'Lawine' was a German and Croat operation against the Yugoslav forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in the valley of the Lasva river and around Travnik in the Syrmia region of the puppet state of Croatia in German-occupied Yugoslavia (29 December 1944/22 January 1945).

After success of the second Banja Luka operation, the Yugoslav V Corps (ex-II 'Bosnia' Corps) was ordered to undertake the Travnik operation during October 1944. In this, the corps overran the Axis garrisons in the Lasva river valley as far as Zenica to pave the way for the capture of Sarajevo. This put the Yugoslavs in a position to threaten the Bosna river valley which, after the Belgrade operation, had become main route for the north-westward retreat for Generalfeldmarschall Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs’s Heeresgruppe 'F' from the Balkans.

General-lajtnant Slavko Rodić's V Corps carried out 134 attacks during November 1944 and another 144 in December of the same year against the Axis garrisons holding this vital line of Germans communications. With Generalmajor Hubert Lamey’s 118^th Jägerdivision hard pressed in Syrmia, Generaloberst Alexander Löhr’s Heeresgruppe 'E' feared a breakthrough in Slavonia with the Yugoslav forces advancing to Vinkovci and Slavonski Brod and thereby isolating the German forces in Sarajevo and the Mostar area. Initially it was planned to open secondary line of retreat through Travnik and Banja Luka toward the Una river valley as the local commanders' request to undertake the complete evacuation of Bosnia had been rejected by Adolf Hitler.

After the Soviet LXVIII Corps had been replaced by General-Polkovnik Vladimir D. Stoychev’s indifferent Bulgarian 1^st Army and the exhaustion of the Yugoslav divisions involved in the offensive operations in Syrmia had brought a temporary halt to operations, the Germans were able to bring in reinforcements and stabilise the front. The change in the overall situation resulted in 'Lawine' being scaled down to just the capture of Travnik in order to secure the flank of German forces drawing back through Sarajevo to Slavonski Brod.

The operation was intended to advance along the Lasva river valley from Zenica and retake Travnik, which had been captured by the Yugoslavs during the previous October, and to tackle the partisan 4^th and 10^th Divisions. The Germans assembled a force of 19 infantry battalions, 50 pieces of field artillery, eight tanks and four armoured cars. Under the overall tactical command of SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger’s V SS Gebirgskorps, the core of the 14,175-man German force for the first phase of 'Lawine' was Oberst August von Eberlein’s Kampfgruppe 'Eberlein' (639^th Sicherungsregiment and 273^rd, 516^th and 803^rd Sicherungsbataillonen, 920^th Landesschützenbataillon, 4^th and 5^th Regimenter of the Russisches Schutzkorps, 505^th Aufklärungsabteilung of SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Otto Kumm’s 7^th SS Gebirgsdivision 'Prinz Eugen' and other German elements), supported by Croat units including the 1^st and 4^th Battalions of Ustase Dopukovnik Kresimir Kuraja’s 11^th Ustase Brigade.

Against this the Yugoslav V Corps had 6,000 men under the control of the 4^th 'Krajina' Division (7^th Brigade of the 10^th 'Krajina' Division along the line linking Busovača and Kiseljak, 6^th 'Krajina' Brigade on the left bank of the Lasva river, 8^th 'Krajina' Brigade on left bank of the Lasva river, 11^th 'Krajina' Brigade, and the artillery battalion of the V Corps).

The German and Croat operation began on 29 December 1944 with a German probe into the Kresevo area, some 18.5 miles (30 km) to the west of Sarajevo, by elements of the V SS Gebirgskorps. This first phase of the operation began with simultaneous advances in four main directions: from Busovača toward the village of Rovno by the 4^th Regiment of the Russisches Schutzkorps, 920^th Landesschützenbataillon, one company of the 505^th Aufklärungsabteilung, 5^th Luftwaffe Sicherungsbataillon, two tanks and 12 guns; from Kopaonik along the road toward Han-Kompanija by most of the 505^th Aufklärungsabteilung, 843^rd Sicherungsbataillon, five tanks, two armoured cars and four guns; from Zenica toward the village of Čajdras by the 1/11^th Ustase Brigade, 7^th Feldersatzbataillon of the 7^th SS Division and two armoured cars; and from the village of Gradina toward the village of Stranjani by the 5^th Regiment of the Russisches Schutzkorps, 4/11^th Ustase Brigade and 369^th Pionierbataillon of Generalleutnant Georg Reinicke’s 369^th Division (kroatisch).

The German effort was thus centred on taking most direct route toward Travnik, but made only minor advances on the first day largely as a result of the efforts of the Yugoslav 4^th Division’s artillery battalion. On 30 December the Germans switched their primary effort to the flanks in hopes of enveloping the 4^th Division, and on 1 January 1945 managed to reach the Guča Gora (mountain area) on partisans' left flank, thereby opening a direct route to Travnik. The Yugoslav V Corps immediately ordered the movement of the 6^th Brigade from right flank to cover the Guča Gora, and as a result the Kampfgruppe 'Eberlein' was attacked in the centre by the 6^th Brigade and on its flanks by the 8^th and 11^th Brigades. On 5 January the V Corps ordered all units to attack the Kampfgruppe 'Eberlein', which fell back to Zenica.

The failure of the Kampfgruppe 'Eberlein' compelled Heeresgruppe 'E' to transfer its operational reserve, Generalleutnant Hartwig von Ludwiger’s 104^th Jägerdivision, from Sarajevo to Zenica, whose defence it then assumed. The 18,000-man division also took under command the Kampfgruppe 'Eberlein' and began planning a new attack toward Travnik in the second phase of 'Lawine'. Preparations took 12 days because the new undertaking, initially planned for 10 January, had to be postponed after the 14^th Brigade of the partisan 53^rd Division cut the railway line between Zepča, Maglaja and Doboj in many places, thereby preventing the movement of several of the V SS Gebirgskorps' staff units to Zagreb. The 104^th Jägerdivision was given the immediate task of securing the movement of these units, delaying the resumption of 'Lawine'.

The operation’s second phase therefore began at 04.00 on 19 January, the main attack being directed at the the Guča Gora and the Malina. The Guča Gora was lost and recaptured by 4^th Division several times.

In 'Lawine' the 104^th Jägerdivision operated in four Kampfgruppen. The Kampfgruppe 'Wecker' advanced from Hill 800 and the village of Susanj toward Vranići and Suhi Do with task of enveloping Travnik from the north using the 734^th Jägerregiment and the 845^th Deutsch-Arabische Sicherungsbataillon. The Kampfgruppe 'Mayer' advanced from Grahovčići and Konjevići toward the villages of Brajkovići and the Guča Gora with the 724^th Jägerregiment and 5^th Luftwaffe Sicherungsbataillon. The Kampfgruppe 'Dorner' guarded the 724^th Jägerregiment's southern flank and advanced via Pečarnice toward the Bila river near the village of Klaci and thence to the Lasva river near the village of Nević Polje with the 104^th Aufklärungsabteilung. And the Kampfgruppe 'Eberlein' advanced by road from Busovača to Travnik with the 639^th Sicherungsregiment, 273^rd and 516^th Sicherungsbataillonen, 522^nd Landesschützenbataillon, 1^st and 2^nd Regimenter of the Russisches Schutzkorps, and two batteries of captured Italian 75-mm (2.95-in) guns.

'Lawine' ended on 22 January with the German capture of Travnik after the Germans had advanced along the Lasva river valley against heavy opposition from the surrounding hills on both sides of the winding road. The Yugoslavs counterattacked on several occasions with great determination, but were driven back and finally disappeared into the mountains.

In the first phase of 'Lawine', the Germans admitted the loss of six men killed and 67 wounded, together with two vehicles and 11 pack animals, while the partisan losses were claimed as 84 men killed and 337 wounded; in the operation’s second phase, the 104^th Jägerdivision lost 34 men killed, 134 wounded, 87 incapacitated by frostbite, and four missing, while the partisan losses were claimed as 92 men killed, 178 wounded and 21 missing.

According to Yugoslav records, the Axis forces lost 682 men killed and several hundred wounded, while the partisans themselves suffered 280 casualties.

At the end of January the 104^th Jägerdivision was transferred to Doboj for an attack toward Gračanica and from Brčko and Bijeljina toward Zvornik in support of Generalleutnant Helmut Friebe’s 22^nd Division, which was advancing through the Drina river valley toward Brčko. This left only the Kampfgruppe 'Eberlein', reinforced with a little armour and artillery, for for the defence Travnik and the Lasva river valley against the V Corps. The partisan attack began on 15 February, liberated Travnik on 19 February and drove the Germans back to Zenica by 25 February. German reinforcement took the form of the 359^th Regiment of Generalleutnant Eugen Bleyer’s 181^st Division, but this proved insufficient to stabilise the situation, and the 7^th SS Gebirgsdivision had to be redeployed into the area for the following 'Seitensprung' (ii).