German 202nd Tank Battalion (Pz.Abt.202)
German 172nd Anti-Aircraft (Flak) Battalion
German army battalions in Yugoslavia
1052nd Special Unit (Sonderkommando)
German Security battalions in Yugoslavia
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Operation BRAUN
(Unternehmen Braun / Operation Brown) / (Psunj-Papuk Operation)
History
After failure of operation GRÃœN new operation on much larger scale was organized.
Carried out by some 35,000 soldiers of German 187th Reserve Division and NDH units from March 20th to April 8th 1943 in order to push formations of 4th Croatian Division (12th Slavonian Division of Yugoslav Partisans) away from Zagreb-Belgrade railway and from Požega valley. Despite heavy fighting operation was unsuccessful.
On 16 April 1943, immediately after official end of the operation NDH forces attempting to exploit tactical situation and secure edge of Požega valley attacked with Slavonian zdrug (brigade). Quick actions by Partisans resulted in Slavonian Zdrug being surrounded and completely destroyed in less then 3 hours, some 900 Home Defense soldiers and Ustasha were captured together with its commander colonel Tomislav Bosnić.
Although planed by Germans it seems that NDH leader Ante Pavelić managed to persuade Germans to let NDH command run it hopping that victory would be easy (area is not far from Zagreb and away from main partisan group lead by Tito) and would boost morale of both troops and civilian population still loyal to NDH. It also seems that this was probably only operation in which Germans units come under control of NDH command, even Kampfgruppe (battle groups) got Croatian names: South, North, East and West. Operation was practically forgotten after the war, but it probably had huge impact on future events because of high losses of NDH units and complete failure to inflict significant losses on partisans.
Order of Battle
Casualties
Detailed results of the operation BRAUN
Aftermath
Instead of eliminating Partisan threat operation BRAUN actually increased it since captured weapons allowed formation of another division 10th Slavonian and 1st Slavonian Corps forcing Germans and NDH authorities to assign more troops to garrison duties and further fortify vital areas.
New operation codenamed ANTUN was planed but seems to have been canceled beacuse of the Partisan offensive.
