Operation
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 ten divisions equaling 90,000 troops and in addition twelve air squadrons. Chetnik auxiliaries and formations consisting of between 12,000 and 15,000 men also took part and worked closely with the Italians.
The operation was carried out in three stages:
- Weiss 1 aimed at destroying Partisan-held areas: Lika, Kordun, Banija, Cazinska Krajina, and Grmeč. It was started on 20 January 1943 and lasted until 25 February.
- Weiss 2 focused on Partisans in the south-east of the Bihać Republic: Drvar, Glamoč, Livno, Jajce, and Ključ.
- Weiss 3 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 backs to the Neretva river. On their – western – side, were German forces, including several elite units and supported by panzer brigades. The eastern side (opposite the Partisan pocket) was guarded only by Chetnik formations, who were acting in coordination with the Germans. To reach this side the Partisans would have to cross one or more of the five bridges on the Neretva river. If the Partisans could cross the river they would be relatively safe; however, they had insufficient time to cross as the Axis forces were preparing for their final push.
Read more about this topic: Case White
Famous quotes containing the word operation:
“An absolute can only be given in an intuition, while all the rest has to do with analysis. We call intuition here the sympathy by which one is transported into the interior of an object in order to coincide with what there is unique and consequently inexpressible in it. Analysis, on the contrary, is the operation which reduces the object to elements already known.”
—Henri Bergson (1859–1941)
“It is critical vision alone which can mitigate the unimpeded operation of the automatic.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
“Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule.”
—Francis Bacon (1560–1626)