Operation Rübezahl I | |||||
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Part of World War II in Yugoslavia | |||||
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Belligerents | |||||
Germany Montenegrin Volunteer Corps Free Arabian Legion Independent State of Croatia Bulgaria Sandžak Muslim militia 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg |
Yugoslav Partisans 1st Corps 2nd Corps (2 divisions) 12th Corps | ||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||
Artur Phleps | Peko Dapčević | ||||
Strength | |||||
50,000 | 16,000 | ||||
Casualties and losses | |||||
unknown |
1,000 injured, unknown killed |
Operation Rübezahl (German: Unternehmen Rübezahl) was the name of 3 German anti-partisan operations in Yugoslavia during World War II. The first operation announced the beginning of a strategic retreat by Nazi German troops from Serbia after the front change of Romania and Bulgaria.[1]
In summer 1944, German soldiers were doing sweeps against communist-led Yugoslav Partisans under the overall command of Josip Broz Tito. But on 30 August, after Romania and Bulgaria split from their Nazi ally, Germany entered into a crisis on the Balkan front. While the forces of the Partisans were moving to unite with the Soviet Red Army in the German-occupied territory of Serbia, German troops tried to avoid defeat in that strategic area by implementing『Operation Rübezahl』to enable the organised retreat of Germans. Among them there were:[2][unreliable source?]
Between 20 and 22 August, German troops surrounded and destroyed a particularly large Partisan unit moving westwards from the Independent State of Croatia to occupied Serbia. Only a few Partisans survived thanks to Allied planes which managed to land on battered airstrips, air-lifting about a thousand injured to hospitals located in Italy.[3][unreliable source?]
Operation Rübezahl II was a German offensive in February 1945 against Yugoslav partisans in the Slovene Littoral.[4]
Operation Rübezahl III was a German and Croat offensive in March 1945 against the Yugoslav 30th 'Slovenia' Division, who was threatening the important port city of Trieste.[5]
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1941 |
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1942 |
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1943 |
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1944 |
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1945 |
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Croatia |
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Macedonia |
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Serbia |
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Slovenia |
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Strategic bombing |
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