Part of the Anti-Partisan Operations in Croatia series by H.L. deZeng IV

Dates: 20 – 30 August 1942. (1)

Objective: To destroy Partisan groups in the Fruška gora (mountains) in Syrmia that were believed to number around 2,000 men.

Enemy Forces: Fruškogorski and Podunavski Partisan Detachments in a strength of 460 combatants.

Axis Forces:
German
704. Infantrie-Div. (elements)
714. Infantrie-Div. (elements)
717. Infantrie-Div. (elements)
Nachrichten-Rgt. 521 (elements)
Panzer-Kp. 12 (elements)
Hungarian
Danube Flotilla (4 river monitors)
Croatian
II and III Bn./4th Infantry Rgt.
13th and 14th Co./4th Infantry Rgt.
XVI Ustasha Bn.
10 independent infantry platoons
2½ howitzer batteries
1 mountain gun battery
1 Croatian Air Force cadet battalion from Petrovaradin (500 men)

Conduct of Operations and Results: Throughout July and August, the Partisans in Syrmia had been running amok attacking Axis garrisons, ambushing patrols and burning crops. They had even managed to carve out a “liberated” area for themselves in the Fruška gora mountains a few kilometers southwest of Novi Sad. The operation to clear the area was conducted by German Kampfgruppe Borovski that was moved into the area on conclusion of Operation “West-Bosnien”. Orders were issued to shoot all Partisan prisoners and arrest all other males between 17 and 50, these to be taken to the detention camp in Zemun. The main attack began on 24 August and – according the Partisan accounts – over the next week the German-Croatian force killed 6,000 people and arrested and mistreated another 10,000. No quarter was given to those caught with weapons or who offered the slightest resistance and numerous atrocities occurred.

Footnotes
1. [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Oslobodilački rat naroda Juooslavije 1941-1945, 2 Vols (Belgrade: 1965), pp.323-25; NARA WashDC: RG 242 (T-501 roll 250/859-61).