(1. Hrvatska-istarska domobranska pukovnija)
by H.L. deZeng IV

Formed about July 1944 in Pazin/Istria from small groups of Croatian Home Guard that had been organized by the Ustasha around Pazin in the Croatian-populated part of Istria. The men used for this regiment were the German equivalent of “Ortswehren” or village/town guards. Some of them undoubtedly had some military training but the majority of them did not. The desertions in early March 1945 noted below suggest that they were not very reliable. (1)

Operational History

1-30 Sep 44: Rgt. had 3 killed and 3 wounded during operations in September.
Jan 45: elements (at least one battalion) operating under the tactical control of HSSPF Adriatische Küstenland.
Feb 45: Rgt. in transfer from Pazin to Sušak near Rijeka and arrived by 1 March.
7 Mar 45: 4 officers and 100 men from the Rgt. defected to the Partisan 43d Istrian Division.
24 Mar 45: Rgt. had at least two battalions with elements on Krk Island south of Sušak.
Mar 45: possible incorporated into the XXIII Ustasha Brigade in March, but this cannot be confirmed.

Commanders

Podpukovnik Stjepan? Sertić (? - ?) Mar 1945

Subordination

MINDOM (Army HQ) in Zagreb (Jul 1941 - Oct 1941)
I Corps (Nov 1941 - May 1942)

Footnotes

1. Ferenc, Tone - Le Systéme d’Occupation des Nazis en Slovénie, in: Les Systémes d’Occupation en Yougoslavie 1941-1945; Novak, Bogdan C. - Trieste, 1941-1954: The Ethnic, Political, and Ideological Struggle, p.88; [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Zbornik dokumenata i podataka o narodnooslobodilačkom ratu jugoslovenskih naroda, Tom V/39, pp.121 and 490; NARA WashDC: RG 242 (T-311 roll 196/385); RG 331 (roll 447-B).

Reference material on this unit

- None known at this time -