Operation Kasten

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'Kasten' was a German, Italian and Croat operation against the partisan forces of Josip Broz Tito in the puppet state of Croatia of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia (29 December 1942/3 January 1943).

The undertaking’s objective was the clearance of undetermined partisan forces from their bases in the Papuk mountain region east of the line between Virovitica and Slavonska Pozega in Slavonia. The German and Croat forces involved in the operation are not known, and in their after-action report the Germans admitted that the operation did not yield the expected success as a result of the build-up of the Axis forces was reported to the partisans. Even so, the partisans lost 35 dead, and 73 people were arrested as suspects and sent off to the transient camp at Zemun. All the partisan barracks and shelters were destroyed and the contents of their supply dump were taken as booty or otherwise destroyed. Some 580 horses and livestock were seized.