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The Raid on Drvar (Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Serbo-Croatian: Desant
na Drvar), codenamed Operation Rösselsprung (German for "knight’s
move"), was an attack by the Waffen-SS and the Luftwaffe that aimed to
disrupt the command structure of the Yugoslav Partisans by eliminating
their Supreme Headquarters, and capturing their commander, Marshal
Josip Broz Tito. The offensive took place in April and May, 1944.
The operation is generally known as the Seventh anti-Partisan
Offensive, or the Seventh Enemy Offensive (Sedma neprijateljska
ofenziva/ofanziva) in Yugoslav sources. Despite the name, "Raid on
Drvar", the offensive was much wider than the airborne raid on the HQ,
as it also included a combined Axis attack on Partisan positions in
Bosnia designed to take advantage of the command disruption. This
attack included local collaborationist forces, the Independent State
of Croatia and the Chetnik movement.
The Partisan General Staff headquarters were in the hills near Drvar,
Bosnia at the time (in today’s Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Representatives of the Allies were also present. Randolph Churchill
(son of Winston Churchill) and Evelyn Waugh were at Tito’s
headquarters at the time of the attack.
Otto Skorzeny was involved in planning of the operation and was
supposed to command it but gave up on it after his visit to Zagreb
where he realized that the operation’s secrecy was compromised. In
addition to their own intricate network, the Partisans were provided
with intelligence by the British and knew that the Axis would launch
an offensive operation around Tito’s birthday, but they did not know
that it was to be an airborne assault. Orders received by the Partisan
units, 48 hours before the air raid commenced, were to block all roads
leading from Bosanski Petrovac and Ključ to Drvar and to stall or slow
any Axis movement coming from those areas. In addition, strong
Partisan formations were positioned southeast of Drvar. Whole Partisan
brigades and divisions were moved from northwestern Krajina to Ključ
and Bosanski Petrovac. Only one Partisan company of Tito’s Escort
Battalion was left defending the cave.
At 5:00am the parachute and glider German SS and paratroopers fought
their way to Tito’s cave HQ and exchanged heavy gunfire resulting in
numerous casualties on both sides.[1] In addition, Chetnik formations
under Draža Mihailović flocked to the firefight in support of the
Germans, also attempting to capture Marshal Tito. By the time German
forces had penetrated to the cave, however, Tito had already fled the
scene and escaped: a train was waiting for him that took him to Jajce
town.
There were fewer than 100 Partisans in the town when the operation
started. Most of the Partisan troops were dispersed in the surrounding
area. The students of the Partisan Officer’s School, around 60 of
them, joined in a fight, sometimes taking arms from fallen German
troops, prevented a flanking attempt by the German paratroopers. This
proved to be crucial for saving the foreign guests (giving them more
time for escape) that were hosted by Tito. When elements of the
Partisan 6th Lika Division arrived at the battlefield, the air raid
was already a disaster and the brigade was ordered to wipe out the
remaining Axis troops in the area and to evacuate the wounded and
civilians, since it was already known that the Axis tanks and infantry
were approaching Drvar from north west.
It would appear that Tito and his staff were prepared for a quick
escape. The commandos were only able to retrieve Tito’s Marshal’s
uniform, which was later displayed in Vienna. After fierce fighting in
and around the village cemetery, the Germans were able to link up with
mountain troops. By that time, Tito, his British guests and Partisan
staff were fêted aboard the British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Blackmore
and her captain Lt. Carson, RN.
According to a German report XV. Gebirgs-Korps suffered 213 killed,
881 wounded, and 51 missing. The same reports, claimed that 6,000
Partisans were killed.[2] In addition to that, 500th SS Parachute
Bataillon was virtually annihilated, suffering losses of some 71 per
cent of its effecitves (576 KIA, 48 WIA)[3] The Partisans denied
suffering such losses and reported they lost around 500 men and had
over 1,000 wounded, mainly due to heavy bombing by the Luftwaffe.
Moreover, Partisan reports claimed over 2,000 civilians were killed by
German troops around Drvar, that were likely counted among the alleged
6,000 dead fighters reported by the SS.
~ Wiki, Raid on Drvar
