Battle of Kočevje
Part ofWorld War II in Yugoslavia
Date 9–12 December 1943 Location Kočevje Territorial changes Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral
Belligerents
Slovene Partisans	Germany Slovene Home Guard
Strength
Tone Tomšič Brigade,Ljubo Šercer Brigade,Loška Brigade	150 German police and some 100Slovene Home Guard members

TheBattle of Kočevje (Slovene:bitka za Kočevje) was an encounter between theSlovene Partisans, the armed wing of the pro-AlliesLiberation Front of the Slovene People and on the other hand theGerman occupying forces and the pro-AxisSlovene Home Guard inOperational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral duringWorld War II.

Under the command ofMirko Bračič at midnight on 9 December 1943 the town ofKočevje (German: Gotschee) was attacked by three Slovene Partisans brigades. The attack was supported by the partisan artillery and mortars.

The Kočevje mine, student hostel, school and some other important buildings in the city were captured by the partisans. The remnants of the German-Home Guard garrison retreated into the Gotschee Castle where it remained protected by its thick walls until two German relief columns under the command ofOskar von Niedermayer came from Ljubljana and broke the partisan encirclement, rescuing the besieged German garrison on 12 December 1943.^[1]

• Stefano di Giusto (2002)Panzer in the OZAK 1943-1945. Edizioni della Laguna,ISBN 8883450884 (containingphotographs taken after the battle that are part of the collection of theMuseum of contemporary history, Ljubljana).

• Conflicts in 1943
• Slovenia in World War II
• Slovene Partisans
• Military operations of World War II involving Germany
• Yugoslavia in World War II
• 1943 in Yugoslavia
• Battles involving the Yugoslav Partisans
• December 1943 in Europe

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Slovene-language text