Operation Bienenhaus

apiary

'Bienenhaus' was a German and Croat pair of operations ('Bienenhaus I' and 'Bienenhaus II') against the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in the Moslavačka mountain region in German-occupied Yugoslavia by elements of General Dr Julius Ringel’s (from 24 June General Helge Auleb’s) LXIX Corps (25/30 June 1944).

Undertaken against the units of the 33rd Division, the two offensives were the responsibility of the 1st Reiterregiment 'Don', 4th Reiterregiment 'Kuban' and 55th Aufklärungsabteilung of Generalleutnant Hellmuth von Pannwitz’s 1st Kosaken-Kavalleriedivision, and Pukovnik Stjepan Peričić's 1st Mountain Brigade and Pukovnik Rafael Boban’s 5th Active Service Brigade of the Croat home defence army, supported by German military police detachments.

'Bienenhaus I' took place in the area of Cazma on 25/27 June, ending after the 33rd Division had escaped the net intended to trap it, and 'Bienenhaus II' followed on 29/30 June after the Axis forces had regrouped in the area of Ivanic-Grad, and also ended in failure. The 1st Mountain Brigade lost six men killed and 18 wounded, and the 33rd Division eight men killed, 50 wounded and 70 missing.