Operation Rösselsprung (1944)

This article is about a military operation in Yugoslavia. For the Barents Sea attack, see convoy PQ-17.

Raid on Drvar
Part of the Yugoslav Front of World War II
Date May 25 – July 3, 1944 Location Near Drvar, Bosnia Result Partisan victory
Belligerents
Axis: Germany NDH Monarchist: Chetniks	Communist allies: Partisans
Commanders and leaders
Lothar Rendulic Kurt Rybka Draža Mihailović	Josip Broz Tito
Strength
some 3,500 German troops, several thousand collaborationist troops
One infantry brigade (at the LZ)
Casualties and losses
Partisan claims: 788 killed 881 wounded 50 missing German claims: 789 killed 929 wounded 57 missing
Partisan claims: 500 killed 1,000 wounded 2,000 civilian casualties German claims: approximately 6,000 civilians and soldiers killed

Template:Fix bunching The Raid on Drvar (Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Serbo-Croatian: Desant na Drvar), codenamed Operation Rösselsprung (German for "knight's move"), was an attack by the Waffen-SS and the Luftwaffe that aimed to disrupt the command structure of the Yugoslav Partisans by eliminating their Supreme Headquarters, and capturing their commander, Marshal Josip Broz Tito. The offensive took place in April and May, 1944.

The operation is generally known as the Seventh anti-Partisan Offensive, or the Seventh Enemy Offensive (Sedma neprijateljska ofenziva/ofanziva) in Yugoslav sources. Despite the name, "Raid on Drvar", the offensive was much wider than the airborne raid on the HQ, as it also included a combined Axis attack on Partisan positions in Bosnia designed to take advantage of the command disruption. This attack included local collaborationist forces, the Independent State of Croatia and the Chetnik movement.

Background

The Partisan General Staff headquarters were in the hills near Drvar, Bosnia at the time (in today's Bosnia and Herzegovina). Representatives of the Allies were also present. Randolph Churchill (son of Winston Churchill) and Evelyn Waugh were at Tito's headquarters at the time of the attack.

Otto Skorzeny was involved in planning of the operation and was supposed to command it but gave up on it after his visit to Zagreb where he realized that the operation's secrecy was compromised. In addition to their own intricate network, the Partisans were provided with intelligence by the British and knew that the Axis would launch an offensive operation around Tito's birthday, but they did not know that it was to be an airborne assault. Orders received by the Partisan units, 48 hours before the air raid commenced, were to block all roads leading from Bosanski Petrovac and Ključ to Drvar and to stall or slow any Axis movement coming from those areas. In addition, strong Partisan formations were positioned southeast of Drvar. Whole Partisan brigades and divisions were moved from northwestern Krajina to Ključ and Bosanski Petrovac. Only one Partisan company of Tito's Escort Battalion was left defending the cave.

Operation

At 5:00am the parachute and glider German SS and paratroopers fought their way to Tito's cave HQ and exchanged heavy gunfire resulting in numerous casualties on both sides. In addition, Chetnik formations under Draža Mihailović and the Croatian Ustaše flocked to the firefight in support of the Germans, also attempting to capture Marshal Tito. By the time German forces had penetrated to the cave, however, Tito had already fled the scene and escaped: a train was waiting for him that took him to Jajce town.

There were fewer than 100 Partisans in the town when the operation started. Most of the Partisan troops were dispersed in the surrounding area. The students of the Partisan Officer's School, around 60 of them, joined in a fight, sometimes taking arms from fallen German troops, prevented a flanking attempt by the German paratroopers. This proved to be crucial for saving the foreign guests (giving them more time for escape) that were hosted by Tito. When elements of the Partisan 6th Lika Division arrived at the battlefield, the air raid was already a disaster and the brigade was ordered to wipe out the remaining Axis troops in the area and to evacuate the wounded and civilians, since it was already known that the Axis tanks and infantry were approaching Drvar from north west.

It would appear that Tito and his staff were prepared for a quick escape. The commandos were only able to retrieve Tito’s Marshal's uniform, which was later displayed in Vienna. After fierce fighting in and around the village cemetery, the Germans were able to link up with mountain troops. By that time, Tito, his British guests and Partisan staff were fêted aboard the British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Blackmore and her captain Lt. Carson, RN.

Aftermath

According to a German report XV. Gebirgs-Korps suffered 213 killed, 881 wounded, and 51 missing. The same reports, claimed that 6,000 Partisans were killed. In addition to that, 500th SS Parachute Bataillon was virtually annihilated, suffering losses of some 71 per cent of its effecitves (576 KIA, 48 WIA) The Partisans denied suffering such losses and reported they lost around 500 men and had over 1,000 wounded, mainly due to heavy bombing by the Luftwaffe. Moreover, Partisan reports claimed over 2,000 civilians were killed by German troops around Drvar, that were likely counted among the alleged 6,000 dead fighters reported by the SS.

Order of battle

Allied order of battle

Yugoslav Partisans

• 6th Lika Division (around 3,500 men)
• Tito Escort Battalion
• Partisan Officer School cadets
• Balkan Air Force

(among other formations)

Axis order of battle

Germany

• Wehrmacht
  • Regimental Kampfgruppe, 373rd (Croatian) Infantry Division Tiger-Division
  • reinforced Reconnaissance Battalion, 373rd (Croatian) Infantry Division Tiger-Division
  • reinforced Reconnaissance Battalion, 369th (Croatian) Infantry Division Devil's-Division
  • 1st Regiment, Brandenburg Division (without 3rd Battalion)
  • Platoon Kampfgruppe, Brandenburg Division
  • 92nd Grenadier Regiment (motorized)
  • 54th Mountain Reconnaissance Battalion
  • 2nd Armored Assault Battalion

• Schutzstaffel (SS)
  • 500th SS Parachute Battalion
    • Kampfgruppe of the 1st Parachute Regiment, 1st Airborne Division
    • Sonderkommando (special unit) Zawadil
  • Regimental Kampfgruppe, 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen
  • 13th SS Volunteer Mountain Regiment Artur Phleps, 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen
  • 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Reconnaissance Battalion (motorized), 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen
  • 105th SS Reconnaissance Battalion

• Luftwaffe
  • approximately 100 aircraft

Independent State of Croatia

• 1st Home Guard Regiment, 2nd Home Guard Jäger Brigade

Chetniks

• Bosnian Krajiški Chetnik Corps
• 1st Bosnian Corps 'Gavrilo Princip'
• 501st Dinarski Chetnik Corps
• 502nd Dinarski Chetnik Corps

See also

• Yugoslav Partisans
• Yugoslav Front
• Croatian Armed Forces (NDH)
• Seven anti-Partisan offensives
• Lothar Rendulic
• Resistance during World War II
• Anti-partisan operations in World War II

Sources

• Eyre, Wayne, Lt.Col., (Canadian Army), Operation RÖSSELSPRUNG and The Elimination of Tito, May 25, 1944: A Failure in Planning and Intelligence Support, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, Volume 19, Number 2, June 2006 , pp. 343–376(34), Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Further reading

• Eyre, Wayne D., Lt.Col., (Canadian Army), OPERATION RÖSSELSPRUNG AND THE ELIMINATION OF TITO, 25 MAY 1944: A FAILURE IN PLANNING AND INTELLIGENCE SUPPORT, USMC COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE, MCCDC, QUANTICO, VA, 2002

External links

• Operation ROSSELSPRUNG - Axis - Order of Battle