Partisans, Vidoški grad and Stećci.
May 17, 2021 15:38:30 GMT
Post by onlyMark on May 17, 2021 15:38:30 GMT
The Partisan Army of the former Yugoslavia, led by Josip Broz Tito, in WWII faced a ruinous time in the middle of 1943.
In what is now southern Bosnia, in the Sutjeska Valley (now a National Park) what was regarded as the most effective resistance movement in Europe became encircled by the Axis forces of Germany and Italy (with a sprinkling of Bulgarian and Croatian forces).
With the end of the North Africa campaign to the loss of the Axis, Hitler turned his attention to where he though the Allies would strike next - the Balkans. He wanted to secure this valuable area by defeating all resistance, which came in the form of the Partisans. They’d been a thorn in his side for some time and he wanted to cut off its head, that being Tito, his command and the bulk of their forces.
Germany instigated an offensive, named Case White, in early 1943 to do this, but it ultimately they failed in their strategic goals.
Then Case Black came in to play, the same objective, but with a new plan. And it nearly worked.
The Axis manoeuvred their way to pinning and encircling Tito, his Commanders, the Main Operational Group and his central Hospital. There were - “22,148 soldiers in 16 brigades. There were 8,925 Partisans from Croatia (5,195 of those from Dalmatia), 8,293 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1,492 from Serbia (including Vojvodina and Kosovo) and 3,337 from Montenegro. By ethnicity 11,851 were Serbs, 5,220 Croats, 3,295 Montenegrins and 866 Muslims.”
Not forgetting 3,000 wounded and ill (from lack of food, medical supplies and typhoid) within the ‘Central Hospital’.
Against the Axis forces of around 127,000.
Between the 10th and 15th June 1943 the Partisans managed to force their way out of the encirclement. But three Brigades and the majority of the Central Hospital ill and wounded were unable to do so and were captured.
“Following Hitler's instructions, German commander in chief Generaloberst Alexander Löhr ordered their annihilation, including the wounded and the unarmed medical personnel.”
In total 7,543 were killed, over a third of the Partisans forces. For example -
“The report of the 1st Mountain Division says: "Captured: 498, of which 411 were shot." Most of the immobile wounded (about 700 of them) were hidden by partisans, with nurses. However, the Germans, searching the terrain with search dogs, killed them almost to the last, together with the nurses.”
“At the post-war trial, generals Alexander Löhr, Fritz Neidholdt and Josef Kübler and at that time Standartenführer August Schmidhuber were charged with war crimes during the battle. They were sentenced to death and executed in 1947.”
Despite their losses the Partisans regrouped, reformed and saw this as a turning point in the war.
There are numerous monuments to them scattered in important sites around Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is one of the major ones due to the significance of the battle fought.
It is approx 19m high and 25m wide, made out of white/grey concrete. It was supposed to be a lot bigger but that design became too costly. Over the years since it was opened in 1971 parts have been vandalised and destroyed during the Bosnian War, for what reason I have no idea when those fighting then owe their existence to the Partisan movement.
In 1973 a film was released starring Richard Burton about the battle -
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sutjeska_(film)
Standing on a hillside overlooking the valley it was built by youth groups and volunteers mainly by hand with little machinery and took two years to complete (the photos are from Mrs M’s iPad).
Just to mention there are 267 steps to the monument and a further fifty eight to the top part. Yes, I counted them on the way down -
Now a nice peaceful valley -
A little before the top -
Just about there with the steps leading further on -
The names of all the Brigades that took part in the fighting at the top of the last set of steps -
The subsequent film -
Moving on to the next part but chronologically this comes after the main report. There were three places we visited on the journey there and back. This report is of those three.
In what is now southern Bosnia, in the Sutjeska Valley (now a National Park) what was regarded as the most effective resistance movement in Europe became encircled by the Axis forces of Germany and Italy (with a sprinkling of Bulgarian and Croatian forces).
With the end of the North Africa campaign to the loss of the Axis, Hitler turned his attention to where he though the Allies would strike next - the Balkans. He wanted to secure this valuable area by defeating all resistance, which came in the form of the Partisans. They’d been a thorn in his side for some time and he wanted to cut off its head, that being Tito, his command and the bulk of their forces.
Germany instigated an offensive, named Case White, in early 1943 to do this, but it ultimately they failed in their strategic goals.
Then Case Black came in to play, the same objective, but with a new plan. And it nearly worked.
The Axis manoeuvred their way to pinning and encircling Tito, his Commanders, the Main Operational Group and his central Hospital. There were - “22,148 soldiers in 16 brigades. There were 8,925 Partisans from Croatia (5,195 of those from Dalmatia), 8,293 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1,492 from Serbia (including Vojvodina and Kosovo) and 3,337 from Montenegro. By ethnicity 11,851 were Serbs, 5,220 Croats, 3,295 Montenegrins and 866 Muslims.”
Not forgetting 3,000 wounded and ill (from lack of food, medical supplies and typhoid) within the ‘Central Hospital’.
Against the Axis forces of around 127,000.
Between the 10th and 15th June 1943 the Partisans managed to force their way out of the encirclement. But three Brigades and the majority of the Central Hospital ill and wounded were unable to do so and were captured.
“Following Hitler's instructions, German commander in chief Generaloberst Alexander Löhr ordered their annihilation, including the wounded and the unarmed medical personnel.”
In total 7,543 were killed, over a third of the Partisans forces. For example -
“The report of the 1st Mountain Division says: "Captured: 498, of which 411 were shot." Most of the immobile wounded (about 700 of them) were hidden by partisans, with nurses. However, the Germans, searching the terrain with search dogs, killed them almost to the last, together with the nurses.”
“At the post-war trial, generals Alexander Löhr, Fritz Neidholdt and Josef Kübler and at that time Standartenführer August Schmidhuber were charged with war crimes during the battle. They were sentenced to death and executed in 1947.”
Despite their losses the Partisans regrouped, reformed and saw this as a turning point in the war.
There are numerous monuments to them scattered in important sites around Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is one of the major ones due to the significance of the battle fought.
It is approx 19m high and 25m wide, made out of white/grey concrete. It was supposed to be a lot bigger but that design became too costly. Over the years since it was opened in 1971 parts have been vandalised and destroyed during the Bosnian War, for what reason I have no idea when those fighting then owe their existence to the Partisan movement.
In 1973 a film was released starring Richard Burton about the battle -
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sutjeska_(film)
Standing on a hillside overlooking the valley it was built by youth groups and volunteers mainly by hand with little machinery and took two years to complete (the photos are from Mrs M’s iPad).
Just to mention there are 267 steps to the monument and a further fifty eight to the top part. Yes, I counted them on the way down -
Now a nice peaceful valley -
A little before the top -
Just about there with the steps leading further on -
The names of all the Brigades that took part in the fighting at the top of the last set of steps -
The subsequent film -
Moving on to the next part but chronologically this comes after the main report. There were three places we visited on the journey there and back. This report is of those three.
