Operation Weiss (German: Unternehmen Weiß), also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive (Serbo-Croatian: Četvrta neprijateljska ofenziva/ofanziva), was a major Axis offensive launched against the Yugoslav Partisans throughout occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. It was one of the most significant confrontations of World War II in Yugoslavia. The offensive took place in early 1943, between 20 January and mid-to-late March. The Axis operation prompted the Partisan Supreme Command to enact its plans to drive toward eastern Herzegovina, Sandžak and Montenegro.
In order to do this, Tito formed the so-called Main Operational Group, which eventually succeeded in forcing its way across the Neretva in mid-March 1943, after a series of battles with various hostile formations. Other Partisan formations, the 1st Croatian and 1st Bosnian Corps, managed to evade Axis blows and, despite significant losses, reclaim most of the territory they had held before the beginning of the operation. Since its final stage took place on the Neretva River, the operation was known in Yugoslavia as the Battle of the Neretva (Bitka na Neretvi). This stage is also known as the Battle for the Wounded (Bitka za ranjenike).
Background
In late 1942, with the Axis situation in North Africa deteriorating, the German high command became concerned about the possibility of an Allied landing in the Balkans. In such an event, resistance forces in Yugoslavia would be likely to interfere with German defensive operations as well as their economic exploitation of natural resources, including timber, copper and bauxite. As a result, on 16 December 1942 Adolf Hitler ordered the Armed Forces Commander in Southeast Europe, Generaloberst Alexander Löhr, to crush the resistance in Yugoslavia. In a meeting of 18–19 December, the General Staff of the Wehrmacht decided on the destruction of the Bihać Republic. On 8 January Löhr and Mario Roatta, commander of the 2nd Italian Army, met in Zagreb and devised a detailed plan.
Operation
The operation was planned to be carried out in three stages:
- Weiss 1 aimed at destroying Partisan-held areas Lika, Kordun, Banija, Cazinska Krajina and Grmeč. It started on 20 January 1943 and lasted until 25 February.
- Weiss 2 focused on Partisans in the southeast of the Bihać Republic: Drvar, Glamoč, Livno, Jajce and Ključ.
- Weiss 3 was meant to be executed in eastern Herzegovina and Montenegro, targeting mostly the Royalist Chetniks. This phase was cancelled in early February 1943.
The Germans aimed to destroy the central command of the Partisan movement, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia as well as the bulk of the Partisan units around the Supreme Headquarters. The Axis mustered ten divisions equaling 90,000 troops and 12 air squadrons.
Chetnik auxiliaries and units consisting of between 12,000 and 15,000 men also took part and worked closely with the Italians. The operation coincided with the so-called "March on Bosnia", a plan that called for the use of Chetniks from Lika, northern Bosnia, northern Dalmatia, Herzegovina and Montenegro in order to destroy the Partisan-held territory there. The "March on Bosnia" also called for the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Sandžak. According to the Germans, the Chetniks forces comprised 150,000 men in February 1943 (up from 100,000 in August 1942). The Partisans, on the other hand, numbered less than a third of that figure. On 2 January Draža Mihailović reported his plan to the Chetniks for the destruction of the Partisans' Bihać Republic in order to "liberate this Serb territory from Communist terror". On the 21st he wrote: "Indeed, the question of Bosnia is most important. In western Bosnia and Lika we are currently making the final preparations for the definitive destruction of the Communists, who are preventing us from destroying Pavelić's Croatia"."
The orders for the operation called for extreme severity towards captured Partisans and the civilian population. The former were to be shot after capture, and civilian populations deemed hostile were to be deported to transit camps. Villages in the combat area were to be razed to the ground. The commanders on the ground were prohibited from punishing their subordinates for excessive harshness.
Weiss 1
According to the plan, four German divisions (7th SS Volunteer Mountain, 369th, 714th and 717th) were to attack from the arc stretching from Karlovac across Glina, Kostajnica, Bosanski Novi and Sanski Most towards the line Bihać--Petrovac. Three Italian divisions ("Lombardia", "Re" and "Sassari") were to advance on their right wing, through Lika and northern Dalmatia. According to the plan, the 7th SS and 717th Divisions, deployed on the extreme ends of the arc, were to race into the enemy rear with motorized battle groups and meet at Vrtoče on the second day of the operation. The reinforced 369th and 714th Division were to meet them and close the circle around the bulk of the Partisan forces in the area of the Grmeč mountain. In the final stage, three divisions were supposed to destroy the encircled Partisans, and to deport the population to prevent the possibility of the revival of guerrilla activity in the area.
German divisions were reinforced with the 202nd Tank Battalion and 2nd and 3rd Home Guard Mountain Brigade. Italian divisions used the Lika, Dalmatia and Herzegovina Chetnik auxiliaries, three Ustasha (31st, 32nd and 34th) and one (2nd Jäger) Home Guard battalions. On 8 January the 2nd and 5th Krajina Brigades moved to Kozara and launched a series of attacks on the NDH garrisons and posts in Lijevče polje. Since these activities coincided with the attacks of the 1st Proletarian Division in central Bosnia, Gen. Lüters decided to redeploy the 714th division to the defense of the Banja Luka area. As the 718th Division was already engaged in fighting the Partisans in central and eastern Bosnia, Lüters reinforced the 369th Division with one regimental combat group of the 187th Reserve Division.
Partisan defense
The attacks from all directions began on 20 January, but none of the divisions succeeded in keeping the original schedule. The Axis forces attacked the territory controlled by the Partisan 1st Croatian and 1st Bosnian Corps—the areas of Banija, Kordun, Lika and western Bosnia. On the Karlovac-Bihać axis, four Partisan brigades were defending against the attack of the 7th SS Division: 4th and 15th Brigades of the 8th Kordun Division and 6th and 14th Littoral-Gorski Kotar Brigades. The 7th Banija Division was successful in containing the advance of the 369th Division from Glina and Kostajnica towards Cazin and Bosanska Krupa. The 6th Lika Division successfully held the line Plitvička Jezera–Gračac against Italian attacks.
The 717th Division encountered difficulties while advancing on Bosanski Petrovac from Sanski Most. The Division launched its attack on 20 January with the 749th Regiment and elements of the 202nd Tank Battalion. Despite air support, it was halted by the 1st Krajina and one battalion of the 7th Krajina Brigade some 10 km south of Sanski Most. The division's 737th Regiment was in reserve, standing ready to exploit a breakthrough, but the 749th Regiment failed to make one. Over the following days both sides stepped up their efforts, building up strength at the key point; the Partisans remained successful in blocking German attacks, while launching fierce night counterattacks. The 717th Division tried a diversionary attack from Sanski Most westwards with the 2nd Mountain Home Guard Brigade. On 25 January this battle group of two Home Guard battalions and one German company was attacked by the 1st Battalion of the 6th and the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Krajina Brigade, and was routed with heavy losses. The Partisans seized weaponry including 40 light and 10 heavy machine guns and four mountain and one anti-tank cannons. Gen. Dippold, commander of the 717th Division, reported to Gen. Lüters that on 26 January the 2nd Home Guard Brigade was completely shattered, and that the remnants of the 2nd and 4th battalions were absorbed into 749th Grenadier Regiment. A more ambitious westward attack was launched on 27 January with the reinforced 737th Regiment, which reached Benakovac before being halted by the 6th Krajina Brigade. In the meantime, the 2nd and 5th Krajina Brigades arrived from Kozara as reinforcements, and the 737th Regiment suddenly found itself in a difficult situation. Seeing no alternative, the regiment set up an all-around defense; it remained cut off and under attack until 3 February.
Simultaneously, the 717th Division resumed the attack on the main enemy forces towards Ključ and Bosanski Petrovac. The attack was scheduled to begin in the early hours of 28 January, but battalions of the 1st Krajina Brigade succeeded in surprising the Germans during the night with a preventive attack at their starting positions, scattering their units. The next day the Germans launched an attack led by tanks with the intention of collecting weapons and stragglers, but Partisan anti-tank fire destroyed the first tank, killing the commander of the 202nd Tank Battalion, Lt. Col. von Geyso.
Attack on Grmeč
The Partisan defense line, which had withstood most of the German attacks to that point, was finally compromised by the advance of the 7th SS Division. This unit, with the help of two Italian divisions on the right flank, steadily pushed back the four Partisan brigades, capturing Slunj on 24 January and Rakovica on the 27th. As a result, Bihać came under threat and had to be evacuated, and Germans entered it on 29 January without a fight. This turn of events also compromised the position of the 7th Partisan Division in the Banija region. It was ordered to withdraw and occupy a new line in front of the 7th SS Division, covering the Bihać-Petrovac axis. Thousands of refugees left Banija together with the Partisan units, suffering from air attacks, hunger, frost and disease along the way.
The 7th SS Division continued to push towards Petrovac, against Partisan defenses consisting mainly of the 7th Banija Division. It took another ten days to cover those 50 km. The 7th SS Division reached Petrovac on 7 February, and on 9 February finally managed to link up with the 717th Division, thereby fulfilling the task originally scheduled for the second day of the operation. The 369th Division and the 3rd Home Guard Mountain Brigade, facing only Partisan rearguards, reached Bosanska Krupa on 30 January and relieved the encircled 737th Regiment at Benakovac a few days later. The 369th joined with the 7th SS near Bihać on 4 February. With this, the broader area of Grmeč was encircled by three German divisions. On 6 February, after they had received reinforcements, the 369th, 187th and 717th Division started their attack on Grmeč. The 2nd and 5th Krajina Brigades were caught in the encirclement, along with some 15,000 inhabitants. On 10 February the brigades made the decision to break out of the encirclement, and succeeded in opening the way over the Krupa-Sanski Most road toward Potkalinje. The inhabitants followed the brigades, but a large number (up to 2,000) succumbed to the freezing weather. Some 400 remaining civilians were killed by the Germans.
According to a German report from 18 February for Weiss 1, the 7th SS Division suffered losses of 149 dead, 222 wounded and 68 missing, and the 717th Division's casualties were 118 dead, 290 wounded and 20 missing. The same report puts the Partisan losses at 6,561 dead, but adds that only 286 rifles were captured. This drastic imbalance between the figures suggests that those killed were mainly civilians.
Partisan Offensive
During the first half of 1942 the Partisans were expelled from the eastern parts of Yugoslavia, and the Axis powers largely succeeded in pacifying these areas. The Partisans established a stronghold in the western parts of the country, but returning to the east remained one of their main objectives. Localization of guerrilla activity enabled the Germans to leave the control of pacified areas to second-tier forces, and to concentrate their best units in the endangered areas. The 714th, 717th and 7th SS Divisions (all in west Bosnia in January 1943) were all originally deployed in Serbia. Tito started with the plans for a march to the east in early autumn 1942. The original idea was to start the large movement in the spring, but signs of an imminent Axis offensive in January 1943 made Tito order the commencement of the operation without delay.
The operation was to be carried out in three stages: the first was an advance to Neretva, the second was from Neretva to Drina, and the third from Drina to the river Lim, and further to the south-east. The main intention was to revive Partisan presence and activities in these areas. On 8 February in Tomislavgrad, Tito presented the plan for the first stage in a conference with the staffs of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Division, and issued the necessary orders and directives.