Page:Robert M. Kennedy - German Antiguerrilla Operations in the Balkans (1941-1944) - CMH Pub 104-18 (1954).pdf/54

 GERMAN ANTIGUERRILLA OPERATIONS IN THE BALKANS (1941–1944) obtain transportation by air or sea to Italy, while the remaining Italian troops were disarmed by the Germans and guerrillas.

Incensed by what they considered treachery on the part of their former allies, the Germans made it a point to single out Italian units and installations in their continuing antiguerrilla operations. Italian troops disarmed by the irregulars were bombed and strafed in their unit areas by German airmen, and German ground troops hunted down Italian groups and units with the guerrilla forces opposing them.

The Dalmatian port of Split, with enormous stocks of food, clothing, fuel, and ammunition for the Italian occupation forces fell to the Partisans and their thousands of adherents among the dock workers and left-wing elements of the population. Though the Partisans were forced to evacuate Split, they managed to remove considerable quantities of stores before the arrival of German forces.

Nor were the Chetniks idle during this period of changing authority. Strong detachments moved into Dalmatia, seizing long stretches of the coastal areas and obtaining stocks of arms from Italian units sympathetic to them in the past.

The Croatian state, truncated by the Italian annexation of Dalmatia, moved forces into the coastal areas, fearing the Italians would try to hold Dalmatia until confirmed in its possession by the Allies as part of the reward for changing allegiance. Too, the Poglavnik had to impress his restless population, and a show of force against the former Italian overlords in their weakened state appeared to be an ideal opportunity.

The confused situation and sporadic fighting of the next few weeks ended with the Germans in control of the ports, main centers of population, and exposed coastal areas. The Partisans, laden with loot, were busily re-equipping and regrouping their forces in the mountains and carrying on a harrassing campaign against the new occupation troops. In Slovenia and Dalmatia, to relieve their own troops of many routine security duties, the Germans banded together the Italian-sponsored "White Guard" of Rupnik and the "Blue Guard" of Novak, the latter a Chetnik commander, into the "Domobran," a home guard-type of organization.

Large numbers of Chetniks turned to the Partisans, and others gave up the struggle to return to their homes. The Croat units came under German control or returned to Croatia to support the weakening government of Ante Pavelitch.

'''III. Greece'''

Farther away from home than the troops in Yugoslavia, thousands of Italians in Greece chose to surrender to the Germans rather than