Operation Lička-Primorska Operacija

Lika-Primorje Operation

The 'Lička-Primorska Operacija' was a Yugoslav operation by the forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito to isolate and then liberate the region of Bihać, Lika, Gorski Kotar and the Croat coast in in the western part of the puppet state of Croatia in German-occupied Yugoslavia (20 March/15 April 1945).

The formation entrusted with this task was General-lajtnant Peko Dapčević's 4th Army, which had been formed on 1 March 1945 from the 14th and 18th Divisions of the VII Corps, the 9th, 19th, 20th and 21st 'Dalmatia' Divisions of the VIII Corps, the 13th, 35th and 43rd Divisions of the XI Corps and, soon after this, the 30th and 31st Divisions of the IX Corps. The 4th Army also had an artillery brigade and a motorised artillery battalion, the 1st Tank Brigade, an engineer and replacement brigade, and a liaison regiment.

The operation liberated Bihać, Lika, Gorski Kotar and the Croat coast along the Adriatic sea with a primary thrust along the axis from Gornji Lapac to Bihać, and a secondary thrust along the axis from Udbina via Korenicato Prijeboj. In two days the 4th Army’s offensive broke the German defences of General Gustav Fehn’s XV Gebirgskorps, which was effectively destroyed, in Generaloberst Alexander Löhr’s Heeresgruppe 'E' and liberated Bihać and eastern Lika, soon followed by western Lika and most parts of Gorski Kotar and the Croat coast to create a new front line between Lokve, Fuzine and Kraljevica.

The end of the 'Lička-Primorska Operajica' established a new front line between Lokve, Fuzine and Kraljevica.