| Battle of Batina | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theYugoslav andSyrmian fronts ofWorld War II | |||||||
 Photograph of destroyed buildings inBatina after the battle captured by the1st Vojvodinian Brigade on 30 November 1944. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Soviet Union Yugoslav Partisans |  Germany Hungary | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Mikhail Sharokhin | Hellmuth Felmy | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 57th Army 51st Partisan Division | 68th Army Corps Brandenburgers 31st SS Division 44th Infantry Division | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
 1,237 soldiers killed[1] 648 partisans killed | 2,000 dead and wounded | ||||||
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TheBattle of Batina orBatina Operation (Serbo-Croatian:Bitka kod Batine) was fought on theSyrmian Front of theSecond World War between the units of theRed Army and theYugoslav Partisans against theWehrmacht and their allies. The battle took place from 11 to 29 November 1944 near the village ofBatina inBaranja, on the right bank of theDanube River. According to some estimates, the Battle of Batina was the biggest battle by the number of participants, the intensity of fighting, and the strategic importance that occurred duringWorld War II in Yugoslavia.[2]
After the liberation ofBelgrade andVojvodina, the57th Army, under the command of GeneralMikhail Sharokhin, supported by the 51st Vojvodina Division under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Sreten Savić, reached to the left bank of theDanube river and took over its defense fromBaja toBačka Palanka. To facilitate further operations of theRed Army towardsVienna andBudapest, the 51st Partisan division crossed the left bank of theDrava river. These units had the task to take over bridges and provide the transfer of other units across the Danube river. In the headquarters of the57th Army inSrbobran,Yugoslav National Liberation Army's generalKosta Nađ and the3rd Ukrainian Front commander MarshalFyodor Tolbukhin, agreed to choose the village of Batina as the point for crossing the Danube river. As a backup area, they selected the area to the west ofApatin. Both commanders thought that, due to the extremely unfavorable and inaccessible terrain near Batina (wide and flooded rivers, wetlands and almost perpendicular cliffs), the enemy wouldn't expect an attack on this part of the river.
In early November 1944, the right bank of the Danube river was defended by a number of German strongholds, stretching between the villages ofDuboševica andČarne. They were managed by forces of the68th Army Corps (General of AviationHellmuth Felmy) fromArmy Group F, under the command of MarshalMaximilian von Weichs.
It was composed of parts of the German31st SS andBrandenburg divisions, four Hungarian and three battalions, several police battalions, 25 artillery batteries and 30 tanks.
Stronger reserves were located south ofOsijek and atPécs. In anticipation of new attacks, the German command was constantly bringing new units into the area. At the beginning of the Battle of Batina, German forces had about 30,000 troops, a number which increased to more than 60,000 at the end of the battle.[3]
Forces of the Soviet Army that participated in the Battle of Batina was the57th Army, composed of the
Forces of theNational Liberation Army that participated in the Battle of Batina were: the
The Allied plan envisioned that the 73rd Guards and 233rd Red Army divisions and the 51st People's Liberation Army's division (without the 8th Brigade) would attack Batina and take it over. They would later extend the bridgehead up to the villagesDraž andZmajevac. The 236th Red Army Division and the 8th Brigade of the 51st Division would attack and take overZlatna Greda and expand the bridgehead towards the village ofZmajevac andKneževi Vinogradi.
The battle of Batina lasted from 11 to 29 November 1944, when the Allies took the bridgeheads near Batina and Apatin. In the decisive fight, the German forces tried to force the Red Army and the NLA back to the Danube with several counterattacks, in particular from 12 to 15 November. All the counterattacks, however, were rejected, and the Germans forces in the territory between the Danube and Drava rivers were substantially destroyed.Baranja was liberated as well. These actions created favorable conditions for the subsequent Red Army's offensive towards Vienna and Budapest, while the whole German front on theSyrmian Front was weakened.
The First Recon Group of the 12th Vojvodina brigade and the 233rd divisions of the Red Army (commanded by Colonel Sidorenko) managed to cross the Danube on the night of 9–10 November 1944 unnoticed. They approached the enemy positions to a few meters and waited there for the main units to arrive, helping them by sending signals. On 11 November, just before dawn, two battalions of the Red Army's 233rd Division and one battalion of the 12th Brigade, with the strong support of Soviet artillery, transferred across the Danube with the fishing boats to an area nearBatina, and then launched an attack on the German positions. They first attackedDraž, trig 205 and Zmajevac, in front of which they were stopped.
In the afternoon of 11 November, and on the night of 11–12 November, other battalions of the 12th Brigade were transferred across the Danube and joined those units that had been transferred in the morning. On 12 November, around noon, the35th SS Division, supported by tanks and 20 airplanes, started a counter-attack and managed to push the 12th brigade and 233rd battalion division to the western edge of Batina by nightfall. The fighting continued on 13 November, when the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Brigade was transferred across the Danube to help the Red Army and NLA forces there.
On the next day, the Germans continued to attack in a very tough fight and managed to push troops to the eastern part of Batina. In the next two days, heavy street fighting took place in the streets of Batina. The Soviet troops and the 51st division were suppressed on 15 November. In this critical moment, the whole Red Army's 73rd Guards Division, and, on the night of 15–16 November, other battalions of the 7th Brigade were also transferred across the river, replacing the exhausted 12th Brigade's battalions.
The bloodiest battles were fought at the Batina train station and Hill 169, known as the "Bloody Hill" (Croatian:Krvava Kota). On 16 November the Red Army and NLA attacked the Nazis with everything they had, eventually pushing the 35th SS Division to Draž and Zmajevac. Along with the development of the struggle in the direction of Zmajevac and Draž, on 18 November, they crossed the Danube, north of Apatin. The 236th Red Army division and a battalion of the 51st division's 8th brigade headed towardsMonjoroš andTikveš Castle. By 22 November the other troops of the 236th Soviet Division and the 8th Brigade were transferred across the Danube. Next day, in a general strike, the 73rd Guards Division took Zmajevac in conjunction with the 51st Division, while the 8th Brigade,Monjoroš, and the 233rd Division took Draž.
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