Operation Otto (iv)

(German name)

'Otto' (iv) was a German and Croat operation against the partisan forces of Josip Broz Tito in the puppet state of Croatia in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia (19/21 April 1943).

The objective of this undertaking was the destruction of the partisans of the 4th Assault Division operating out of the Grmeč mountains into the Una-Sana bend area of western Bosnia to the south-west of the line between Bosanski Novi and Prijedor. The partisan force managed to exfiltrate itself through the Axis lines and thus escaped the planned encirclement by elements of Generalleutnant Karl Eglseer’s 114th Jägerdivision supported by Croat forces including the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions of Pukovnik Franjo Gjoić's 3rd Mountain Brigade, 3rd Battalion of Pukovnik Arnold Redelstein’s 2nd Mountain Brigade, and 1 and 2/10th Regiment.

There was little if any contact between the opposing sides, and no losses were reported.