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

Dates: 2 – 7 March 1944. (1)

Objective: To clear Partisan forces from the Primošten Peninsula just to the south of Sibenik on the Dalmatian coast.

Enemy Forces: 8th Dalmatian Brigade/20th Division NOVJ and the Sibenik-Trogir NOP Detachment.

Axis Forces:
German
264. Infanterie-Division (elements)
Grenadier-Rgt. (mot.) 92 (elements)
SS-Artillerie-Abt. 105
Croatian
Ustasha garrisons in Primošten and Rogoznica

Conduct of Operations and Results: The operation was a success. The Partisans fled the peninsula to avoid battle and withdrew into the Mosec Mountains/25 kilometers east of Sibenik.

Losses (from German records)
Germans: 1 killed and 9 wounded.
Partisans: 2 killed, 1 wounded and 20 captured.

Additionally, 332 men fit for military service were rounded up in the local villages and 450 civilians were evacuated. Postwar Yugoslav accounts state that the “evacuated” civilians were actually arrested for being Partisan sympathizers and were taken to a confinement camp in Split.

Footnotes
1. [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Hronologija oslobodilačke borbe naroda jugoslavije 1941-1945 (Belgrade, 1964), pp.704-05; NARA WashDC: RG 242 (T-314 roll 560/1138; roll 562/074).