Battle of the Neretva

Case White

Date	20 January – March 1943
Location	West Bosnia, and then vicinity of the Neretva river, Herzegovina, occupied Yugoslavia
Result	Partisan retreat and heavy losses, Chetnik defeat, Axis failure to achieve strategic goals

Belligerents

Partisans

Commanders and leaders

Strength

90,000 men
12,000–15,000 Chetniks
12 air squadrons

Unknown
(about 20,000 men)

Casualties and losses

German casualties:
514–583 killed, 1,214–1,642 wounded, 145–158 missing
Italian casualties:
1,605 killed, 983 captured
Croatian casualties:
126 killed, 258 wounded, 218 missing
Chetnik casualties:
2,000–3,000
Total Axis casualties:
7,000–8,600

11,915–12,000 killed, 616 executed, 2,099–2,506 captured (German claim)
10,000 killed, wounded and missing and 2,000 captured (Yugoslav claim)

3,370 civilians killed and 1,722 deported to concentration camps

Case White (German: Fall Weiss), also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive (Serbo-Croatian: Četvrta neprijateljska ofenziva/ofanziva) was a combined Axis strategic offensive launched against the Yugoslav Partisans throughout occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. It was one of the most significant confrontations of World War II in Yugoslavia. The offensive took place in early 1943, between 20 January and mid-to-late March. The Axis operation prompted the Partisan Supreme Command to enact its plans to drive toward eastern Herzegovina, Sandžak and Montenegro. In order to do this, Tito formed the so-called Main Operational Group, which eventually succeeded in forcing its way across the Neretva in mid-March 1943, after a series of battles with various hostile formations. Other Partisan formations, the 1st Croatian and 1st Bosnian Corps, managed to evade Axis blows and, despite significant losses, reclaim most of the territory they had held before the beginning of the operation.

Since its final stage took place on the Neretva River, the operation was known in Yugoslavia as the Battle of the Neretva (Bitka na Neretvi). This stage is also known as the Battle for the Wounded (Bitka za ranjenike).

In late 1942, with the Axis situation in North Africa deteriorating, the German high command became concerned about the possibility of an Allied landing in the Balkans. In such an event, resistance forces in Yugoslavia would be likely to interfere with German defensive operations as well as their economic exploitation of natural resources, including timber, copper and bauxite. As a result, on 16 December 1942 Adolf Hitler ordered the Armed Forces Commander in Southeast Europe, Generaloberst Alexander Löhr, to crush the resistance in Yugoslavia. In a meeting of 18–19 December, the General Staff of the Wehrmacht decided on the destruction of the Bihać Republic. On 8 January Löhr and Mario Roatta, commander of the 2nd Italian Army, met in Zagreb and devised a detailed plan.

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Wikipedia