Terror in the Balkans (127 page)

97. MFB4/56159, fi le 28326/18, 950–953. Gruppe Annacker, 11/26/42. Bericht über die

Aktion vom 11/25/-11/26/42, pp. 1–2.

98. Ibid., pp. 2–3.

99. Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 184.

100. MFB4/56159, 28326/17, 585–595. 718. Inf.-Div. Ia, 10/12/42. Abschluß- und Erfah-

rungsbericht über das Unternehmen gegen Jajce im Okt. 42, pp. 10–11.

322
Notes to Pages 208–213

101. MFB4/56159, 28326/17, 690–691. 718. Inf.-Div., 10/28/42. Fernschreiben. Tage-

smeldung von 10/27/-10/28/42.

102. MFB4/56159, 28326/17, 700. 718. Inf.-Div. Ia, 10/30/42. Tagesmeldung vom 10/29/–

10/30/42. For other major casualty disparities, see MFB4/56159, 28326/17, 701. 718.

Inf.-Div. Ia, 10/31/42. Tagesmeldung von 10/30/-10/31/42; MFB4/56159, 28326/17,

713. 718. Inf.-Div. Ia, 11/2/42. Tagesmeldung vom 11/1/-11/2/42.

103. MFB4/56159, 28326/17, 757. 718. Inf.-Div. Ia, 11/19/42. Betr.: Unternehmen I u. II.

104. Methodological studies of German soldiers’ letters include Klaus Latzel, “Tourismus und Gewalt: Kriegswahrnehmungen in Feldpostbriefen,” in
Vernichtungskrieg. Verbrechen der Wehrmacht, 1941 bis 1944
, ed. Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann (Ham-

burg: Hamburger Edition, 1995), 447–459; Klaus Latzel, “Vom Kriegserlebnis zur

Kriegserfahrung. Theoretische und methodische Überlegungen zur erfahrungsge-

schichtlichen Untersuchung von Feldpostbriefen,”
Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen

56 (1997), 1–30.

105. BfZ, Sammlung Sterz. Lt. Peter Geissler, 11. Kp. / IR 721, 714. Inf.-Div., 6/21/42.

106. Ibid., 7/24/42.

107. Ibid., 9/13/42.

108. Ibid., 9/10/42.

109. Ibid., 10/4/42. Emphasis in original.

110. Ibid.

111. Ibid., 11/27/42.

112. Ibid., 12/13/42.

113. Ibid., 12/15/42.

114. Ibid., 5/2/42.

115. Ibid., 9/6/42.

116. Ibid., 12/22/42.

117. See, for instance, Richard West,
Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia
(London: Sinclair Stevenson, 1996), 146; Hermann Frank Meyer,
Blutiges Edelweiß: Die 1.

Gebirgs-Division im Zweiten Weltkrieg
(Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag, 2008), 124–125.

118. BfZ, Sammlung Sterz. Lt. Peter Geissler, 11. Kp. / IR 721, 714. Inf.-Div., 12/20/42.

119. Ibid., 8/17/42.

120. MFB4/56159, 28326/18, 897. 718. Inf.-Div. Ia, 11/30/42. Divisionsbefehl Nr. 49 für Unternehmen Jajce III.

121. MFB4/56159, 28326/18, 968. Verluste “Jajce III” (no date).

122. MFB4/56159, 28326/18, 917. 718. Inf.-Div. Ia, 12/5/42. Divisionsbefehl Nr. 51.

123. RH 24–15/2. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien. Beurteilung der Lage, 11/26–12/6/42, p. 2;

Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 184.

124. RH 24–15/2. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien. Beurteilung der Lage, 12/7–12/16/42, p. 3.

125. MFB4/56160, 34404/1, 165–169. 718. Inf.-Div. Ic, 12/26/42. Lagebericht, 12/17–

12/25/1942, p. 1.

126. RH 24–15/2. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien. Beurteilung der Lage, 11/15–11/25/42, p. 1.

127. Ibid.

128. RH 24–15/2. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien. Beurteilung der Lage, 11/26–12/6/42, p. 2; KG Serbien, Beurteilung der Lage, 12/7–12/16/42, p. 1.

Notes to Pages 215–219
323

10. the dev il’s di v ision

1. See Appendix A.

2. Jozo Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and

Collaboration
(Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001), 267.

3. Ibid.

4. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 558. Order of battle for 369th Infantry Division, 1/14/43.

5. Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Col-

laboration
, 267–268. See also Franz Schraml,
Kriegsschauplatz Kroatien: Die
deutsch-kroatischen Legionsdivisionen—369., 373., 392. Inf.-Div. (kroat.)—Ihre Ausbildungs- und Ersatzformationen
(Neckargemünd: Vowinckel, 1962).

6. Marko Attila Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and
the Chetniks 1941–1943
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 320, 330; Geoffrey Swain,
Tito: A Biography
(London: I. B. Tauris, 2011), 49.

7. Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Col-

laboration
, 658–659, 711; Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The
Partisans and the Chetniks 1941–1943
, 317–325.

8. Klaus Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
(Hamburg: Verlag E. S.

Mittler, 2002), 179–180.

9. Ibid., 201–202.

10. Ibid., 50–51.

11. Ibid., 51.

12. MFB4/56160, 34404/3, 743. 718. Inf.-Div. Ia/Org, 2/13/43. Betr.: Umgliederung der

Div. in Jägerdivision.

13. In April 1943, for instance, 53 percent of the 718th Infantry Division’s troops were aged thirty or over. MFB5/42177, 37733/2, 402. Anlage I zu 118. Jäg.-Div. Ia Nr. 43,

4/17/43. On their upgrading to light division status, all four divisions received redes-

ignated numbers as the 104th, 114th, 117th, and 118th Light Divisions. To avoid con-

fusion, all such divisions are referred to in the text by their original numbers.

14. Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collabo-

ration
, 321–322, 746; Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 257. See also Thomas Casagrande,
Die volksdeutsche SS-Division “Prinz Eugen”
(Frankfurt

am Main: Campus Verlag, 2006).

15. Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collabo-

ration
, 291.

16. Jozo Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks
(Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1975), 252; Richard West,
Tito and the Rise and
Fall of Yugoslavia
(London: Sinclair Stevenson, 1996), 142–143; Stevan K. Pavlowitch,
Hitler’s New Disorder: The Second World War in Yugoslavia
(London: Hurst,

2008), 151–152.

17. Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944,
215; Hoare,
Genocide and
Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks 1941–1943,
330.

18. Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks
, 237, 239; Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 206–207.

324
Notes to Pages 219–225

19. The Chetniks’ involvement in the operations was complicated both militarily and

politically. For more detail, see Matteo J. Milazzo,
The Chetni Movement and the Yugoslav Resistance
(Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975), chap. 6; Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks
, 231–243.

20. Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 214–219. On the unrealistic planning for White I, see also Gaj Trifkovic, “A Case of Failed Counter-Insurgency:

Antipartisan Operations in Yugoslavia 1943,”
Journal of Slavic Military Studies
24

(2011): 314–336.

21. Trifkovic, “A Case of Failed Counter-Insurgency: Antipartisan Operations in Yugo-

slavia 1943,” 325.

22. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 551–554. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien, 1/12/43. Operationsbefehl für

das Unternehmen “Weiss,” p. 2.

23. Milovan Djilas,
Wartime: With Tito and the Partisans
(London: Martin Secker and Warburg, 1977), 216.

24. Reproduced in Norbert Müller, ed.,
Deutsche Besatzungspolitik in der UdSSR 1941–

1944: Dokumente
(Cologne: Pahl-Rugenstein, 1980), 138–139.

25. MFB4/56160, 34404/2, 407–409. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien, 1/12/43. Befehl für die

Kampfführung im kroatischen Raum, p. 1. Emphasis in original.

26. Ibid., p. 2.

27. MFB4/56160, 34404/2, 396–397. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien, 1/7/43. Betr.: Ausübung der

vollziehenden Gewalt.

28. Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 207–208.

29. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 515–516. 369. Inf.-Div. Ia, 12/29/42. Divisionsbefehl Nr. 11.

30. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 674–677. 369. Inf.-Div. Ic. Tätigkeitsbericht, Januar 1943, p. 3.

Date illegible.

31. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 678–679. Aufruf an die Bevölkerung!

32. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 583. 369. Inf.-Div. Ic, 1/22/43. Nachrichtenblatt Nr. 2.

33. Ibid.

34. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 531. 369. Inf.-Div. Ia, 1/6/43. Divisionsbefehl Nr. 14.

35. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 585. 369. Inf.-Div. Ia, 1/29/43. Divisionsbefehl Nr. 20.

36. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 652–658. 369. Inf.-Div. Ia, 3/12/43. Einsatz der 369. Inf.-Div.

vom 1/9/-2/15/43, p. 5.

37. F. W. D. Deakin,
The Embattled Mountain
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), 30.

38. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 652–658. 369. Inf.-Div. Ia, 3/12/43. Einsatz der 369. Inf.-Div.

vom 1/9/-2/15/43, p. 5.

39. A point Schmider makes about the Germans in the NDH generally during 1943.

Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 257.

40. MFB4/56160, 34404/3, 769–771. Betr.: Div. Kdr. Besprechung in Sanski Most am 2/16/43, p. 1.

41. Ibid., p. 2.

42. MFB4/56160, 34404/2, 496–498. Kampfgruppe Annacker, 2/14/43. Betr.: Erfah-

rungsbericht zum Einsatz Teslic, p. 2.

Notes to Pages 225–228
325

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid.

45. MFB4/56160, 34404/3, 670–673. 718. Inf.-Div. Ia, 2/6/43. Lagebericht, 1/27/-2/6/43,

p. 4.

46. Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 158–159.

47. Ibid., 255–256.

48. It is interesting to compare Dippold’s approach with that of one of his predeces-

sors, General Hoffmann, and that of his immediate successor, Lieutenant General

Karl le Suire. Under each of these two men—even though Hoffmann in his turn

was a
relatively
less brutal successor to
his
forerunner as commander of the 342nd Infantry Division, General Hinghofer—the 717th carried out what were arguably

the two most infamous mass killings that the Wehrmacht perpetrated in southeast

Europe. Walter Manoschek and Hans Safrian, “717./117. Inf.-Div.: Eine Infanterie-

Division auf dem Balkan,” in
Vernichtungskrieg: Verbrechen der Wehrmacht, 1941

bis 1944
, ed. Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition,

1995), 359–373; Hermann Frank Meyer,
Von Wien nach Kalavryta: Die blutige

Spur der 117. Jäger-Division durch Serbien und Griechenland
(Mannheim: Peleus,

2002). See also chap. 6.

49. High-level Partisan–German contacts went deeper than this in early 1943. Although

nothing came of them, the Partisans used the respite to help win time in which to

attack the Chetniks successfully in March. For more detail, see Djilas,
Wartime:

With Tito and the Partisans
, 229–245; West,
Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia
, 148–153; Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 243–253; Swain,
Tito: A Biography
, 57–60.

50. MFB4/56160, 34404/2, 407–409. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien, 12/1/43. Befehl für die

Kampfführung im kroat. Raum, p. 1.

51. RH 24–15/2. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien, 2/22/43. Erfahrungen bei Unternehmen Weiss I,

pp. 1–2; ibid., Anlage 2, p. 1.

52. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 584. 369. Inf.-Div. Kommandeur, 1/23/43.

53. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 591–592. 369. Inf.-Div. Kommandeur, 2/1/43. MFB4/72341,

30581/3, 615–616. 369. Inf.-Div. Ia, 2/13/43. Divisionsbefehl Nr. 27, p. 2.

54. MFB4/72341, 30581/2, 674–677. 369. Inf.-Div. Ic. Tätigkeitsbericht, Januar 1943, p.

2; MFB4/72342, fi le 45652/1, 4–5. 369. Inf.-Div. Ia. Tätigkeitsbericht, 7/1/-12/31/43,

p. 1.

55. MFB4/72341, 30581/3, 551–554. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien, 1/12/43. Operationsbefehl fuer

das Unternehmen “Weiss,” p. 3.

56. MFB4/72342, 45652/1, 37–41. 369. Inf.-Div. Ic, 8/22/43. Betr.: Unerlaubte Entfer-

nungen. To a large extent, these causes tally with causes of poor morale and deser-

tion amongst Croatian army units generally, as identifi ed in Tomasevich,
War and

Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration
, 425–428.

57. Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 215.

58. In particular, divisional reports point to the fact that its levels of weaponry were frequently below full strength. MFB5/42177, 37733/2, 398. 118. Jäg.-Div. Ia, 4/17/43;

326
Notes to Pages 228–232

MFB5/42177, 37733/3, 672–676. 118. Jäg.-Div. Ia, 5/18/43. Betr.: Ausbau der 718. Inf.-

Div. zur Jäger-Division.

59. MFB4/56160, 34404/3, 743. 718. Inf.-Div. Ia/Org., 2/13/43. Betr.: Umgliederung der

Div. in Jägerdivision.

60. Ibid. For qualifi cations to this rosy picture, see MFB5/42178, 37733/4, 513–514. 118.

Jäg.-Div. Ia, 6/19/43. Betr.: Ausbau der 718. Inf.-Div. zur Jäger-Division. Bericht Nr.

7 über den Stand der Aufstockung der 118. Jäg.-Div.; MFB5/42178, 37733/4, 549–552.

118. Jäg.-Div. Ia, 6/25/43. Betr.: Ausbau der 718. Inf.-Div. zur Jäger-Division. Bericht Nr. 8 über den Stand der Aufstockung der 118. Jäger-Division.

61. RH 24–15/2. Bf. dt. Tr. Kroatien. Beurteilung der Lage, 1/7–1/16/43, p. 1.

62. MFB4/72346, 37165/1, 123–130. 373. Inf.-Div. Ia, 6/14/43. Betr.: Lagebeurteilung, p. 8.

63. MFB4/72346, 37165/1, 91–92. 373. Inf.-Div. Ia, 6/21/43. Betr.: Pioneer-Bataillon 373, p. 2.

64. MFB4/72346, 37165/1, 61. 373. Inf.-Div. Ia, 6/30/43. Tagesmeldung.