Page:Robert M. Kennedy - German Antiguerrilla Operations in the Balkans (1941-1944) - CMH Pub 104-18 (1954).pdf/36

 GERMAN ANTIGUERRILLA OPERATIONS IN THE BALKANS (1941–1944) A German recapitulation of casualties sustained by the Yugoslav guerrillas from the beginning of the occupation to July 1942 estimated the total at 45,000 dead, with thousands more sent off to forced labor in Germany and occupied areas as far away as Norway, or detained in internment camps. In addition to the arrestees shipped out of the country, the Germans added a large number of former Yugoslav officers as a security measure, whether or not any involvement with the guerrillas could be proved against them.

The German forces in Croatia and Serbia carried on a series of small-scale operations throughout the remainder of the year without achieving any marked success in eliminating the guerrilla movement. There was an increase in troop strength when the 187th Reserve Division arrived in Croatia by December. (Chart 2.) In October, a new



headquarters, that of Commander of German Troops in Croatia, under Generalleutnant (Major General) Rudolf Lueters, was created; however, this headquarters did not become operational until shortly after the end of the year.

'''II. Greece'''

The Greek resistance movement, like the Yugoslav, was divided along political lines between the groups adhering to the royal government-in-exile and those led or strongly influenced by communists. In Greece the former were led by a Colonel Zervas, a retired officer of the Greek Regular Army; the latter, by a Colonel Sarafis, dismissed from the Regular Army for political activities in January 1935. The