Terror in the Balkans (58 page)

108. See Appendix A.

109. Walter Manoschek and Hans Safrian, “717./117. Inf.-Div.: Eine Infanterie-Division auf dem Balkan,” in
Vernichtungskrieg: Verbrechen der Wehrmacht, 1941 bis 1944
, ed. Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, 1995),” 362–363; Hermann Frank Meyer,
Von Wien nach Kalavryta: Die blutige Spur der 117. Jäger-Division

durch Serbien und Griechenland
(Mannheim: Peleus, 2002), 44–49; Germann, “‘Österreichische’ Soldaten in Ost- und Südosteuropa 1941—1945: Deutsche Krieger—Nation-

alsozialistische Verbrecher—Österreichische Opfer?,” 145–149. Grisly but necessary

distinctions need making between the 717th’s conduct on these occasions, and that of

the 342d, if the exceptional nature of the 342d’s brutality is to be properly understood.

At Kragujevac, the third battalion of the 749th Infantry Regiment (717th Infantry Divi-

sion) and the fi rst battalion of the 724th Infantry Regiment (704th Infantry Division) shot twenty-three hundred civilians in reprisal for ten dead and twenty-six wounded Wehrmacht soldiers. This reprisal was in line with General Boehme’s 1:100 and 1:50 ratios.

Some of the killings at Kraljevo were not in response to particular attacks in which

Wehrmacht soldiers had been killed or wounded. On October 15, soldiers of the 717th

shot three hundred civilians simply because they had been fi red upon from houses in

the town. On October 16 the town commandant (not directly subordinate to the 717th)

ordered that the
families
of hostages, as well as hostages themselves, be killed and their homes destroyed.

However, at the close of the operation, the 717th recorded losing fi fty dead and ninety-two wounded to enemy action during its course. Both the “grand total” of enemy dead the

division recorded (5,037) as well as of reprisal victims specifi cally (forty-three hundred), were actually far lower than the ninety-six hundred hostages who would have been shot

had Boehme’s reprisal ratios been followed. The shortfall was almost certainly due not to

“restraint,” but to lack of suffi cient victims. Dreadful as this conduct clearly was, however,
Notes to Pages 141–145
307

it remained within the boundaries set by Boehme. Manoschek,
“Serbien ist judenfrei”:
Militarische Besatzungspolitik und Judenvernichtung in Serbien 1941/42,
chap. 4.

110. RH7, fi les on Walter Hinghofer, Paul Hoffmann and Erich Stahl; MSg 109, fi le on

Heinrich Borowski.

111. Germann, “‘Österreichische’ Soldaten in Ost- und Südosteuropa 1941–1945: Deutsche

Krieger—Nationalsozialistische Verbrecher—Österreichische Opfer?,” 129–133.

112. The 342d’s divisional fi les are not suffi ciently detailed to enable a meaningful comparison of the different levels of brutality, in terms of numbers of “insurgents”

reported killed, displayed by each of the division’s three subordinate regiments.

113. Manoschek,
“Serbien ist judenfrei”: Militarische Besatzungspolitik und Judenvernichtung in Serbien 1941/42
48–49.

114. Ibid., 161.

115. Theo J. Schulte makes a similar point regarding offi cers in German-occupied

Russia. Theo J. Schulte, The
German Army and Nazi Policies in Occupied Russia

(Oxford: Berg,
1989), 290.

116. RW 40/12. Der Bevollm. Kdr. General in Serbien (Bfh. Serbien-Kdo. Stab), 10/29/41.

10–Tagesmeldung, p. 1.

117. NARA T-175/234. Der Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD Amt IV, 10/21/41, pp.

1, 5–7.

118. On the course of Operation Užice, see Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien
1941–1944
, 78–80.

119. IWM, NHT Document 1051 (translation). 342. Inf.-Div. Ia, 11/24/41. Divisional

Order for the Annihilation of the Enemy in the area of Užice.

120. Matteo J. Milazzo,
The Chetni Movement and the Yugoslav Resistance
(Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975), 31.

121. Jozo Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks
(Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1975), 145; Tim Judah,
The Serbs: History,

Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997), 118; Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 74–75.

122. Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks,
145; Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 102.

123. Djilas,
Wartime: With Tito and the Partisans
, 94.

124. Manoschek,
“Serbien ist judenfrei”: Militarische Besatzungspolitik und Judenvernichtung in Serbien 1941/42,
117–122, 126–131.

125. On plans for “Great Serbia,” see Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia,
1941–1945: The Chetniks,
167–175; Marko Attila Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in
Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks 1941–1943
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 144.

126. Melissa K. Bokovoy,
Peasants and Communists: Politics and Ideology in the Yugoslav
Countryside, 1941–1953
(Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998), 9–10; Swain,
Tito: A Biography
, 38.

127. Mark Wheeler, “Pariahs to Partisans to Power: The Communist Party of Yugosla-

via,” in
Resistance and Revolution in Mediterranean Europe 1939–1948,
ed. Tony

Judt (London: Routledge, 1989), 134–135.

308
Notes to Pages 145–149

128. Milazzo,
The Chetni Movement and the Yugoslav Resistance
, 40–41; Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 82.

129. Milazzo,
The Chetni Movement and the Yugoslav Resistance
, 36–38.

130. Ibid., 36.

131. Ibid., 41; Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks
, 155; Wheeler, “Pariahs to Partisans to Power: The Communist Party of Yugoslavia,” 136. On contact between Mihailovicánd the Axis during autumn 1941, see also

Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks
, 148–150.

132. Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 102–103.

133. Ibid., 80.

134. Ibid., 78, 80.

135. Swain,
Tito: A Biography,
40.

136. Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 103.

137. Ibid., 81–83. Bader’s actual title was
Kommandierende General und Befehlshaber in
Serbien
, as distinct from Danckelmann’s
Befehlshaber in Serbien
. The title refl ects the fact that Bader, unlike Danckelmann, also retained command of the “seven-hundred-number” occupation divisions under LXV Corps, as well as holding theatre

command over the 342d and 113th Infantry Divisions. However, as Bader’s new title

translates into English as the unwieldy “Commanding General and Commander in

Serbia,” this work instead refers to him as “Commander in Serbia.”

138. Swain,
Tito: A Biography,
40.

7. sta nding di v ided

1. On the Partisan movement in 1942, see Milovan Djilas,
Wartime: With Tito and the
Partisans
(London: Martin Secker and Warburg, 1977), 101–212; Richard West,
Tito
and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia
(London: Sinclair Stevenson, 1996), chaps. 6, 7; Marko Attila Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and

the Chetniks 1941–1943
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), chaps. 3–5; Geoffrey Swain,
Tito: A Biography
(London: I. B. Tauris, 2011), 41–55.

2. Marko Attila Hoare, “Whose Is the Partisan Movement? Serbs, Croats and the Leg-

acy of a Shared Resistance,”
Journal of Slavic Military Studies
15, 4 (2002): 27–28; Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks

1941–1943,
242.

3. Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks
1941–1943
, 46.

4. Ibid., 47.

5. Ibid., 43–44.

6. Ibid. 53–62.

7. Ibid., 34–39.

8. Ibid., 98.

9. Hoare, “Whose Is the Partisan Movement? Serbs, Croats and the Legacy of a Shared

Resistance,” 26–28.

Notes to Pages 149–152
309

10. Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks
1941–1943
, 98.

11. Swain,
Tito: A Biography
, 42.

12. Tomislav Dulic´,
Utopias of Nation: Local Mass Killing in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
1941–42
(Uppsala: Uppsala University Library, 2005) 117.

13. On the collapse of Partisan–Chetnik cooperation in eastern Bosnia, see Hoare,

Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks 1941–

1943
, 119–126.

14. Dulic´,
Utopias of Nation: Local Mass Killing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1941–42
, 117.

15. Matteo J. Milazzo,
The Chetni Movement and the Yugoslav Resistance
(Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975), 50; Klaus Schmider, “Der jugoslawische Kriegsschauplatz,” in
Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, Band

8. Die Ostfront, 1943/44: Der Krieg im Osten und an den Nebenfronten
, Karl-Heinz Frieser et al. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2007), 1012; Mark Mazower,
Hitler’s Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe
(London: Allen Lane, 2008), 345.

16. Mark Wheeler, “Pariahs to Partisans to power: the Communist Party of Yugosla-

via,” in
Resistance and Revolution in Mediterranean Europe 1939–1948
, ed. Tony

Judt (London: Routledge, 1989), 561.

17. Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks
1941–1943
, 96–97; Tim Judah,
The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997), 98.

18. Milazzo,
The Chetni Movement and the Yugoslav Resistance
, 48–55.

19. Dulic´,
Utopias of Nation: Local Mass Killing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1941–42
, 180–186.

20. Ibid., 120; Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the
Chetniks 1941–1943
, 142–162.

21. West,
Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia
, 118; Dulic´,
Utopias of Nation: Local
Mass Killing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1941–42
, 112.

22. Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks
1941–1943
, 176, 278.

23. Ibid., 170–171.

24. Melissa K. Bokovoy,
Peasants and Communists: Politics and Ideology in the Yugoslav
Countryside, 1941–1953
(Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998), 11–14; Swain,
Tito: A Biography
, 41–43.

25. Bokovoy,
Peasants and Communists: Politics and Ideology in the Yugoslav Country-

side, 1941–1953
, 15–16; Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks 1941–1943
, 91; Swain,
Tito: A Biography
, 43–46.

26. Bokovoy,
Peasants and Communists: Politics and Ideology in the Yugoslav Country-

side, 1941–1953
, 15–17.

27. Swain,
Tito: A Biography
, 44.

28. Jozo Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks
(Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1975), 183; Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in

Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks 1941–1943
, 291–293.

310
Notes to Pages 153–156

29. Hoare,
Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks
1941–1943
, 309.

30. Stevan K. Pavlowitch,
Yugoslavia
(London: Ernest Bevin, 1971), 131; Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks
, 183.

31. Tomasevich,
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks
, 169, 177, 188–195.

32. Ibid., 230.

33. Klaus Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
(Hamburg: E. S. Mittler, 2002), 442–448.

34. In November 1941 the Croatian Foreign Ministry estimated that the Italians had two

hundred thousand troops stationed in Zones II and III. Jozo Tomasevich,
War and

Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration
(Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001), 249.

35. Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944,
36.

36. MacGregor Knox,
Hitler’s Italian Allies: Royal Armed Forces, Fascist Regime, and
the War of 1940–1943
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 23–67; Richard L. Dinardo,
Germany and the Axis Powers: From Coalition to Collapse
(Law-

rence: University Press of Kansas, 2005), 28–36; Mazower,
Hitler’s Empire: Nazi

Rule in Occupied Europe
, 341. On German–Italian relations in the Balkans during

World War II, see also Jonathan Steinberg,
All or Nothing: The Axis and the Holo-

caust 1941–1943
(London: Routledge, 1990).

37. MFB4 56156, 250–1. 718. Inf.-Div. Gef. St., 1/23/42. Lagebericht, 1/23/42 abends;

RW 40–16; Luftwaffenverbindungsoffi zier, 1/23/42. Betr.: Einsatz der ital. Bomber.

Bombenangriff auf eigene Truppe bei Loznica.

38. BfZ, Sammlung Sterz. Lt. Peter Geissler, Kommando Höh. Kommando z b V LXV

Belgrad, 9/8/41.

39. Schmider,
Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944
, 590, 605.

40. Ibid., 343–345; Schmider, “Der jugoslawische Kriegsschauplatz,” 1075; Mazower,