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author wuming, high school studenti like military history and geopolitics. i studied macroeconomics, microeconomics, statistics, calculus, and java c++ in college. when i have free time, i will try to copy the small virus code i saw during the competition to prank my friends and i never get tired of it.

airborne assault

the offensive began at 05:00, with ground forces moving out from assembly areas around the area of ​​operations. at around 06:35, five luftwaffe bomber squadrons, including junkers ju 87 dive bombers, began bombing targets at derval and posavka. a total of 440 sorties were flown on 25 may 1944.

the 500th ss parachute battalion began parachuting and gliding at 7 a.m. the ju 52 formations carrying the paratroopers consisted of three planes per group, each dropping 45 paratroopers (15 per plane). in less than five minutes, all the paratroopers were airborne. in order to minimize losses from anti-aircraft fire, the paratroopers risked parachuting at very low altitudes, and the descent lasted only about 15 seconds. ss high commander rebka was one of the first paratroopers to reach the ground.

most of the paratroopers were able to land relatively close to their targets in the smoke and dust of the bombing. however, some gliders deviated seriously from their routes when landing, one of which landed in front of the bastasi caves seven kilometers west of derval, and several landed in frtoch. the glider crews that landed in bastasi were immediately killed by members of tito's guard battalion guarding the caves, while the glider crews in frtoch had to struggle to move towards derval.

however, although almost all the gliders reached the designated landing sites, they were hit by partisan anti-aircraft fire: there were many casualties in the wreckage. one of the 30 dfs 230 aircraft crashed quite far from the planned location, killing the leader of the grefa group on the spot. the headquarters of the rebka was located in a dfs 230 aircraft on the ground. the draufgänger group landed in the city center square and quickly lifted the yugoslav signal jammer; however, it was difficult to capture the building where the telephone exchange was located because the yugoslav women's resistance was quite fierce. at 9 am, dervar finally fell.

captain rebka then established a new headquarters behind the cemetery wall. however, the germans found no trace of tito or his headquarters.

the greifer and brecher groups also had no success, as the allied delegation had moved after the aerial reconnaissance on may 23. part of the stürmer group landed its gliders on an open field just south of the drval caves and was fired upon by members of tito's guard battalion on the heights near the caves. the draufgänger group landed its gliders on the "western cross" and then attacked a building they thought was a partisan communications center. however, the building was actually the offices of the central committee of the communist party of yugoslavia, and the party members who were still working in the building took up arms and put up a stubborn resistance until the building was razed to the ground by bombs carried by the paratroopers.

the fighting also involved paratroopers, who landed in the eastern part of the main residential area of ​​drvar. a conference of the yugoslav communist youth league had just concluded in drvar, and many delegates remained in the town. many of the youth took up any weapons they could get their hands on and began fighting the paratroopers who were trying to establish a cordon on the eastern side of the town.

two kilometers east of the road to mokronoge was a guerrilla officer training school with about 130 students. hearing the fighting coming from the direction of dervar, the students marched west, initially armed only with pistols and a few rifles. they split into two groups, a small group crossed the unak river and advanced west along the railway line on the ridge leading to tito's cave, while a large group collected weapons and ammunition from several cans of german equipment dropped by parachutes. at around 8 a.m., the large group of students attacked the paratroopers from the east, suffering heavy casualties but continuing to put pressure on the german flank. by around 9 a.m., the germans had basically controlled dervar. shortly after the operation began, rybka realized that guerrilla resistance was concentrated in the north near the cave. therefore, he fired a red flare to call his troops to attack in that direction.

at about 10:30 a.m., rybka's group, supported by at least one mg42 machine gun, crossed the unac river and launched a frontal attack on the cave entrance. at this time, tito and about 20 staff officers took refuge in the cave.

the germans advanced to the foot of the hill, 50 meters from the cave entrance, but suffered heavy casualties in the attack. while the troops were gathering, the surrounding guerrillas also rushed towards delval. three battalions of the 3rd proletarian brigade of the 1st proletarian division approached from the southeast. one battalion attacked the german positions in the cemetery, while the other two battalions attacked the germans from the west.

at about 11:15 a.m., after the first rybka attack was defeated, tito and the small group that had gathered with him escaped from the cave. there was a platform at the entrance of the cave, and they climbed down using ropes through a trapdoor on the platform. although tito's mistress davorjanka paunović (codename "zdenk") and his dog "tiger" showed some panic, they still left the cave very quickly. following a stream that led to the unak river, the group climbed up the high ground to the east and retreated to the village of potoci.

when the german paratroopers finally fought their way into the cave where the guerrilla headquarters was located, they only found a dress that tito had not taken away.

around noon, the second paratrooper force was dropped in two waves to the west of the cemetery. the drop zone was within the range of the guerrillas west of delvar, and the paratroopers suffered heavy losses in the process. rebka gathered the remaining men and launched a second attack, but the pressure on the flank was too great and the attack failed again. the battle lasted all afternoon, with heavy casualties on both sides.

in the evening, rybka ordered all troops to withdraw to the cemetery area and form a defensive perimeter. during the retreat, at least one group was surrounded and annihilated. at around 6 pm, rybka was wounded by a grenade and was subsequently evacuated along with other wounded in a light aircraft - the aircraft was originally intended to transport tito after his capture. by 9:30 pm, the germans held their positions in the cemetery, although they were now completely surrounded by the partisans. during the night, the 3rd proletarian brigade attacked the cemetery, and the attack was reinforced by troops from the 9th dalmatian division. at 3:30 am on may 26, the partisans launched a final attack on the cemetery, breaching several walls, but the paratroopers held out.

meanwhile, throughout may 25, the ground forces of the xv mountain army failed to advance as quickly as expected. the 1st, 5th, and 8th partisan armies put up unexpectedly stubborn resistance along their axis of advance, and communications between the various units were very poor, resulting in a lack of coordination in their actions. they were also repeatedly attacked by allied air forces, led by the newly formed balkan air force. tito, escorted by elements of the 3rd krajina brigade, headed for potok, where he met a battalion of the 1st proletarian brigade. in potok, they met the allied delegation, which had moved its positions in advance. fortunately, the liaison officer of the british delegation brought the only surviving radio. after the last night attack failed to annihilate the german forces in delvar, tito realized that ground forces would eventually reach the town and rescue the paratroopers, so he ordered the partisans to withdraw from the town. after observing german forces in the potoch area, tito, his staff, and his escort continued toward kupres, traveling on foot, on horseback, and in carriages on the narrow-gauge logging railway. during this long trek, a member of the soviet delegation was wounded by artillery fire.

after six days of evading the germans, the head of the soviet delegation, lieutenant general nikolai vasilevich korneev, who had lost a leg in the battle of stalingrad, suggested an air evacuation of tito and the soviet delegation. after three days of deliberation, tito agreed to the proposal on june 3, and the evacuation took place that evening from an raf-operated airfield near the town of kupres. seven douglas c-47 skytrain aircraft (one flown by a soviet crew and the rest by american crews) carried tito, the allied mission, and 118 wounded partisans to bari, italy. although tito's headquarters and several other partisan organizations were temporarily disrupted during the operation and lost many key staff members, all of the partisan organizations were quickly relocated and resumed operations. delval was also restored to partisan control within a few weeks of the operation.

descendants of meritorious service

stalin commented on the announcement by alexander golovanov, commander of soviet long-range aviation, that major randolph churchill had parachuted into yugoslavia in february 1944: “remember that the son of the prime minister does not parachute without a specific target and appear at the headquarters of another country.” however, the potential competition between the soviet union and the west in the balkans did not prevent churchill from establishing a friendly relationship with konstantin kvashnin, an adviser to the soviet military delegation - the officer to whom randolph owed the rest of his life.

kvashinin-churchill's group was supposed to be evacuated by air as early as june 1, but this plan never came to fruition. "until june 8, we were being chased through the mountains like a flock of sheep. we advanced only at night, hiding and conducting reconnaissance after daybreak," konstantin konstantinovich recalled.

konstantin kvashnin, who had extensive experience in reconnaissance and subversion, did his best to ensure that the group effectively avoided the enemy. however, on one occasion, they strayed into an enemy trap. the germans attacked from three sides, leaving the only escape route - a dangerous descent down the steep slope into the valley. during the descent, kvashnin himself had to ensure randolph's safety. according to the recollections of the intelligence officer, the son of the british prime minister was not very sober at the time. randolph was an alcoholic, and the surrounding environment had too much influence on him, so randolph began to speak loudly in a half-drunk and half-awake state. not only would he attract the attention of the germans, but he might also fall down, implicate kvashnin and a yugoslav partisan. to prevent this from happening, kvashnin simply knocked out the uncontrollable major with a punch and then put him down on the rope.

after quietly eliminating the enemy sentry, the team broke into a safe valley and was soon picked up by a british plane from bari. it turned out that tito had been rescued a few days ago: the yugoslav marshal and his headquarters were evacuated by soviet pilots, and they landed hard at the foot of a small hill.

post-war summary

the 500th ss parachute battalion suffered heavy casualties during operation knight, with 576 killed and 48 wounded. the battalion remained the only paratrooper unit in the ss for the rest of the war, but was later renamed the 600th ss parachute battalion. operation knight became the battalion's only combat parachute operation. german reports said that the ground forces of the 15th mountain army suffered 213 killed, 881 wounded, and 51 missing during operation knight. the same report stated that 6,000 partisans were killed. according to otto kumm, commander of the 7th ss division, ss brigadier general (waffen-ss general), partisan losses included 1,916 confirmed killed, 1,400 estimated killed, and 161 captured. kumm also claimed that six allied aircraft were shot down during the operation.

the german army's long-awaited decapitation operation ended in failure. however, even if the german army succeeded in decapitation in this operation, there are still doubts about whether this operation is enough to reverse the situation in the balkans. with the allied landing in normandy and the collapse of the central army group and the romanian front, the situation of the german army in the balkans became increasingly serious. after that, the german army faced an increasing threat from the guerrillas and became increasingly unable to cope with it. the final loss of belgrade marked the complete defeat of the axis in yugoslavia.