Page:Robert M. Kennedy - German Antiguerrilla Operations in the Balkans (1941-1944) - CMH Pub 104-18 (1954).pdf/26

 GERMAN ANTIGUERRILLA OPERATIONS IN THE BALKANS (1941–1944)



of the same type as the divisions attached to the LXV Corps Command, moved into the Balkans shortly before the departure of the mountain division.

The military occupation task was made difficult by the presence of various SS and police agencies in the occupied territories. Acting directly under the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of German Police Himmler, these agencies were the cause of constant irritation to the military commanders. Ostensibly responsible for security, their activities overlapped those of the military, and local commanders were not permitted to control them or to restrict their activities. Various civilian agencies, such as the German Foreign Office, were also represented in Greece and Yugoslavia, further complicating the task of the military commanders.

The policy of the Germans was stern but consistent, compared to that of the Italians. Serbia presented the Germans with a special problem, however, with the traditional Serb hostility to everything Germanic, the rugged independence of the people, and the former position of predominance the Serbs had held in the Yugoslav state.

'''IV. The Bulgarians and Hungarians'''

To maintain order in their new territories, the Bulgarians dispatched their V Corps, composed of three divisions, to Yugoslav