'Oktoberfest' was a German and Croat operation against the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in the Bilo mountain area of the puppet state of Croatia in German-occupied Yugoslavia (probably 17/30 October 1944).

Between 13 and 16 October many of the partisan units in this area made an unsuccessful attack on Koprivnica, selected as target instead of Bjelovar to bring to an end a series of successes during the Podravina operation. After sustaining heavy losses, the partisan units were withdrawn to rest and recover. The Germans had already started to commit elements of General Helge Auleb’s LXIX Corps of General Maximilian de Angelis’s 2^nd Panzerarmee in Generalfeldmarschall Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs’s Heeresgruppe 'F' in a counter-offensive.

Known Axis elements in 'Oktoberfest' were Generalleutnant Helmuth von Pannwitz’s 1^st Kosaken-Kavalleriedivision and a Croat contribution by Ustase Pukovnik Ante Moskov’s Ustase Poglavnik Bodyguard Division, and a number of local gendarmerie units.

There is almost no information about the object of this operation in German or Yugoslav literature, but one of the possible targets was the 7^th 'Banija' Division (3^rd and 4^th Brigades), which had been ordered to fall back back to Banija. The division was caught by the 1^st Kosaken-Kavalleriedivision while crossing the line of the road and railway linking Krizevci and Bjelovar. The 1^st Battalion of the 3^rd Brigade, which was holding the crossing in the direction of Bjelovar, was first attacked on 17 October at about 14.00. The same brigade’s 3^rd Battalion served as vanguard while 2^nd and 4^th Battalions were the rear guard for the 7^th Division’s support units and parts of the X Corps.

At this time the whole of the 4^th Brigade was protecting the partisan movement from possible attacks toward Krizevci near the village of Sveti Ivan Zabno. Both the 3^rd and 4^th Battalions were sent to reinforce the hard-pressed 1^st Battalion, and the 3^rd Battalion launched a flanking attack against the Cossacks, securing the heights on both sides of the road and opening for the passage of the partisans. The Axis forces quickly moved to attack Sveti Ivan Zabno as the partisan 1^st and 3^rd Battalions on the heights north of the road were attacked by ground forces supported by artillery and Junkers Ju 87 dive-bombers. This effort pushed back 3^rd Battalion and also threatened the 1^st Battalion, but then the arrival of 4^th Battalion made it possible for the partisans to regain some of the area they had lost and to secure the crossing point during the night. Seeking to cross the road as quickly as possible, the column led by Ljuban Trbojević, commander of the 2^nd Battalion, and Milan Knezević, the 3^rd Brigade’s political commissar, moved over an unsecured area and ran into ambush in which Trbojević was killed and Knezević had his horse shot under him.

However, the main weight of 'Oktoberfest' struck not the 7^th Division but the 33^rd 'Croat' Division, which was moving forward to take over the positions held by 7^th Division. An attack by three or four Ustase battalions and gendarmerie units was beaten off, but on 20 October the 33^rd Division withdrew to the east to avoid being attacked on three sides. The 1^st 'Moslavina' Brigade took up position in Poljačane and Gornje Sredice, the 2^nd Brigade in Kapela and the 3^rd Brigade in Klostar. The 3^rd Brigade soon came under attack as it took up its new positions, but managed drive back these efforts of the Cossacks and gendarmerie. The 1^st 'Moslavina' Brigade then attacked the Axis units in Gornji Kriz late during the evening of 21 October, but was checked by strong resistance.

During 22 October neither side took action, but during the morning of 23 October the Axis forces attacked all the partisan brigades, which managed to hold their defensive line. With the arrival of reinforcements from Bjelovar, the Axis forces made a fresh attack on Kapela on 24 October and attempted to bypass the 33^rd Division’s left flank, but this failed once the Axis forces found the partisans in possession of Nova Diklenica and Čurkovac. A flanking manoeuvre by the 1^st 'Moslavina' Brigade toward Gornji Kriz, which the Ustase had abandoned, and also toward Starčevljani was slow and therefore afforded the Axis forces the time to withdraw with the 3^rd Brigade in pursuit. On 25 October the 1^st 'Moslavina' Brigade received orders from the X Corps to move to Moslavina, so the 2^nd Brigade moved to the villages of Gornje Zdjelice and Babotok, and the 3^rd Brigade to Novigrad and Plavsinac. Now abandoned, Kapela was shelled by the Axis artillery before Ustase units entered and remained in it until the evening of the same day, when they withdrew toward Bjelovar and Podgorci.

On the following day the 2^nd Brigade and 3^rd Brigades moved to Topolovac and to Siroko Selo, Sveti Kriz and Hudovljane respectively. No further attacks were made on the 33^rd Division, which spotted a column of 70 trucks moving to Krizevci on 30 October but reacted too slowly to ambush it.

It is possible that part of the operation, which cost the Axis forces 61 dead, 48 wounded and six missing, was also carried out in area of Krizevci.