8th Corps (Yugoslav Partisans)

Last updated
8th Dalmatian Shock Corps
Croatian Partisans flag.svg
Flag of the Federal State of Croatia, used by Partisans in Croatia
Active7 October 1943– 2 March 1945
Country Yugoslavia
Branch Yugoslav Partisans flag 1945.svg Yugoslav Partisan Army
Type Infantry
Size Corps
Part of 4th Army
Engagements World War II in Yugoslavia
* Operation Ziethen (1943)
* Operation Herbstgewitter II (1943)
* Operation Rösselsprung (1944)
* Operation Knin (1944)
* Mostar Operation (1945)
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Vicko Krstulović
Sreten Žujović
Pavle Ilić
Petar Drapšin

The 8th Dalmatian Shock Corps (Serbo-Croatian : 8. dalmatinski korpus) was a corps of the Yugoslav Partisans formed on 7 October 1943. It was formed from the 9th, 19th, 20th, and 26th Dalmatian divisions, and was named after the region of Dalmatia. [1] Upon creation it had 13,049 soldiers. [2] The corps operated in the Independent State of Croatia, Governorate of Dalmatia, and Adriatic Littoral, where they fought Italians, Chetniks, the Ustaše, and Germans.

On 30 November 1944 the 8th Dalmatian Corps, without the military command, had 34,548 soldiers, out of which 25,127 were Croats, 4,806 Serbs, 236 Muslims, 61 Jews, and 4,318 others, mostly Slovenes and Montenegrins. [3] In February 1945 Corps numbered over 45,000 fighters, of which about 70% were Croats and the other 30% were Serbs, Muslims, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Italians and others. [4]

The 8th Corps participated in the liberation of Dalmatia, Herzegovina, western Bosnia, Istria, Kvarner, Lika, Slovenian Littoral, and Trieste. Upon liberation of Knin in December 1944, the corps was named Udarni ('shock'), while the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Dalmatian Strike Brigades received the Order of the People's Hero. [5] On 2 March 1945 the corps became part of the 4th Army of the Yugoslav Partisans, together with the 7th and 11th Corps, while having 45,524 soldiers. [1] [6] On 20 March 1945, the Dalmatian divisions began a great battle from Lika to Soča, this offensive was in area long over 300 kilometers. In this military operation the 8th Dalmatian Corps had about 5,000 dead and over 15,000 wounded fighters. The enemy from this corps suffered heavy losses of about 100,000 dead and captured. The 8th Corps gave great contribution for liberation Croatia, parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. Josip Broz Tito on 13 September 1953, in Split said that this corps "has played historical role in history of our People's Liberation War, that is why he deserves gratitude and recognition" [4]

Notes

  1. 1 2 8th Dalmatian Corps of NOVJ
  2. Nikola Anić: Povijest Osmog dalmatinskog korpusa Narodnooslobodilačke vojske Hrvatske : 1943.-1945., page 356
  3. "Zbornik dokumenata NOR-a, tom V., knjiga 35, page 546-547". Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  4. 1 2 Nikola Anić: Povijest Osmog dalmatinskog korpusa Narodnooslobodilačke vojske Hrvatske : 1943.-1945., page 19-22
  5. Nikola Anić: Povijest Osmog dalmatinskog korpusa Narodnooslobodilačke vojske Hrvatske : 1943.-1945., page 310
  6. Nikola Anić: Povijest Osmog dalmatinskog korpusa Narodnooslobodilačke vojske Hrvatske : 1943.-1945., page 243

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalmatia</span> Historical region of Croatia

Dalmatia is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Central Croatia, Slavonia and Istria, located on the east shore of the Adriatic Sea in Croatia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knin</span> City in Dalmatian Hinterland, Croatia

Knin is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagreb and Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as the capital of both the medieval Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the self-proclaimed quasi-state Republic of Serbian Krajina within the newly independent Republic of Croatia for the duration of Croatian War of Independence from 1991 to 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yugoslav Partisans</span> Communist-led anti-Axis resistance in World War II

The Yugoslav Partisans, or the National Liberation Army, officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia, was the communist-led anti-fascist resistance to the Axis powers in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. Led by Josip Broz Tito, the Partisans are considered to be Europe's most effective anti-Axis resistance movement during World War II.

The military history of Croatia encompasses wars, battles and all military actions fought on the territory of modern Croatia and the military history of the Croat people regardless of political geography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petar Drapšin</span> Yugoslav Partisan commander

Petar Drapšin was a Yugoslav Partisan commander.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World War II in Yugoslavia</span> Military operations in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia

World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was invaded and swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned among Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the USSR on 22 June 1941, the communist-led republican Yugoslav Partisans, on orders from Moscow, launched a guerrilla liberation war fighting against the Axis forces and their locally established puppet regimes, including the Axis-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and the Government of National Salvation in the German-occupied territory of Serbia. This was dubbed the National Liberation War and Socialist Revolution in post-war Yugoslav communist historiography. Simultaneously, a multi-side civil war was waged between the Yugoslav communist Partisans, the Serbian royalist Chetniks, the Axis-allied Croatian Ustaše and Home Guard, Serbian Volunteer Corps and State Guard, Slovene Home Guard, as well as Nazi-allied Russian Protective Corps troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ban of Croatia</span> Historical title of rulers and viceroys in Croatian history

Ban of Croatia was the title of local rulers or office holders and after 1102, viceroys of Croatia. From the earliest periods of the Croatian state, some provinces were ruled by bans as a ruler's representative (viceroy) and supreme military commander. In the 18th century, Croatian bans eventually became the chief government officials in Croatia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 351 Squadron RAF</span> Military unit

No. 351 Squadron RAF was a Yugoslav Partisan-manned fighter-bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF) which was operational between 13 October 1944 and 1 May 1945 during World War II. The squadron was also known by the Partisans as Second Squadron (NOVJ).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mostar operation</span> 1945 battle

The Mostar Operation was a series of Yugoslav Partisan military operations in Herzegovina from February 6–15, 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Younger Ikavian dialect</span> Shtokavian Serbo-Croatian dialect

Younger Ikavian, also called Western Ikavian/Western Neoshtokavian Ikavian, or Bosnian–Dalmatian dialect, is a subdialect of Shtokavian Serbo-Croatian spoken primarily by Croats in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Italy, less by Bosniaks and rarely Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most speakers use the Latin alphabet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petar Baćović</span> World War II Chetnik leader

Petar Baćović was a Bosnian Serb Chetnik commander within occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. From the summer of 1941 until April 1942, he headed the cabinet of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Milan Nedić's puppet Government of National Salvation in the German-occupied territory of Serbia. In May and June 1942, Baćović participated in the joint Italian-Chetnik offensive against the Yugoslav Partisans in Montenegro. In July 1942, Baćović was appointed by the Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović and his Supreme Command as the commander of the Chetnik units in the regions of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Axis puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia. In this role, Baćović continued collaborating with the Italians against the Yugoslav Partisans, with his Chetniks formally recognised as Italian auxiliaries from mid-1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinara Division</span> Military unit

The Dinara Division was an irregular Chetnik formation that existed during the World War II Axis occupation of Yugoslavia that largely operated as auxiliaries of the occupying forces and fought the Yugoslav Partisans. Organized in 1942 with assistance from Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin and headed by Momčilo Đujić, the division incorporated commanders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, northern Dalmatia, and the Lika region. The division was under the control of supreme Chetnik commander Draža Mihailović and received aid from Dimitrije Ljotić, leader of the Serbian Volunteer Corps, and Milan Nedić, head of the Serbian puppet Government of National Salvation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Knin</span>

The battle of Knin was a major Yugoslav Partisan operation during World War II in Yugoslavia launched by the 8th Dalmatian Corps from 7 November to 9 December 1944 with the purpose of destroying German, Ustaše and Chetnik formations in North Dalmatia and the city of Knin, then part of the Independent State of Croatia. It was the final part of the 8th Corps offensive for the liberation of Dalmatia which began on 12 September 1944. The Knin operation had three phases: Initial battles on approaches to Knin from 7 November to 25 November, main battle and liberation of Knin from 26 November to 4 December, and final battles and pursuit of retreating Axis forces to Otrić in Lika from 5 December to 9 December.

Anti-Croat sentiment or Croatophobia is discrimination or prejudice against Croats as an ethnic group and it also consists of negative feelings towards Croatia as a country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Split</span>

The city of Split was founded as the Greek colony of Aspálathos (Aσπάλαθος) in the 3rd or 2nd century BC. It became a prominent settlement around 650 CE when it succeeded the ancient capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, Salona. After the Sack of Salona by the Avars and Slavs, the fortified Palace of Diocletian was settled by the Roman refugees. Split became a Byzantine city, to later gradually drift into the sphere of the Republic of Venice and the Kingdom of Croatia, with the Byzantines retaining nominal suzerainty. For much of the High and Late Middle Ages, Split enjoyed autonomy as a free city, caught in the middle of a struggle between Venice and the King of Hungary for control over the Dalmatian city-states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croatian Partisans</span>

The Croatian Partisans, officially the National Liberation Movement in Croatia, were part of the anti-fascist National Liberational Movement in the Axis-occupied Yugoslavia which was the most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement. It was led by Yugoslav revolutionary communists during the World War II. NOP was under the leadership of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (KPJ) and supported by many others, with Croatian Peasant Party members contributing to it significantly. NOP units were able to temporarily or permanently liberate large parts of Croatia from occupying forces. Based on the NOP, the Federal Republic of Croatia was founded as a constituent of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill referred to the movement as "the Croatian miracle".

The 4th Army of the Yugoslav Partisans was a Partisan army that operated in Yugoslavia during the last months of the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Vukov Klanac</span>

The Battle of Vukov Klanac was a 7-day fight between Wehrmacht and Yugoslav Partisan forces in central Dalmatia. The battle occurred between 15 and 23 October 1944. It occurred in the region between Metković and Ston as Wehrmacht forces retreated from the nearby cities of Dubrovnik and Ston. It resulted in the 369th Devil's Division losing most of its equipment and a large fraction of its manpower to Partisan forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Race for Trieste</span> 1945 WWII battle

The Race for Trieste, also known as the Trieste Operation, was a battle during the Second World War that took place during early May 1945. It led to a joint allied victory for the Yugoslav Partisans and 2nd New Zealand Division and a joint occupation of Trieste, but relations soon deteriorated and led to a nine-year dispute over the territory of Trieste. This battle is also considered the last battle in which a considerable force of Chetniks fought, as 13,000 of the irregular troops under Momčilo Đujić surrendered to the New Zealand forces under Lieutenant General Sir Bernard Freyberg as the battle progressed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">6th Division (Yugoslav Partisans)</span> Yugoslav Partisan military division formed in 1942

The 6th Proletarian Assault Lika Division "Nikola Tesla" was a Yugoslav Partisan division formed on 22 November 1942. It was formed from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Lika Brigades. On 11 November 1943, it became part of the 4th Corps and later a part of the 1st Corps. It operated in Dalmatia until November 1943 when it crossed into Bosnia, later it fought in Serbia and on the Syrmian Front. From October 1944, the 22nd Serbian Kosmaj Brigade also fought as part of the division, and in December 1944 an Artillery Brigade was formed within the division.

References