| Operation Rübezahl I | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofWorld War II in Yugoslavia | |||||
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
 Germany Montenegrin Volunteer Corps Free Arabian Legion Independent State of Croatia Bulgaria Sandžak Muslim militia 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg |  Yugoslav Partisans1st Corps 2nd Corps (2 divisions) 12th Corps | ||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| Artur Phleps | Peko Dapčević | ||||
| Strength | |||||
| 50,000 | 16,000 | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| unknown | 1,000 injured, unknown killed | ||||
Operation Rübezahl (German:Unternehmen Rübezahl) was the name of 3 German anti-partisan operations in Yugoslavia duringWorld War II. The first operation announced the beginning of a strategic retreat byNazi German troops from Serbia after the front change ofRomania andBulgaria.[1]
In summer 1944, German soldiers were doing sweeps against communist-ledYugoslav Partisans under the overall command ofJosip Broz Tito. But on 30 August, after Romania and Bulgaria split from their Nazi ally, Germany entered into a crisis on theBalkan front. While the forces of the Partisans were moving to unite with the SovietRed Army in theGerman-occupied territory of Serbia, German troops tried to avoid defeat in that strategic area by implementing "Operation Rübezahl" to enable the organised retreat of Germans. Among them, there were:[2][unreliable source?]
Between 20 and 22 August, German troops surrounded and destroyed a particularly large Partisan unit moving westwards from theIndependent State of Croatia to occupied Serbia. Only a few Partisans survived thanks to Allied planes which managed to land on battered airstrips, air-lifting about a thousand injured to hospitals located in Italy.[3][unreliable source?]
Operation Rübezahl II was a German offensive in February 1945 against Yugoslav partisans in theSlovene Littoral.[4]
Operation Rübezahl III was a German offensive in March 1945 against the Yugoslav30th 'Slovenia' Division, who was threatening the important port city ofTrieste.[5][6]