April 19th, 1944
Operation Plunder - Snatch and grab
Danube and Sava valleys - The 1st Australian Armoured enters Vinkovci, cutting the 20. Armee in two and causing panic in the local Croatian institutions. Horace Robertson is now only 30 kilometers from Dakovo and 60 from Slavonski Brod - within touching distance of the two AVNOJ corps fighting at the same time in the Požega region! We
understand that this perspective gives cold sweats to the Ustashi: in addition to the fact that there is nothing significant between the titists and the Australians, there is not much else either in the valley of the Sava that can claim to block their road to Zagreb.
In fact, everyone was able to see the brilliant performance of the Croatian V Corps, against an opponent who did not have artillery, tanks and automatic weapons...
Fortunately for the NDH, this area was not the target of the armored division. In accordance with Montgomery's plan, the division is going to move up north, in the direction of Osijek, to reach the village of Laslovo during the night.
Indeed, covering the flank of an armored breakthrough and taking advantage of possible opportunities in front of poor opponents is not the task of the tankers, but rather of the infantry. And the 6th Australian also progresses. It even overtakes the poor 264 ID (Otto Lüdecke) - crossing the Sava at Brčko, and which will undoubtedly then fall back to Orašje to follow the excessive stretching of the 117. Jäger (Karl von Le Suire) from Brezovo Polje.... The unit passes the marshes of the Batrovci area and ignores Brčko to advance towards Županja, opposite Orašje. It should then continue to move towards the Sava as the XIII Corps advances along the southern bank. The Australians will thus be in Spačva at the end of the afternoon: in the middle of nowhere, it is true, but especially on the left of the 1st Australian Armoured.
On the right, the 6th Armoured marks a little the step around Bezdan: Charles Gairdner's unit, at the point of Plunder-Right, camps on the edge of the Danube in the rain, waiting for the infantry and the pontoons. His men have achieved a magnificent performance: 155 kilometers in seven days, breaking through the Heer center without remedy. It is true, but the British armor is now somewhat isolated, in need of supplies... and especially in expectation in front of an adversary that they could not locate very well, due to the lack of aerial reconnaissance (stifled by the weather!), but they can always fear, on the other hand, a backlash, like the Yugoslavs in Leskovac. So many reasons to be cautious - without forgetting the traditional British phlegm, between discipline and strict sense of duty.
In doing so, they (perhaps) missed the opportunity to decapitate the HeeresGruppe E: indeed, at the same time, in Mohács, Maximilian von Weichs hurriedly packs for Székesfehérvár, east of Lake Balaton. The choice of this place is primarily based on the desire not to be cut off from one of his two armies by positioning himself to the left or right of the system. However, in doing so, the German general also retreats a lot, while getting closer to Budapest. This could well be reproached to him, in these times...
This, of course, while the 1. Panzer of Walter Krüger has just taken position in this sector, near Pécs.
On the right, for the Allies, things are decanting. Finally out of the quagmire of Novi Sad, the 2nd New Zealand Division of Robert Freyberg reaches Temerin and Zmajevo, to continue towards the Franz Channel via Vrbas, Srobobran and Turija. In the absence of a capture of Zrenjanin by the 1st Yugoslav Corps - hardly conceivable in the next few days, given the operational failure of Grenade, the Kiwis are dangerously stretched: 60 kilometers of plain to hold alone! They have to wait for the 6th Indian, still in transfer from Belgrade. And during this time, the Axis maneuvers, castles and distributes at best its weak pawns, in particular by making slide the XXI. Gebirgs-Armee-Korps of Ernst von Leyser on a new line - exactly as Montgomery had feared.
The latter hopes, however, to regain the advantage as soon as possible. Thus, on Plunder Left, the battle for the Drina begins. Without waiting for the bulk of the troops of the engineers and the support, and contrary to his habits and the rules. The reason must be serious!
And it is, at least from Monty's point of view. Indeed, according to him, the whole Plunder offensive is starting to get off balance - his right wing is getting dangerously ahead. The left wing is therefore asked to hurry up and pass the Drina as quickly as possible, in order to be able to take advantage of the momentum that is still offered to it to continue its progression. Thus, the 4th Indian starts again, as soon as it arrives in Badovinci. It benefits from the support of its own artillery and of the 32nd Army Tank Brigade (A.C. William), then, in the afternoon, of the help of the tubes of the 5th AGRA. The game is no less difficult for Arthur Holworthy's men: they face, over a large wet cut and according to rather predictable axes, the 100. Jäger (Willibald Utz) and the 914. StuG Abt (Major Friedrich Domeyer), two units still in fairly good condition.
There were bridges over the Drina. Only one remains today: the Amajlije boat bridge, a few kilometers south of Badovinci, which the Germans were unable to destroy because of the meandering river. The river in this area is divided into two equal arms, separated by an island which is in some places more than one kilometer wide! A quick action of the imperial forces, the Jägers were unable to blow up the structure under enemy fire. The problem is that the Indians could not get through it either, for similar reasons! Under pressure from the 18th AAG staff in Athens, Brian Horrocks and the rest of the XIIIth Corps leaders concerned, a sudden move aimed at seizing the structure: operation Fustian.
Due to the lack of sufficient paratroopers on the spot - cursed Poles for having preferred to throw themselves into a fire lost in advance, rather than doing something useful*! - the 2nd Battalion, 7th Gurkha Rifles will infiltrate by day by boat to the south of the objective, taking advantage of a major diversionary assault toward Badovinci and Međaši, much further north. Based on the principle that the Huns could not be everywhere, the Nepalese should have a relatively easy time. They will then go up the Drina on the left bank, under the cover of the trees and on a distance of 5 or 6 kilometers, before jumping to the throat of the Germans which forbid the use of the bridge. It sounds simple, but it is not.
Lacking dinghys, the gurkhas cross the Drina with delay: even before having been able to cross, two boats taken in the current collide and turn over, sending their occupants in the tumultuous and icy waters. Another group, carried further by the waves, returned to allied territory, where it was attacked by a section of automatic weapons that had been warned against a possible enemy infiltration! Before even starting, Fustian has already lost 40 men... Worse still: the racket triggered by all this improvisation, far too long to be discreet, naturally attracts the attention of the Jägers, who quickly organize a retaliation with automatic weapons, unfortunately very effective against boats that are clearly visible on the water. To avoid a massacre, they had to be covered in haste with mortars and smoke for the rest of the crossing.
So much for a discreet infiltration! The action is growing: Arthur Holworthy tries to send reinforcements and to maintain the pressure on the other sectors, in order to try to make the adversary crack in at least one place. What does not happen without difficulty - is that in Badovinci and Međaši, we did not imagine that we would have to really go on the attack like against entrenched positions! And this sudden change is difficult to accept, even in a troop as captivated as the 4th Indian. It will take a lot of persuasion and even some threats to convince the men to launch an attack in spite of the machine guns.
Fortunately, the attack was soon useless and could be stopped. Indeed, in the middle of the chaos, and taking advantage of the fact that less than a kilometer to the south, a group of their comrades surrounded fight to the death, 50 men led by the corporal Gyamtso Shangdarpa "Ganju Lama" infiltrate behind the German position, neutralize the machine gun nests and several self-propelled guns with pistols or grenades and charge with bayonets before eliminating the survivors with a dagger! Reinforced by survivors popping up everywhere - it ends up reaching 80 men! - the group then resists two German assaults, until the Allied rescue groups finally begins to cross. At the same time, the Jägers, despite allied artillery, throw themselves with rage at the bridge and even manage to touch it for a moment... without being able to destroy it, due to the lack of explosives! One moment later, an Opel Blitz truck loaded with dynamite tries to force its way towards the structure to be blown up on it... In vain - it will not go further than a MG42 turned around and put in battery by the Nepalese.
In the evening, the allied forces are certainly fighting in difficult conditions - but these conditions can only improve... and above all, we are finally on the west bank. The first Shermans will pass during the night - but not before the Gurkhas, who stubbornly refuse to leave their positions until they felt they had received enough reinforcements to be able to leave without fear! They lost 120 of their own in one day... Ganju Lama - who single-handedly neutralized two StuGs and collected two gunshot wounds plus a broken wrist in the process - is evacuated alive. In the process, he is awarded the Military Medal and the Victoria Cross. The Nepalese can be proud. Fustian came very close to disaster, but their courage and their spirit of initiative saved the operation!
And behind, taking advantage of this success, the 10th Armoured is already moving up to cross, now that the 51st Highland Infantry (Charles Bullen-Smith) has taken over from the 181. ID beyond the Drina, in Loznica.
Operation Veritable - The one nobody wanted
Eastern Bosnia - In the Batrunac sector, the 164. ID is now in close contact with two Greek formations: the 6th Mountain Brigade (Colonel Pafsanias Katsotas) descending from the northeast and the 1st ID (Vasileios Vrachnos) moving up the Drina from the southeast. Facing this very superior opponent - but also very hampered by the terrain! - Karl-Heinz Lungerhausen has neither the possibility nor the desire to hang on. Not with the rest of the 20. Gebirgs-Armee, of which he only ever forms the right wing tip, in such difficulty.
The German therefore focuses on holding the southern bank of the Drina - nothing else. This means abandoning the northern bank to the Katsotas mountain people to better withdraw to the city on foot, before (presumably) retreating about twenty kilometers to the west and Konjevići to defend the Jadar. At worst, Karakaj is not far either... And on its left, the narrow gorges of the Drina are a rocky area that is all the easier to hold because the water forms rapids. The 164. ID therefore tries to save time by avoiding being enveloped to keep in touch with its XVIII. GAK, while striving to defend the the road to Vlasenica - thus the northern road to Sarajevo - from a possible enemy thrust. On the other side, in front of this logical behavior, one is careful not to push too hard...
Fifty kilometers down the road, the allied forces begin to test the defenses of the SS-Prinz Eugen. Cautiously, since the artillery is not yet fully in place and the weather - and therefore the air force - is not in the picture. It is not worse, Greeks as well as French are still discovering their new adversary...and their new allies. Which is not without troubles! And if, at the bottom of the valley, Jouffrault's 192nd DIA is still holding its ground, on the heights, the 3rd Mountain Brigade of Colonel Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos gives dangerous signs of agitation, first of all towards his officers, and also between the men of the troop, according to their opinions. Between young engaged socialists of the campaign of '43 and royalist or even republican veterans of that of '41, the atmosphere never ceases to be tense, at the risk of rekindling the flames of a serious discord. And yet, the kingdom of Greece is today very far from the authoritarian state that it was formerly.
The day is thus spent between preparations and consolidation. The latter should not last too long, however: behind, the two AVNOJ corps coming down from Višegrad are coming towards Međeđa. And they are already planning to shake it all up, with revolutionary enthusiasm. Especially since at the same time the 12th "Vojvodina" Corps of Lekic Spaniard, finally reached the south of Goražde, at the level of Zupčići, after an interminable journey from Pljevlja. And it is accompanied by the 13th ID of Charalambos Katsimitros - a substantial support, even though the division will take quite some time to fully deploy. This sizeable adversary - that we had seen coming from afar, but still! - upsets the plans of Brigadeführer Karl Reichsritter von Oberkamp, who has to redeploy part of his 13. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgsjäger Rgt Artur Phleps with some machines of the 105. SS-StuG Abt (Hauptsturmführer Mühlenkamp) in order to keep this new threat at bay. In truth, it is the entire defensive system of the SS that is in danger of being undermined with almost three divisions against one!
Finally, in the south, the Allies, now confronted with the second line of the Croatian army, experiences various successes. The rest of the 2nd Greek Corps completes the securing of its first valley and begins to advance again towards Šavnik and Rastovac (north of Nikšić). In Bajista, the 5th ID of General Georgios Stanotas slowly moves up to the pass, having logically moved the machines of Colonel Socrates Demaratos to the rear for this task. Facing this pressure - without much support, at least for today, because of the rain - Ivan Brozovic's I Croatian Corps (reinforced by the 2nd Mountain Division) is still holding up relatively well. On the other hand, it has to deal with a strong erosion of its firepower, as well as multiple assaults and infiltrations of the 2nd "Shock" Corps of Peko Dapcevic from Babaići, on his left and his rear. Without reinforcements (and there will be none!), the outcome seems inevitable.
On the contrary, in the sector of Kolašin, it is a day of transition. Confronted, no longer with the very mediocre 5th Bosanka ID of colonel Roman Domanic, but the 373rd Tigar divizija of Nikolaus Boicetta, the 4th RST also tests the ground around Katun Bačko Brdo**, leaving the Czechoslovakians under Alois Liška to clear the descent from Trešnjevik. The terrain is bad, the weather too - nothing insurmountable, but it will take time. Unless, of course, an unexpected ally comes along to upset everything once again...
Operation Veritable - The Eagle and the Checkerboard
Montenegro - Rain, mud... Storms... While on the front, the 3rd ID of Bohusz-Szyszko still does not advance, that the 5th ID of Bronisław-Duch barely passes the Medjurec canyon (still not secured, between snipers, pre-tuned mortars and mines of all kinds) while the allied monitors continue to fire, a serious incident breaks out in the (theoretically) calmer atmosphere of the advanced camp of Milot. Lieutenant-General Gerard Corfield Bucknall returns - with all his cohort of inspectors and experts. In front of General Anders' tent, where he no doubt hoped to dispense some good advice while sheltering from the rain, the Briton is surprised to see himself blocked by the planters, the white and red Polish eagle clearly visible on the right sleeve. And firmly with that. Surprise, threats, raised fists - under the drizzle and the outrage, the British phlegm is lost!
And when Bucknall finally manages to force his way through, it is to find himself facing the head of the 2nd Polish Corps, which was waiting for him. The atmosphere is icy, tension to cut with a knife... His observations make the Slavs raise their eyebrows with indifference, his remarks (partly valid... but so clumsy!) on "the necessity to engage units in a properly coordinated battle", and not to launch them headlong into "a bloody fray", or even - when it comes to armored vehicles - in "a hot armoured scrapping" raise sighs of indignation. The response of Władysław Albert Anders will also be bloody, commensurate with the arrogant contempt inflicted on him the day before:
"Lieutenant General, I am a corps general and you are not. In a modern military hierarchy, one answers to one's superiors, and only to them. Therefore, you will please direct your relevant observations to Tirana, who will see what he deems appropriate."
Of course, Bucknall will not miss it, and not only... The event goes up the allied chain of command, up to Tirana (where Audet, catastrophized, can only transmit to Marseille) but also directly to Athens. Confronted with this beginning of mutiny, Bernard Montgomery reacts - curiously perhaps - with diplomacy, at least according to his rather personal standards. In this case, he urgently dispatches to Milot his trusted man De Guincamp to try to restore order. In the mind of the general, it seems obvious that it is the form which poses problem, and not the substance. Bucknall had been badgering him for months to get an operational command again; he wanted to do too well, and hit a little too hard.
He wanted to do too well, and hit a little too hard to show his energy. The diplomacy of his aide-de-camp will arrange all that... If there is goodwill on both sides, of course. "By sending Bucknall, I made a mistake," Monty would admit much later in his Memoirs.
Much later - and much too late, too.
Operation Veritable - Uncertain Allegiance
Medjurecje region (Montenegro) - After the Greens of Krsto Popović and Nikolaus Boicetta's legionnaires, it is the turn of the Montenegrin National Army to arrive in this mountain area, which is definitely very busy these days. The passage of the troop in the direction of the Morakovo mountains does not go unnoticed by the Ustasha and other Montenegrins - but they all have other priorities at the moment. This does not mean that there is no risk of an accident, if this cohabitation were to last...
Interview with an Ustasha
"- So you had a family?
- Yes. My little Renata. My daughter. And then?
An angel passes between us - he doesn't stay long, poor thing.
- Understand my astonishment.
- I see it but I don't understand it... and I advise you not to ask me too many questions about it.
Almost thirty-five years after the fact, and despite the weight of years on his shoulders, the Major still knows how to be threatening when he wants to be. So I'm trying to make a slanting attack.
- I mean, weren't you afraid of any... incidents?
My interlocutor rears up, as if under the whip of an insult.
- You are joking! My men knew how to behave when they were ordered to. Besides, they knew perfectly well that if one of them had laid a hand on her, or even disrespected her, I would have personally ripped off his parts and shoved them down his throat.
The image is very telling, unusual for him. It is therefore undoubtedly sincere, even tried and true. Ratko Vlašic shakes his head in contemptuous denial.
- No, no, no... Ridiculous, no risk. Besides, with all the communists who sprawled in Croatia at that time, she was probably much safer with us than outside.
- Let's admit it, but her education?
- Oh that! Milorad's wife provided that. Among others and with others! With time, she even became a bit of a mascot for my unit. I remember that Baldo had made a little doll just for her: a leather wolf! A nice touch, don't you think?
A slightly sad but sincere smile that I didn't expect lights up her face.
- I imagine that it is also for safety reasons that you did not leave her with her mother.
Sigh of annoyance.
- I have no idea who her mother was. I took her with me on the road to Jajce, on a hunt for Partisans in '42. At her age, she wouldn't have lasted long on her own...
- If you are worried about her, couldn't you have found more...honest? More quiet?
- I will only answer you on the substance. And simply. Why, when the cause was just and the pay was good? You really need to stop seeing us as a bunch of braying assassins who roamed the mountains. Our country was with us, our blood was with us, our people were with us. And we had to look after them. That was the way it was. A sign, a mark of Destiny, a thunderbolt... In this world of violence and blood where I could have shut her up in an instant, there was something about her that touched me. And then, we both found a well-being in the affair: I too needed someone. I needed someone to do simple things with, such as having fun with the red of the tomato can spread on a napkin in the morning.
The tone becomes hard for a brief moment, before softening a little.
- My family died in 1925, in an attack by Serbian bandits. I have never had a wife or children. But everyone around me had a family. Everyone except me. What was that feeling?"
(Robert Stan Pratsky, In the Head of the Monster - Conversation with an Ustasha Officer, Flammarion, 1982)
Operation Grenade - Extinguished Wick
Vojvodina - General Illija Brasic's I Corps makes contact with the new German defense line running from the Iron Gates to Zrenjanin. This line is made up of the XXII. Gebirgs-Armee-Korps of Gustav Fehn, that is to say three divisions only, because already more or less hurt: the 1. GebirgsJäger (Hubert Lanz) from Jasenovo to Lokve, 104. Jäger (Hartwig von Ludwiger) to Jarkovac and finally the 19. PanzerGrenadier Brandenburg (Josef Irkens) between the two, towards Zrenjanin - the position of this last formation responding above all to the absence of a wet cut.
Three divisions for one hundred kilometers! Numbers that would make you laugh on the Eastern Front. Frtunately for the Axis, the Allies are not more numerous: 1st ID (Krstic) in the plain east of the Tisza (HQ in Padina), 2nd ID (Mihailovitch) mainly in Ečka (HQ in Perlez) and finally 1st Armored Brigade (Stefanović) in reserve at Kovačica. This is not enough to force the passage to Löhr, which however has moved the HQ of its 12. Armee in Subotica...
And even if, towards Đurđevo, the 6th Indian (B.H. Chappel) is already positioned to cover their left and to liaise with the ANZAC, the motivation of Illija Brasic's men for the moment is no longer the great battle. The most important thing is already done: the Yugoslavs are back in Vojvodina. And this time, it is to stay, in spite of the traitors of all kinds.
In this respect, General Brasic issued a truly merciless agenda: it is necessary "to show the strongest possible determination against the members of the Fifth Column, especially the German and Hungarian inhabitants. Words, no doubt - for the time being, the most important thing is, once again, to bury the dead". Even if, from words to dead, there is only one letter...
Operation Perun - Very wet truce
Balkans - Very bad weather this day for the allied air force, which has a lot of difficulty to weigh on the battlefield. For lack of anything better, the Air-Marshal Tedder is reduced to launch his arrows at night, on two distant objectives although planned for a long time: the Kis-Duna Híd (in Györ, for the 104th and 202nd Squadrons), and Ostrava, in Bohemia-Moravia (for the 15th, 148th and 149th Squadrons). Two strategic raids, therefore, with mediocre success. In the first case, the Wellingtons shook the bridge over the Mosoni-Danube*** - but the bridge survived more or less intact. As for the Halifaxes, confronted with bad weather on the Carpathians, they preferred to turn back rather than risk losing comrades for nothing. Bad luck!
Heeresgruppe E
Annoyance in high places
Adlerhorst (Hesse) - Maximilian Von Weichs' plea has reached its destination - which has not always been the case in the past. Unfortunately! Faced with this umpteenth defeatist complaint from the person in charge of a secondary theater of operations that never brought anything back (if not frustration), Hitler reacts quite violently - as he seems to have become accustomed to doing lately. "The HG E had no strategic role and no interest in itself - it must defend southern Hungary and its oil. That is all! The rest is of no importance! Is it so complicated to achieve this with two armies?"
Presented like that, probably not... Except that Army Group E should defend a little more than Nagykanizsa - in this case, all the Danube up to Croatia, and even a part of it, in more or less good collaboration with the local authorities. No matter: the Führerprinzip being what it is, the general will have nothing - except of course in case of catastrophe, such as, for example, a free entry into the Magyar land to the south of Lake Balaton for example. In this case, the Nazi general staff will certainly send reinforcements, so that they could come and save the situation on the line... An eventuality not at all unrealistic - in fact, the OKH is already preparing for it. Even though, paradoxically, it will not order any transfer before this moment, for lack of agreement of the Guide!
Thus, Maximilian Von Weichs is asked to do without the units that are necessary, but that one will want to grant to him... if he fails! This is the impossible situation in which he finds himself. Moreover, as an additional insult, in front of Hitler, neither Guderian, nor any other officer in court obviously deigned to open his mouth to support him. One does not stick his neck out for an already defeated general, especially from a former aristocratic family - a remnant of the old world, really.
SS replacement
Sarajevo - In these critical hours for the HeeresGruppe E - but not for the III. SS-Gebirgs-Armee-Korps, which is still doing quite well after all - Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock, commander of the 4. SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier, is recalled to Berlin for political reasons, before a new command.
His replacement is Brigadeführer Herbert-Ernst Vahl, a veteran of the Das Reich, who had been seriously wounded during Zitadelle last summer and barely recovered. Vahl never had the opportunity to shine but the SS has no doubt that he will be up to the task, even in such a turbulent province...
AVNOJ
The final struggle
Slovenia - In this region, the confrontations gain in intensity, after several days of reactions of the Axis forces. This is because the latter may not have succeeded to react against the AVNOJ as quickly as they had hoped, between lack of means of transport, allied air superiority and numerical inferiority on the whole theater (there is a lot of unrest in Yugoslavia these days!). Nevertheless, Slovenia is a province too close to the Reich and too closely related to the greater Germany to think of abandoning it. The SS was therefore once again at work, trying to strike hard, if not fast.
In the Celje-Maribor-Ptuj triangle - or more precisely to the south of the latter, because the 9th "Slovenian" Corps of Lado Ambrožič already knows that it does not have the means to challenge everything - the Domobranci of Obergruppenführer Erwin Rösener did attack, but with unequal efficiency and energy, because it depends on the local commanders! In fact, if on the side of Franc Krenner, everything goes as it should, the troop of Ernest Peterlin, it shows an obvious reserve... of which it seems certain that it is not at all a question of complicity with the communists, but rather of an attempt to save itself!
It is in vain that the general staff tries to reorganize the Slovenian National Guard to safeguard its cohesion. As for Rösener, head of the latter but still in Ljubljana, he obviously did not control anything in practice... In addition, the fact that the Slovenes were only entrusted with light weapons does not improve their efficiency! The Domobranci, the ultimate avatar of a crowd of collaborating units, all more or less reliable, is therefore not as cutting and effective as the SS would have liked. And its action, far from being coordinated, quickly descended into confusion. Faced with such a situation, Ambrožič, a competent warlord and thrifty of his forces, does not insist more than necessary. He therefore withdraws his troops towards the south, towards the Bočko mountains, to prepare for the next round.
Further west, however, the Titists of Rajko Tanasković's 7th "Slovenian" Corps come up against the newcomers of the SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Brigade Karstjäger. These, well trained and equipped, they behaved quite well under fire and pushed the AVNOJ back in the direction of Delnice, in order to clear the road to Karlovac. All this while showing each time extreme brutality against the civilians they met... In fact, if Standartenführer Hans Brandt wants to honor his weapon, he obviously shows little consideration for local subtleties. This can be felt, and could well cause him harm in the weeks to come.
.........
Croatia - Here, the National Guard (but Croatian this time!) opposes the Partisans of the 10th Corps "from Zagreb", to try to clear once again the communication routes to the front. The troops of Ante Vokić, not very numerous, poorly equipped, with low morale and already bled by desertion and fighting, had a hard time facing Vladimir Matetić's men - even less numerous, but motivated. They therefore need time to secure Glina - but this is only the first step in an operation that should lead them as fast as possible to Novi Grad! In this regard, Vokić is worried about how to secure his hold while sending enough soldiers to the south to continue his task, which reminds him more and more of the myth of Sysiphus...
.........
Croatia (north), valley of the Sava - The announced capture of Vinkovci as well as the arrival of the English troops at less than 60 kilometers from Slavonski Brod put a blow to the morale of the Vth Croatian Corps. In fact, if the Allies are so close, it is perhaps not very useful to continue vain assaults in the direction of Požega... Especially with the Germans in retreat so far away!
The reflection is certainly self-serving, but it is not without meaning. On its own, the Ustasha army does not have the means to defeat the AVNOJ and hold the region. So, if on top of that the 18th AAG arrives! With the wisdom of one who does not really have a choice, Vjekoslav Servatzy suspends his attacks towards Požega and concentrates his formation in the valley and along the Sava river, while waiting for unlikely reinforcements - including monitors and armor announced by Zagreb. On the other side, Petar Drapšin is exultant! The AVNOJ has won its bet.
This region will naturally fall into Tito's hands, as soon as the link with Visegrad is established... As for Slavko Rodić, despite his real weakness, he is for the time being absolutely not in danger, hidden in the woods between Novo Selo and Gornji Klakar.
.........
Croatia (west), between Gospić and Knin - The 35th "Croatian" Division (commander Stanko Perhavec, commissar Šime Balen) advances from Plitvice to Novi Grad - with caution however, because on the side of Jezerane, the Slovenes remain numerous... In addition, the 13th Division "from Primorje-Gorski Kotar" (commander Veljko Kovacevic, commissar Josip Skočilić) must detach more and more men towards Senj to even hope to contain the 173. ID, which seems to have launched a counter-offensive towards Otočac. Hebrang knows that this was a bad idea... So, short of troops to hold all his fronts, he proclaims the mobilization of all young men and women to serve in the ranks of the Revolution.
* This reproach appears quite often in Bernard Montgomery's memoirs, as well as in those of several other British officials. Apart from the fact that it is rather unwelcome (especially in view of the tragic circumstances that the Polish nation was going through at the time), the weather on that date would not have allowed the sending of parachutists. This is the reason for the nickname given to Fustian by amateur officers from Italy: Primosole...
** Near where the monastery of Cirilovac will be built much later, and south of the future ski area "Kolašin 1450".
*** The right branch of the Danube, after its division at the Hungarian-Slovak border.
