“The partisan war in Yugoslavia was extremely harsh and bloody for both sides. To understand this, one only needs to take a look at the forces involved in each cleansing operation. ‘The military operations… have lost the character of guerrilla warfare,’ said Field Marshal von Weichs, the Commander of the Southeast, on 1/11/43.

Specifically, for ‘Fall Weiss’ alone, the Axis involved 90,000 men from 10 divisions and 12 aviation regiments. In addition, 12 to 15 thousand Chetniks were added to ‘liberate Serbian land from communist terrorism.'”

The German divisions, the 7th Mountain SS “Prince Eugen,” the 714th and 717th (formerly Jäger) along with the Croatian 369th and the Italian “Lombardia,” “Re,” “Sassari,” attacked from different points with Objective goal to encircle the 11 partisan divisions, numbering approximately 45,000. The partisans resisted determinedly and successfully carried out nighttime counterattacks, fearing enemy air raids. On January 25, in Sanski Most, two partisan units dissolved a part of the 717th, mainly consisting of Croatian Ustaše, seizing, among other things, 10 machine guns and 5 artillery pieces. New attacks on January 28 and 29 had similar outcomes, and notably, the commander of the 202nd Armor Division was killed.

Ultimately, the 7th SS overcame the defenses of the Yugoslav communist partisans and continued its advance at a slow but steady pace until Petrovac, where the pincers closed. In the attack on Gornji Vakuf, partisans and civilians who chose to exit suffered tremendous losses. Up to that point, the Germans had 877 dead, wounded, and missing, while the losses of the Croats and Italians were smaller. The partisans had multiple casualties, over 4,000 dead, as the number of 6,561 given by the Germans includes civilians or sympathizers.

Upon observing the critical situation, Tito launched his counteroffensive on February 9 to 10 against the other allies of the Germans. The 2nd “Proletarian Brigade” easily defeated the Croatian forces in Posušje and Imotski, and on the 15th, it annihilated the 1st Regiment of the Italian Murchison Brigade, which had 406 dead and captives, including their commander and all the equipment, among which were 13 tanks. The partisans of the 3rd Brigade overcame the Italians again on their second attempt at Prozor, where the Italians suffered 340 dead and captives, and another 190 on February 20. With the fall of Jablanica, they captured another 270 and executed the commander Malandroni after claiming his participation in the Spanish Civil War against the Republicans. Only the appearance of German reinforcements stabilized the front and drove the Yugoslavs from several points. With the entry of the 718th Jäger, the Germans engaged in a bloody series of clashes for 10 days, in which they completely prevailed, forcing the commander of the 1st Proletarian Division, who suffered severe bleeding, to report to Tito the failure and the risk of collapse.

With the Italian Murchison Brigade dissolved (2,300 casualties) and morale at its lowest, the dispatch of 3,000 Chetniks for the defense of the city of Konjic became imperative. Their presence proved genuinely necessary. The partisans of the 3rd Brigade launched a spirited attack on February 22, 23, and 24 but were repelled, a fact recognized by the Germans who acknowledged the significant “assistance of the brave Chetniks.” However, at that moment, Tito watched with horror as the 717th appeared in Prozor, seeking the collapse of the entire western front.

With objective goal to occupy Livno, the Germans initiated Operation “White 2” and relentlessly pressured the partisans amid a harsh winter. The latter continually retreated, attempting to survive by abandoning cities one after another, and Livno fell on March 5. Meanwhile, Tito and his headquarters found themselves in an incredibly precarious position as they had no way out. On one hand, the Germans seemed unstoppable in the mountain passes of Prozor; on the other, attacks on Konjic had fallen upon the resilient Chetniks and had come to a standstill. Eventually, Tito took charge of the situation. He ordered a change in the attack on the advancing Germans at Prozor. On March 2, incredible scenes unfolded on the slopes of Mount Rantoussa. Under extremely adverse conditions and heavy losses, the partisans forced the Germans to retreat. Partisan units were left with only 8 men, and dozens were frostbitten, but the pressure didn’t cease. Over the next two days, they captured Lieutenant General Strecker, leading to the “March negotiations.”

Then, to everyone’s surprise, Tito makes another 180-degree turn and attacks Jablanica once again, catching the Chetniks off guard. The plan was to “take a breath” on one side and then launch another attack on the other side as quickly as possible. All the captured heavy equipment and tanks were thrown into the Neretva River. Once again, Tito relied on deception. He blew up all the bridges over the river, giving the impression that he would retreat north as soon as the German aerial forces witnessed the destruction, which indeed happened. The Germans hastily repaired the bridges, surprised the few Chetniks, and escaped under the continuous bombing by the Luftwaffe, moving through mountainous and wooded passages.

The result was a strategic victory for Josip Broz Tito, who managed to escape from the deadly trap. However, the price was tremendous. Approximately 12,500 partisans were dead, another 2,506 were captured, and the number of wounded was unknown. In contrast, the tactically victorious Axis suffered a total of 6,500 to 8,500 casualties, including dead, wounded, and missing. Among them were approximately 1,900 to 2,400 Germans, around 2,600 Italians, 600 Croats, and 2,000 to 3,000 Chetniks.

Sources

«German Antiguerrilla Operations in the Balkans (1941-1944)», publ. Department of the Army, August 1954.

http://bandenkampf.blogspot.com/

https://web.archive.org/web/20200108054046/http://znaci.net/00001/148.htm

https://znaci.org/zb/4_4_10.htm