Operation HERBSTGEWITTER (1944)

Operation HERBSTGEWITTER

'Autumn shower' (Autumn Thunder)

Intro

German plan for general withdrawal from Adriatic islands and coastline from Senj to Valona on average 50 kilometers in depth to GrÃ¼n (Green) line.

History

Unlike offensive operation Herbstgewitter previous year in 1944 codename was used for German plan to withdraw from Adriatic coast. Code name choice was probably to deceive real intentions.

With Red Army advancing through Romania and Bulgaria 2nd Panzer Army received orders to front towards southern tip of Soviet advance while at the same time to continue maintaining coastal defense of the Adriatic. For this purpose at the end of August and early September 92nd Motorized Brigade and 1st 'Brandenburg' Regiment were transferred from Dalmatia to area around Belgrade with 118th JÃ¤ger Division planed.

In order for the 118th JÃ¤ger and 264th Infantry divisions to available new defensive line GrÃ¼n would become Rijeka - Senj - Velebit - Knin - Mostar - Nevesinje - Gacko and west of Durmitor and Andrijevica to ShkodÃ«r in the south. This line would be held by German-Croatian legionary division 392nd, 373rd and 369th Infantry divisions. During evacuation anything that couldn't be take would be destroyed as well as all communications, port facilities etc.

For start of the evacuation 17 October was chosen with Dubrovnik to be evacuated by 20 October and Å ibenik by 1 November. Earlier dates and proposal in November to fall back all the way to line Rijeka - BihaÄ‡ - Banja Luka - Bosanski Å amac - Vinkovci - Vukovar were rejected by German High Command and Adolf Hitler (same as with similar considering parts of Hungary). Besides keeping resource base, room to maneuver there was also political issue because large German withdrawal would be serious blow to Ante PaveliÄ‡ and Ustashe regime since most of the area in question belonged to Independent State of Croatia.

Being well informed on the enemy plans Yugoslav Partisans 8th Dalmatian Corps started preparation for its own 'Autumn Thunder' in desire to settle the score from previous year when its units suffered heavy losses. German units would come under attack from the front with 26th Dalmatian division and 1st Tank Brigade being located on Vis island and from the rear with several Partisans division operating on the mainland.

Land operations

Partial withdrawal from Dalmatian islands soon turned into series of defeats in operations SEYDLITZ, EISBÃ„R and KRANICH. Partisans landing on PeljeÅ¡ac and subsequent battle in Vukov klanac destroyed large part of the 369th Infantry Division before it could withdraw from Dubrovnik.

Early withdrawal of 118th JÃ¤ger Division exposed flank of 264th Division which was exploited by Partisans during Split operation resulting in main Dalmatian of Split falling into Partisans hands largely intact.

Battle Group Allermann withdrawing from Å ibenik to Knin was almost surrounded and destroyed, it managed to breakthrough while suffering heavy losses only beacuse of Partisans lack of coordination. But in the Knin operation most of the 264th Division was destroyed with 373rd Division also suffering heavy losses. With fall of Knin, the GrÃ¼n line was breached.

Naval operations

Naval Command of Northern Adriatic found itself with some 3000 soldiers and officers and 2000 tons of material that need to be moved. Navy excepted that ports of Zadar and Å ibenik wouldn't be abandoned and kept as strongholds, instead army ordered full withdrawal to Green line as quickly as possible in order to free up divisions for Syrmian front. To add to the confusion Navy received order to defended major ports to the last man while army not to leave anyone behind, even artillery pieces for coastal batteries were still arriving from Rijeka to Dalmatia based on previous plans. In the end three weeks were lost before Navy began to withdraw forced to relay heavily on army units.

German Navy carried out several operations during this period often harassed by Partisan artillery batteries on islands:

10/11 October - operation DACAPO - raid on Molat island against Partisan Navy

16-19 October - operation ALFINE - evacuation of materiel from Zadar and Å ibenik to Rijeka

operation OSTERN - withdrawal of KG Strecker from Zadar to Å ibenik

and several other evacuation missions but in the last mission operation WIKINGER it suffered serious losses in encounter with British destroyers carrying out operation EXTERMINATE.

Order of Battle

Axis Order of Battle

Aftermath

German plan that was suppose to free up German units making them available to halt advance of the Red Army not only failed but resulted in heavy losses and allowed Partisans to capture large amounts of equipment and new front line had to be defended by much smaller forces then planned. German army was saved from total defeat only by Partisan lack of experience in coordinating large scale operations and most importantly lack of radios.

References

Todor RadoÅ¡eviÄ‡: Ofanziva za osloboÄ‘enje Dalmacije

Zadar i zadarsko podruÄje u NOB i socijalistiÄkoj izgradnji, zbornik 2, page 237-268, Zadar, 1986.