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| Sarajevo Operation | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofWorld War II in Yugoslavia | |||||||
 3rd Yugoslav Partisans' Corps enter liberated Sarajevo, 6 April 1945 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Yugoslav PartisansGreen Cadres (paramilitary) |  Germany Independent State of Croatia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Radovan VukanovićPero KosorićSlavko RodićVladimir Perić † | Ernst von Leyser | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 38,000 men (5,000–18,000 Zeleni Kader/Green Caders) | 50,000 men of which 35,000 Germans | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 637 killed 2,020 wounded | 5,700 killed and wounded 6,000 prisoners | ||||||
 | |||||||
TheSarajevo Operation was an operation by theYugoslav Partisan Army which led to the liberation ofSarajevo andCentral Bosnia in March-April 1945.
TheGerman defense plan for Yugoslavia of 22nd of February 1945 had named Sarajevo as a fortified city, which could only be abandoned by direct permission fromAdolf Hitler. By 20th of March, the failure ofOperation Spring Awakening (the German offensive in Hungary) and the successful offensive of theYugoslav 4th Army inLika (North-Western Croatia), made holding Sarajevo pointless. The retreat was ordered, with 3,000 wounded German soldiers from the Sarajevo hospital going first.Interception of Yugoslav wireless communications had revealed to the Germans that the general attack was planned for 28th of March. In order to secure their retreat routes, the German Army carried out theBerggeist,Maigewitter andOsterglocke Operations.
On 28th of March 1945, the Yugoslav Army launched its attack. Under command of the Operational HQ for Liberation of Sarajevo were the 2nd, 3rd and 5th Corps of the Yugoslav army, supported by the 11th and 13th Krajina and 18th Central Bosnian Brigade, an Artillery Brigade and a Tank Company. The overall commander was the commander of the 2nd CorpsRadovan Vukanović. Sarajevo and its surrounding areas were defended by German andNDH forces under command of the German 21st Mountain Corps.
After heavy fighting, the city of Sarajevo was liberated on 6th of April.
During the pursuit of the enemy, Yugoslav units liberatedVisoko,Kakanj and on 10th of AprilBusovača, which concluded the Sarajevo operation.
