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

Dates: 2 – 7 November 1942. (1)

Objective: To destroy a Partisan concentration in the Japra Valley northwest and west of Sanski Most in West Bosnia.

Enemy Forces: 5th and 6th Krajiški NOU Brigades.

Axis Forces:
German
Infanterie-Rgt. 721/714. Inf.Div. (elements)
Infanterie-Rgt. 741/714. Inf.Div. (elements)
Artillerie-Abt. 661 (elements)
Nachrichten-Kp. 714 (elements)
I./Panzer-Rgt. 202
Croatia
III and IV Bn./3d Mountain Brigade
1st Infantry Rgt. (elements)
10th Infantry Rgt. (elements)
11th Infantry Rgt. (elements)
VI Ustasha Bn.
IV, VIII and XVIII Ustasha Bn. (elements)
Volksdeutsch Bn. “Ludwig von Baden”
I Assault Bn. (elements)
4th, 5th and 6th Co./Volunteer Battalion Banja Luka

Conduct of Operations and Results: By forcing the enemy out of the Japra Valley, the Axis forces were able to restore the line of defense that protected the vital mining complex at Ljubija from the southwest. The Partisans fled the from the area and there was little contact between the opposing forces.

Footnotes
1. [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Hronologija oslobodilačke borbe naroda jugoslavije 1941-1945 (Belgrade, 1964), p.355; [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Oslobodilački rat naroda Juooslavije 1941-1945, 2 Vols (Belgrade: 1965), p.285; [Stato Maggiore Esercito - Ufficio Storico] - Le Operazioni delle Unita italiane in Jugoslavia 1941-1943 (Rome: Ministero della Difesa stato Maggiore dell' Esercito, 1978), p.212; Tomasevich, Jozo - The Chetniks (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1975), p.233.