Operation Sturm (ii)

assault

This was a German undertaking to effect the relief of the force holding the fortress of Kastel in Banja Luka in German-occupied Yugoslavia (25/29 September 1944).

The second part of the Yugoslav 'Banjalučka operacija' had liberated most of Banja Luka and overrun most of the Axis garrison in the city, leaving only Kastel in German hands. In the area of Banja Luka and Bosanska Gradiska the Germans then gathered the 3rd and 4th Kuban-Kosaken-Reiterregimenter of Generalleutnant Hellmuth von Pannwitz’s 1st Kosaken-Kavalleriedivision, a grouping of police battalions, an ethnic German Croat mobile police battalion from Zagreb, and armoured detachment from Osijek under von Pannwitzss command.

Before this relief force could even be organised, on 21 September a Yugoslav attack drove the force back toward Bosanska Gradiska and the Sava river, and in the ensuing panic drastic measures were taken to halt the retreat and restore order: unpanicked troops fired in front of retreating troops, and further aid was provided by the arrival of an Ustase battalion from Jasenovac concentration camp.

The need for a larger-scale operation was realised by General Helge Auleb’s LXIX Corps, which therefore started to reinforce the current force with the 6th Terek-Kosaken-Reiterregiment, an ethnic German training battalion of the Croat army from Zagreb, and a mobile battalion of the 6th Polizeiregiment from Samobor. The combined force was organised into Pannwitz’s Kampfgruppe 'von Pannwitz', which was to attack frontally from Bosanska Gradiska toward Banja Luka, and the Kampfgruppe 'Rudo', which was to undertake a flanking movement from Derventa toward Prnjavor and Klasnice.

The operation began on 25 September. The Kampfgruppe sRudos easily drove back the weak 'Motajica' Partisan Detachment, taking Prnjavor on 26 September. At about 07.00 on the following day, and without meeting any resistance from the partisan 'Central Bosnia' Division, the Kampfgruppe's reconnaissance section and vanguard arrived about 1,100 yards (1000 m) from the bridge over the Vrbas river in Klasnica. After pulling back the brigade’s advance guard, the staff of the 6th 'Krajina' Brigade (3rd and 4th Battalions) decided blow the bridge before the Germans could cross it. Both battalions then opened a heavy fire on the Kampfgruppe 'Rudo' as it reached the destroyed bridge, not giving the German unit any opportunity to organise for an attack. The Germans lost two armoured scout vehicles, four trucks, two guns and one mortar, and were forced to pull back.

In order to take Klasnice and force the Vrbas river, the Germans began to reorganise their force, and initiated an artillery preparation supported by seven aircraft. The Germans launched their first attack at about 14.00, with a second following later in the afternoon, but both were repulsed.

Another reorganisation saw the arrival of assault boats and pontoon bridging equipment, and at about 22.00 a heavy artillery and mortar barrage paved the way for a third assault. Thinking that main attack would come in the morning, the 6th 'Krajina' Brigade decided to withdraw its two battalions to avoid unnecessary casualties, leaving only pickets to guard the river bank. Heavy artillery fire now pinned these pickets, preventing them from noticing the first wave of Germans crossing the river. Once the German artillery barrage had moved on, the pickets appreciated that they were surrounded, and had to break out to regain their lines.

By morning of 28 September the Germans had secured bridgehead at Klasnice and started to move heavier weapons across a pontoon bridge. At about 11.00 the Kampfgruppe 'von Pannwitz' linked with the Kampfgruppe 'Rudo' in Klasnice, pushing back the partisans' 8th, 11th and 13th Brigades. By 13.00 the German vanguard, now reinforced with armour, began to move on Banja Luka, followed by the main force in some 100 motor vehicles. This column come under flanking attacks from the 6th Brigade, forcing the Germans to deploy strong security along the road, but even so the German column reached Banja Luka on 29 September, rescuing the garrison holding out in the Kastel fort.

While this relief operation was a success at the tactical level, it was of little comfort to the Germans as in the course of their capture of Banja Luka the partisans had managed to take 4,000 prisoners including Generalmajor Karl von Dewitz-Krebs, the commandant, to kill or wound another 3,000 Germans soldiers, and to capture large amount of matériel including three tanks and several aircraft.