Operation DETAINED

Operation DETAINED

(Prepad na Å oltu)

DETAINED I

Preparations for Allied landing raid on German held Å olta island begun already in February when Yugoslav boat NB-2 landed a group of 8 allied officers and commands accompanied by Petar Vidan, commander of Å olta flotilla who knew the island well.

US Army First Lieutenant Walter F. Ruthowski made report which put German strength at 150-160 soldiers out of which at lest 25 were Poles telling locals that they would be willing to surrender to Western Allies. Local population also provided detailed information on German garrison armament. Garrison rarely left Grohote allowing Allies to move freely around the island. After completion of reconnaissance raid was planed.

In the evening of 18 March 1944, convoy of twelve ships left KomiÅ¾a on Vis island, three LCI, three LCA and six MGB as escort. Troops and material where disembarked in Tatinja inlet and by dawn everything was ready for attack on fortified German garrison in Grohota. At 6 a.m. allies opened fire from all weapons on houses in which Germans where located demanding them to surrender. As Germans resistance continued half-hour later 36 dive bombers arrived and bombed the village, Germans quickly fell to allied charge. Allies suffered 2 killed and 15 wounded, mostly from bombs from their own aircraft, in return for 4 killed and 103 captured German soldiers most of who were wounded. In air raid 2 villagers were killed and 4 wounded.

In the evening, under air force cover, allied troops returned to Vis island together with prisoners undisturbed while another convoy (NB-7 'Enare II', NB-8 'Kornat', PÄŒ-71 and motor sail boats 'Ban JelaÄiÄ‡', 'Velebit' and 'Lahor') left Vis island for Tatinja on Å olta to evacuate civilian refugees who wanted to leave the island before Germans return. Because refuges weren't ready only around 250 people were evacuated while allied landing ship took around 130 more. Convoy returned to Vis at 1:45 on 20 March.

German reaction to the landing was slow and few aerial reconnaissance sent small party on night of 20/21 March made up of 20 officers and soldiers but was evacuated before dawn. Another landing was made on night of 21/22 March with four assault boats bringing in two infantry companies from 264th Infantry Division but after 40 minutes decided to return back to Split because five assault boats carrying company of Brandenburg Coastal Jager got lost at sea and sailed into Trogir. Finally on the night of 22/23 March all three companies arrived and Germans started to fortify positions in Grohote.

Orders of Battle

Allies

Axis

2nd Company of the 1st Battalion / 892nd Regiment / 264th Division, Lieutenant Mawick/ Marvick?

16 officers

85 soldiers (grenadiers)

16 submachine guns MP40

11 light machine guns MG-42

1 Italian light machine-gun

2 s.M.G. 42

1 Mortar 8,0 cm

5 members of V.G.A.D. (The Reinforced Border Control Service - VerstÃ¤rkter Grenzaufsichtsdienst)

7 members of Croatian Gendarmerie

Casualties

German report made by Ia officer Lieutenant BÃ¶hme of 1st Battalion lists 6 killed soldiers which were buried:

Uffz. Schwarze, 2nd Company

Gefr. Czysch, 2nd Company

Gefr. Roepke, 2nd Company

Gren. Jablonski, 2nd Company

Ogfr. Petrat, Staff

Gefr. Schuetzendorf, Staff

Germans reported as missing:

1 officer

16 subofficers

88 soldiers

Also reported missing were all of garrison armament

16 submachine guns MP40

11 light machine guns MG-42

1 Italian light machine-gun

2 s.M.G. 42

4 automatic rifles

4 rifle grandee launchers

4 rifle scopes

42 pistols 38

62 rifles 98K

6 Italian rifles

69 bayonets

and two badly wounded German soldiers were carried away on stretchers.

Allied casualties

corporal Hallitsis, US Operational Group, killed

corporal Cox, No.2 Commando, died from wounds

captain Prescott, US Operational Group, wounded

lieutenant Manusos, US Operational Group, wounded

lieutenant Parnell, No.2 Commando, wounded

lieutenant McMenamin, No.2 Commando, wounded

Aftermath

DETAINED showed both sides how vulnerable German island garrisons were and few days later Allies launched operation ENDOWMENT against Hvar island with similar results. German fortification efforts paid off and when Yugoslav Partisans 26th Dalmatian Division launched its own raid on Å olta it failed to eliminate fortified garrison before reinforcements from the mainland arrived.

After the raid Luftwaffe which until then was only making reconnaissance flights over Vis island begun regular nightly bombings attacks that forced Allies to move their troops to hills around KomiÅ¾a harbor and Vis received nickname 'Little Malta' by allied personnel.

References

Jovan VasiljeviÄ‡: ObraÄun na Jadranu

Dr. Kazimir PribiloviÄ‡: ÄŒetvrti pomorski obalski sektor Mornarice NOVJ pages 183-184