The capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo was captured by German forces during the Axis invasion
of Yugoslavia April 1941. Sarajevo, along with the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, became part of
the Independent State of Croatia; an Axis puppet state, but how did Axis rule come to an end here
in Sarajevo? In this video I'm going to talk about the Partisan capture of Sarajevo, keep watching.
Prior to the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, that started on April 6, 1941, the Royal Yugoslav Army
leaders had different ideas on how to protect their territory in case of an enemy attack. There
was one idea to abandon 90 per cent of the territory of the Yugoslav Kingdom and retreat in the hills
around Sarajevo and make a stand there, but this plan was abandoned. I mean giving up 90 per cent of the
territory didn't sound like a good deal. When the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia started
the Yugoslav Army fell apart quick. On the 15th of April Sarajjevo was captured by the Germans
and two days later an armistice was signed. The campaign had barely lasted 12 days is.
One German officer called it a military parade rather than a campaign. Sarajevo alongside with
the whole of Bosnia became part of the NDH, the Independent State of Croatia, which was led by
Ante Pavelic and his Ustasha movement. Many of the city's Serbs, Jews, and Romani were killed.
In 1941 the atrocities committed by the Ustasha were strongly condemned by groups of Sarajevo's
citizens. At wars end notorious Ustasha commander Vjekoslav Luburić took office in the city and established
his headquarter in the center of the city. From March till April 1945 his forces killed over 300 people
and hanged 55 of their corpses on trees in the city to scare the population. By now the resistance
had taken over many Axis-controlled areas. The Yugoslav resistance group that would take over the
country where the Partisans led by Josip Broz Tito. The Germans were on the retreat and needed to have
a good withdrawal route since through Serbia was no longer an option they fought to hold the Srem
Front in order to maintain the passage through Kosovo, Sandžak and Bosnia. Mostar was evacuated
on the 22nd of February. It took the Partisans a while before they reached Sarajevo. They fought
for some time in the Syrmien-Front in a battle of attrition. That had to do that the Partisans had
to switch from guerrilla to regular warfare. “As German troops swamped the city, Sarajevans felt
the full effects of total war. The German and Ustasha armies co-opted the entire human and
material resources of the city for the war effort. They took possession of every train, wagon, car, and
set of skis, leaving town officials with no means of importing food, while trapping civilians who had
hoped to flee.” Being an important junction Sarajevo was repeatedly bombed by the Allies killing 100
perhaps even 1 000 refugees. From September 1944 till April 1945 the city experienced a devastating
chapter with bombings and a harsh Axis occupation. This left the citizens of Sarajevo
in shock. In January 1945 the German HQ was moved out of the city. A number of 35 000 soldiers were
left in the city. Cities near Sarajevo – Mostar, Višegrad, and Travnik – were taken by the Partisans. Early February the Partisans mapped
out Pperation Sarajevo. Mid-February Hitler ordered troops to hold a firm grip on the city; he declared
Sarajevo a Festung, a fortress city, that had to hold out till the last man. He appointed General
Heinz Kathner as commander of Sarajevo. And Ante Pavlich had appointed General Vjekoslav Max Luburic as the city's
commander and Luburic he unleashed a reign of terror against Sarajevo's citizens. On the 1st of
March 1945 the Partisans unleashed Operation Sarajavo: as the Partisans took up positions on the
hillside, local resistance groups committed acts of sabotage in the city. Ustasha commander Luberic had many
of them arrested and killed. The Partisans came closer and closer to the city. On the 16th of March
the Luberic and fellow commanders came together and they renewed their vows to the Independent
State of Croatia and were willing to go down with it. They denounce the Yalta, Conference denounced
bolshevism and denounced the Tito government in Belgrade. A handful of Muslims continued their
support but they were very well aware that the Independent State of Croatia was going down and
they would go down with it if they continued their support to it. Now the local Archbishop and other
Catholics they believed that they had to continue the fight as they saw communism as a greater evil
but they soon fled the city. “Despite the situation’s hopelessness, the arrests and trials of friends
and neighbors, and the exodus of people close to the regime, a handful of committed local
leaders continued to impress upon their communities the importance of maintaining their institutions and
keeping some semblance of Sarajevo’s civic culture alive.” On the 20th of March Hitler
approved to evacuate the city. The Germans barely any supplies left and many wounded to evacuate.
Local skirmishes increased and the Partisans came closer and closer to the city and were eventually
able to target a vital German infrastructure. While the Germans were trying to make their way out
Ustasha commander Luburic executed a final round of terror: on the 27th of March 85 people were
hanged and there were signs put around their necks saying “Long Live the Poglavnik”, the leader meaning
Ante Pavelic. Near the end of March the German evacuation was almost complete. The Partisans
closed in on the city; on the 4th of April Luburic lef as well. He left 350 Uastasha policemen and 400
Ustasha soldiers to put up some resistance against the Partisans. They blew up an oil depot near
a factory killing nine people and the next day the Germans completed their evacuation as the
Ustasha covered the rear. In the last hours of the occupation 20 members of the city's small
communist corps, including the party secretary, Vladimir Perić, a.k.a. Valter, were killed.
On the next day some street fighting occurred but these were local skirmishes, so yeah, you
can barely call it the Battle of Sarajevo. On the 6th of April 1945 the Partisans entered
the city and they encountered a devastated city full of starving and frightening people.
“However, while the townsmen welcomed the exit of the Axis troops and the end of the terror, firsthand Partisan
reports paint a less glowing picture. The first Partisan officers on the scene noted the city’s
apprehensiveness as the Communists arrived and described a population stunned by the fi nal weeks
of the Ustasha terror. Although many Sarajevans were elated to be freed of the stranglehold of the
Ustasha regime, the agonizing search for missing loved ones and the exhumation of
freshly dug unmarked graves dampened spirits.” The new communist rulers made use of the situation as
they established a party apparatus, they arrested collaborators and many of them were killed. Within
a year the Sarajevo masses enthusiastically embraced their new socialist community and its
leader Tito. The trauma of the occupation and the Ustasha terror, made them searching for something to
believe in. Tito gave them hope.