Operation Ferdinand (ii)

'Ferdinand' (ii) was a German operation against the partisan forces of Josip Broz Tito in the Fruska mountain region of Syrmia in the puppet state of Croatia within occupied Yugoslavia (19/21 September 1943).

The German forces were elements of the 2/1235th Reserve-Grenadierregiment of Generalleutnant Hans Freiherr von Falkenstein’s 45th Division, elements of the 86th Reserve-Pionierbataillon and 46th Pionierersatzbataillon, elements of the 17th Panzerjägerkompanie, an Artilleriebatterie of Generalleutnant Heinrich von Behr’s 173rd Reserve-Division, elements of the 12th Panzerkompanie zbV, 1, 2 and 3/Polizeiregiment 'Kroatien', 6th Polizei Panzerkompanie (five tanks and six armoured cars), SS Sonderkommando 'Otto', 64th Panzerzug, and one railway security battalion.

Supervised by the Befehlshaber der Ordnungspolizei für Kroatien, this was a totally unsuccessful operation which failed even to bring the partisans to battle. The Germans lost one man, and claimed only eight partisans killed.