length: 18, 9 m.
• Wingspan: 29, 3 m.
• Height: 5.55 m.
Specifications:
- maximum speed: 280 km / h;
- towing speed: 180 km / h;
- empty weight: 680 kg;
- maximum weight: 2100 kg;
- crew: 1 pilot;
- passenger capacity: 8 paratroopers;
- armament: up to 3 machine guns cal. 7.92 mm.
The end follows …
