Operation Rübezahl (German: Unternehmen Rübezahl) was the name of 3 German anti-partisan operations in Yugoslavia during World War II. The first operation announced the beginning of a strategic retreat by Nazi German troops from Serbia after the front change of Romania and Bulgaria.
== Operation Rübezahl I == In summer 1944, German soldiers were doing sweeps against communist-led Yugoslav Partisans under the overall command of Josip Broz Tito. But on 30 August, after Romania and Bulgaria split from their Nazi ally, Germany entered into a crisis on the Balkan front. While the forces of the Partisans were moving to unite with the Soviet Red Army in the German-occupied territory of Serbia, German troops tried to avoid defeat in that strategic area by implementing "Operation Rübezahl" to enable the organised retreat of Germans. Among them, there were:
1st Mountain Division 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian) Free Arabian Legion Between 20 and 22 August, German troops surrounded and destroyed a particularly large Partisan unit moving westwards from the Independent State of Croatia to occupied Serbia. Only a few Partisans survived thanks to Allied planes which managed to land on battered airstrips, air-lifting about a thousand injured to hospitals located in Italy. The 8th Regiment of the CDK was nearly destroyed in August by the 7th Montenegro Youth Brigade "Budo Tomović" during Operation Rübezahl.
== Operation Rübezahl II == Operation Rübezahl II was a German offensive in February 1945 against Yugoslav partisans in the Slovene Littoral.
== Operation Rübezahl III == Operation Rübezahl III was a German offensive in March 1945 against the Yugoslav 30th 'Slovenia' Division, who was threatening the important port city of Trieste.
References
== Bibliography == Bambara, Gino (1988). La guerra di liberazione nazionale della Jugoslavia (1941-1943). Mursia. Deakin, Frederick William (1972). La montagna più alta. L'epopea dell'esercito partigiano jugoslavo. Club degli editori. Đurišić, Mitar (1973). Sedma Crnogorska Omladinska Brigada "Budo Tomović" [Seventh Montenegrin Youth Brigade "Budo Tomović"] (in Serbian). Belgrade, Yugoslavia: Vojnoizdavački zavod. OCLC 22103728. Gobetti, Eric (2006). L'occupazione allegra. Gli italiani in Jugoslavia (1941-1943). Carocci. Bauer, Eddy (1971). Storia controversa della seconda guerra mondiale. Vol. VII. De Agostini. Gilas, Milovan (2011). La guerra rivoluzionaria jugoslava. 1941-1945. Ricordi e riflessioni. LEG. ISBN 978-88-6102-083-2.
