Reinforced (Croatian) Infantry Regiment 369
The Reinforced (Croatian) Infantry Regiment 369 was an association of the Wehrmacht during World War II . It was recruited as the first unit of the Croatian Legion in mid-1941 from volunteers recruited in the fascist Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and wiped out in 1943 at the Battle of Stalingrad .
Lineup
Only a few days after the start of the German Balkan campaign , Croatia declared itself independent on April 10, 1941. The fascist politician Ante Pavelić made himself poglavnik (leader) of the Independent State of Croatia . A week later he decided to join the so-called " Axis Powers " and declared war on the United Kingdom .
Shortly after the German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Pavelić tried to recruit volunteers who were to fight in a Croatian legion alongside the German armed forces on the Eastern Front .
Two battalions could quickly be set up and combined into one regiment in Warasdin . A third, Bosnian battalion was formed in Sarajevo . All three battalions were then moved to Döllersheim in Austria , where they were combined to form the reinforced (Croatian) Infantry Regiment 369. The regiment consisted of three infantry -Bataillonen, an MG - company , an antitank -Kompanie, three field artillery - batteries and a supply company, a total of about 5,000 soldiers.
Used in the German-Soviet War
Advance on the Eastern Front
On August 22, 1941, the regiment arrived in the southern section of the German-Russian theater of war. In October it was attached to the 100th Jäger Division , which was predominantly made up of Austrians, and fought in its unit on the Dnieper, in Kharkov and on the upper Donetsk, and at the end of the year on the Mius Front.
In 1942 the advance to the central Don and the great Don Arc took place. The regiment, commanded by Colonel Viktor Pavičić from July, took part in the battles for Kharkov and Kalatsch .
Downfall in Stalingrad
As part of the German 6th Army , the Croatian regiment took over a section of combat in the battle of Stalingrad in the north of Stalingrad and took part in the toughest skirmishes of the battle.
“When we entered Stalingrad, it was totally destroyed and in flames. We sought protection in the bunkers and trenches as the enemy was constantly firing at us with artillery, Katyusha rockets and the air force. I was lucky enough not to lose any men, but the second platoon lost a man and wounded five. At around 6 a.m., Stukas bombed the area in front of us and an attack on the northern part of the city was ordered. My mission was to reach the Volga by train. With the night came a permanent bombardment. I haven't lost a husband, but our transport unit was badly hit. They lost 10 men, 40 horses and a truck full of equipment. "
" From 26 to 27.9. The Russian planes flew very low and bombed the area where my battalion was holed up. On the morning of September 27th, we were only shot at from one side of the city. I divided my men into different trenches until I got the order to move towards the 227th Regiment. We were only able to carry out this movement at night, although the Soviets bombarded the area very heavily with their artillery and Katyusha missiles. We moved in small groups of 3 to 4 men and hoped to survive the 10 km to the 227th regiment unscathed. After only 100 meters my men died - one after the other. Company commander Tomas was wounded. We had no choice but to move on through trenches. The Soviets dropped phosphorus bombs over our heads. Many of the men were burned to death. It was a terrible sight. The healthy and the wounded jumped to hell to pull their comrades out. On September 28, 1942, I left my unit because of a head injury caused by a bomb fragment and was flown out. I later heard that my men continued their heroic struggle until the last one fell from the 2nd Battalion. "
“ After the 369th Croatian infantry regiment under the leadership of Colonel Pavičić was reinforced (in the structure with the 100th Jägerdivision) - on September 27 and 28, 1942, on the occasion of the attack on the factory center of Stalingrad - they fought in from the south Direction of the Volga as a right lateral division protection. The legionnaires, who were already known for their bravery, showed great willingness to fight in the first few battles. For tactical reasons, however, this attack was canceled. After the regrouping of our individual combat groups and in cooperation with the 24th Panzer Division, the attack began from the western side on the large factory center in the city center, which was to be occupied in order to reach the Volga. This was one of the most difficult jobs a unit was given in this war. With our relatively weak forces, we were supposed to drive out the enemy who was desperately trying to keep himself in the city center from his well-fortified and developed bunkers, positions, trenches and cellars. Already on September 28, 1942, the Croatian troop unit assigned to us stood out, which with its precise cannon fire supported the heavy occurrence of our infantry in the attack on the area of the oil refinery next to the great railway arch. "
As part of the regrouping of the LI. Army Corps on September 25, 1942, IR 369 was used to attack the workers' settlements. During the attack on Mamayev Hill on September 27, 1942, IR 369 placed the reserve behind Jäger Regiments 54 and 227. Only when the battle for the top of the hill was in the decisive phase did IR 369 take part in the battles for the Mamayev Kurgan, the "tennis racket" and the meat combine on the right wing of the 100th Hunter Division . On September 29, 1942, the IR 369 tried to drive the 1045th Rifle Regiment of Batjuks 284th Rifle Division out of the tennis racket, but only succeeded in taking the west side of the meat combine, the daily losses amounted to 70 dead. On September 30, 1942, another attempt was made to clear the northeastern slopes of the Mamayev Kurgan from the dug-in Soviet soldiers, which did not succeed. The advance into the workers' settlements saw land gain, and on Mamayev Hill stagnation and ongoing trench warfare. At the beginning of October 1942, IR 369 operated together with IR 54 against the 193rd SD in the western entrances to the workers' settlement "Red October" along the axis of Karusel'naja and Bibliotečnaja streets. The hunters still had the arduous task of bringing the densely built-up area of the workers' settlements under control and breaking the Soviet resistance to the left and right of the railway line. As both regiments became increasingly involved in bitter and highly fragmented house-to-house and street fighting with the 193rd Rifle Division, they split up into smaller combat groups. The gain in terrain was minimal, sometimes only 10 to 100 meters per day. Often from lack of ammunition with bayonet discharged melee of block to block called heavy losses even with the Red Army, when their average regimental strength reduced within a very short time to 200 soldiers. On October 17, 1942, IR 369 had approached the entrances to the “Red October” steelworks and hit the defense lines of the 39th Guards Rifle Division under Major General Gurjev. When planning the operation of the attack on the “Red October” steelworks on October 22, 1942, IR 369 was used on the right flank next to the 14th Panzer Division and the 227th Jäger Regiment near the Bannyj Gorge. In the course of the battle for “Red October”, IR 369 was subordinated to the 79th Infantry Division and played a central role in the conquest of factory buildings 1–3. On October 25, 1942, IR 369, which at that time only had battalion strength, took over the defensive positions of IR 212 in Halls 9 and 10. At the end of October 1942, the Croats defended Halls 6 and 7 and then focused on the unsuccessful attempts to capture the Martinsofenhalle / Hall 4 in action. On November 11, 1942, together with the Pioneer Battalion 179, there was a final break-in into the Martinsofenhalle, which ended in a military fiasco (see Operation Hubertus ). Major Brajković led the surviving 191 Croatians, but lost most of his soldiers in continuous fire from Soviet machine guns.
Sergeant Dragutin Podobnik was one of the most decorated soldiers in the Croatian Legion. He received the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class and a number of Croatian medals for bravery, some of them personally from Pavičić in September 1942. Podobnik became famous in the Battle of Stalingrad by taking the T-shaped building (T-house) in the steel mill "Red October". Pavičić ordered the attack on the tactically important fortification of houses in the Soviet defense line, but did not want to wait for the late arrival of the main battle tanks for support due to lack of time. Podobnik's 18-man infantry platoon took the T-House in one stroke without any losses, killed all Soviet defenders and handed the house over to the 54th Infantry Regiment (Weber group). A little later the T-House was recaptured by a raiding party of the Red Army, which was able to approach undetected via underground passages, days later was again taken by German forces, but this time with high losses. Sergeant Podobnik was later wounded in the Battle of Stalingrad, evacuated from the cauldron and killed as a soldier from Pavičić's elite unit in the spring of 1945.
The severely decimated Croatian legionnaires fought in the Kessel Battle until the surrender on January 29th and 30th, 1943 and stayed in the conquered factory halls of the “Red October” steelworks until the end. On October 21, 1942 there were 983 legionnaires (excluding artillery and combat support troops) and on January 21, 1943 only 443, which means that over 50% of the soldiers lost their lives in the fighting for the Stalingrad industrial complexes in three months.
The regimental command post and the artillery batteries were set up in the area around the aviation school and the cemetery. In the final phase of the Kesselschlacht, another 350 Croatians died of frostbite at outside temperatures of −30 ° C, malnutrition and the strains of 24-hour firefights without interruption. Colonel Mesić succeeded Pavičić, who renounced and disappeared. In previous letters, Pavičić Mesić had already proposed General Sanne as his successor. The departure of the missing Pavičić was formally covered up. The documents signed by General Sanne were issued so that he would be flown out of Stalingrad on January 15, 1943. Since there were hardly any infantrymen left, artillery soldiers had to take over their duties in defending the last defensive positions. Some of the last officers and NCOs included Colonel Desović, Major Mladić, Major Pletikosa, Captain Majerberger, Madraš and Tahir Alagić, Lt. Sloboda, Lt. Božidar Katušić, Lt. Jelić, Lt. Telišman Milivoj, Lt. Mihajlo Zubčevski, Lt. Fijember, Lt. Krsnik, Lt. Rudolf Baričević, Lt. Mihajlo Korobkin, Lt. Drago Mautner, Lt. Ivan Pap, Lt. Tomas, Lt. Ivan Čorić, Lt. Zvonimir Bućan and Lt. Djekic. The bravery of Sergeants Kučera, Martinović and Anton Štimac was noted separately.
Captain Madraš refused to be flown out because he saw his place with his soldiers. Grbeša, Karlović Ivan, Resele Ivan, Stipetić Ivo and Tufo Ešref were tried by a military high-speed court for insubordination and cowardice and probably executed before the surrender. Major Brajković was charged with maintaining military discipline and carried out these measures.
When Stalingrad was encircled, Croatian airmen also took over its supply from the air. Around 1,000 wounded Croatian soldiers were flown out of the besieged Stalingrad. Lieutenant Rudolf Baričević and a group of 18 wounded Croatian soldiers were the last to be flown out of Stalingrad in a daring maneuver in heavy snowstorms.
By the end of 1942 the regiment had lost two thirds of its strength and melted down to battalion strength. The rest of the regiment was eventually almost completely destroyed in January 1943. After the end of the fighting, Lieutenant Colonel Mesić, 100 wounded, severely weakened and half-frozen soldiers due to typhus , dysentery , scurvy and other deficiency diseases, as well as 600 legionaries from artillery and other support troops, were taken prisoner by the Soviets , where their traces were lost.
Individual evidence
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 235.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, pp. 254-255.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 264 and 278.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, pp. 283-284.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 309 and 313.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 317.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 322.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 411.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 467.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 482.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 498.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 614.
- ↑ David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, p. 636.
- ↑ Allen Milcic: The Independent State of Croatia
