Battle of Neretva

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The Battle of Neretva (Croato-Serbian: "Bitka na Neretvi") also known by the German code-name Fall Weiss (German for "Case White"), and known in Yugoslavia as the Fourth enemy offensive (Serbo-Croatian Četvrta neprijateljska ofenziva) or the "Battle for the Wounded" ("Bitka za ranjenike") was a German strategic plan for a combined Axis attack launched in early 1943 against the Partisans throughout occupied Yugoslavia, in the fascist puppet Independent State of Croatia, during the Second World War. The offensive took place between January and April 1943.

The Germans aimed to destroy the central command of the Partisan movement, the Central Committee of Communist Party of Yugoslavia, as well as the main Partisan hospital. The Axis rallied nine divisions, six German, three Italian, as well as two Croatian divisions and a number of Chetnik and Ustasha formations. Estimated 150,000 Axis combatants engaged a much smaller partisan force.

The operation was carried out in three stages:

Weiss I started on January 20th, 1943, with the attack on Partisan-held areas in western Bosnia and parts of central Croatia.
Weiss II followed on February 25th, with fighting in western and southwestern Bosnia, and the Partisans retreating as far southeast as the Neretva river.
Weiss III was launched in March, and centered around the areas of northern Herzegovina, but the targeted partisans managed to break out from an encirclement into northern Montenegro, and the third phase was not successfully completed.

During the battle, the partisans were caught in a pocket with their back to the Neretva river. On their side, the western side, were German forces accompanied with several elite units and supported by panzer brigades. The eastern side (opposite the Partisan pocket) was guarded only by the unorganised Chetnik formations, and was connected by a sole bridge. If the Partisans could cross the river they would be relatively safe. However, they had insufficient time to cross the bridge as the Axis forces were preparing for their final push. Faced with these seemingly insurmountable difficulties, the Partisan commander, Marshal Josip Broz Tito, prepared an elaborate ruse. He ordered his sappers to actually blow up the only bridge on the river. When this information reached the German command, they concluded that the partisans must be preparing a final dash north of their current position (along the western shore), and had blown up the bridge as a morale boost and to prevent desertion. They, thus, began a complex redeployment of troops in the area to annihilate them as they attacked. They were, in fact, giving Tito's engineer corps the precious time needed to sufficiently repair the bridge and to eliminate the Chetnik trops defending its far side. The Germans, characteristically, quickly caught on, but were unable to prepare a serious offensive in time, because of their previous redeployment orders. The partisans crossed the river under intense air bombardment (the Axis deployed large Luftwaffe units), but the mountainous landscape prevented accurate destruction of the makeshift bridge. After the escape was complete, the weak bridge was rendered finally completely useless to prevent pursuit. The humiliating strategic defeat was amplified by Tito being able to keep his (famous) promise to take even the wounded (in the main partisan hospital) with him, as they faced certain execution at the hands of the Axis (this was actually done after the Battle of Sutjeska).

By the end of March, the Axis forces had killed about eight thousand partisans, capturing another two thousand. Despite these heavy losses and a tactical victory for the Axis powers, the partisan formations secured their command and the hospital, and were able to continue operations. In fact, once they reached the eastern parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the partisans had to face only the Chetniks, and in turn almost entirely incapacitated them in the area west of the Drina river.

The next major operation in Yugoslavia was Operation Schwarz.

The 1969 Oscar-nominated motion picture The Battle of Neretva depicts these events.

Battle of Neretva

See also