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

Dates: 24 April – 18 May 1944. (1)

Objective: To surround and destroy the Partisan 3d Assault Corps concentrated in the Vlasenica – Srebrenica area in East Bosnia.

Enemy Forces: 3d Assault Corps NOVJ (16th and 17th Assault Divisions) and 36th Assault Division NOVJ.

Axis Forces:
German
Stab/V. SS-Gebirgskorps
7. SS-Freiwillige-Gebirgs-Div. “Prinz Eugen”
13. Waffen-Gebirgs-Div. der SS “Handschar”
Croatian
Two (2) battalions from 3d Jäger Brigade
Ustasha Militia (in Kladanj)

Conduct of Operations and Results: On 21 April, the 3d Assault Corps NOVJ received orders to move from the Vlasenica area of East Bosnia, cross the Drina River, and advance into western Serbia to facilitate the movement of two Partisan divisions from the Ibar Valley to the mountainous area southwest of Valjevo in western Serbia. On 26 April, the German-Croatian force attacked the Partisan concentration, smashed and dispersed the 36th Assault Division and blocked the Partisan attempt to cross over into western Serbia. Heavy fighting continued until 11 May when the Partisans abandoned their plan and the two divisions of the 3d Assault Corps NOVJ were ordered to the Tuzla – Olovo area in eastern Bosnia and told to continue the fight there. No after-action report with a full tabulation of losses has been found for “Maibaum”, but the 7. SS-Freiwillige-Gebirgs-Div. “Prinz Eugen” claimed the following just on its own account: 2,844 counted Partisan dead, many more estimated dead, 1,434 wounded, 1,339 captured and 128 Partisan deserters. No loss figures were given for its own personnel.

Footnotes
1. [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Hronologija oslobodilačke borbe naroda jugoslavije 1941-1945 (Belgrade, 1964), pp.725-27, and 751-53; [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Oslobodilački rat naroda Juooslavije 1941-1945, 2 Vols (Belgrade: 1965), Vol. II, pp.200-04; Kumm, Otto - ‘Vorwärts Prinz Eugen!’ (Osnabrück: Munin-Verlag GmbH, 1978), pp.172-76.