This is the only non-German Axis unit to fight at the Battle of Stalingrad.
And it was part of a division - the 100th Jäger Division - which was also the only
Jäger division to fight at the Battle of Stalingrad.
They were known as the Croatian Legion… and this is their story.
Yugoslavia had collapsed, and Croatia had only been independant a couple months before
Germany invades the Soviet Union on the 22nd of June 1941.
Worried about her independence, especially from her expansionist neighbour, Italy, Croatia
decides to send a force of volunteers to help the German war effort.
It’s hoped that by supporting the Germans, and building up their armed forces, this would
allow Croatia to break from Italian influence dictated by the 1941 Treaty of Rome.
There are other reasons - anti-Communism for example - but this was the main reason.
And it’s worth noting that it was the Croatians who request permission to join the Germans
on the Eastern Front.
It was for their own purposes.
On the 1st of July 1941, Hitler sends a letter to Croatia, saying Germany would welcome Croatian
soldiers into her armed forces.
This all resulted in the creation of the 369th Reinforced (Croatian) Infantry Regiment, with
a total of 3,865 soldiers at its start.
The Croatian volunteers came from all different backgrounds, with many Christians and Muslims
working well together.
German officers did accompany the unit, but only as advisors or translators - so the unit
was a Croatian formation - even though it was in fact part of the German army.
This is one of the peculiarities about this unit, to quote Jason D Mark -
“On paper, the regiment was officially part of the Wehrmacht but to the Croatians this
was a technicality and they considered it a Croatian unit.”
The Croatian government was responsible for recruitment, promotion, and could recall the
Legion at any time.
However, it was too small to operate independently, and so would be integrated into a German division,
and the members of the unit would be trained and paid for by the Germans.
The members of the regiment also swore oaths to both the German Führer and the Croatian
Poglavnik.
Assembled and trained by August 1941, the unit soon departs for the Eastern Front.
They reach a town called Dangeni in Hungary by train.
And they set off on foot on to the east on the 27th of August.
After 35 days and 755 kilometers, they reach Buinskaya near Poltava on
the 30th of September.
This march allows the regiment’s commander Markulj time to jettison the
bad apples of the regiment and instill German-like discipline.
They also see their first combat in early October, against small groups of stranded
Soviet soldiers behind the main German front lines.
On the 7th of October 1941, the Regiment reaches Nadezhdovka, where on the
8th, it’s placed under the command of Sanne’s 100th Leichte Infanterie-Division, which was
part of Sixth Army.
100th Light Infantry Division is actually an Austrian division, which is good news for
the Croatians, who were more readily accepted by the Austrians than they might have been
by a German division, due to old ties from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Sixth Army fights at Kharkov in October, where the Croatians get their first taste of front-line
combat.
It’s worth noting that they do not engage as a full regiment at this time, but have
their battalions attached to other German units within the 100th Light Infantry Division.
This is to allow the Croatians time to get used to fighting and learn from the Germans.
But even so, by November, with Kharkov captured, the Croatians have inflicted heavy casualties
on the Soviets and captured many prisoners as well.
After some resting and refitting, the Legion is ordered south, from Kharkov to Kuteynikovo
This is another fatiguing march that once again tests the perseverance of the Croatians.
The Croatians then stay on the Mius River until late January, after the Soviet Offensive
at Izyum.
There the Soviets break through the German front south of Kharkov, and the Croatians
are called upon to help defeat the Soviet offensive.
By the 2nd of February, they’d assembled at Postishevo, where they’re
thrown into combat almost immediately.
At first they battle for Mirnaya Dolina, and push towards Aleksandrovka, and then fight
a series of battles throughout February and March, ultimately defeating numerous Soviet
forces.
But the Izyum bulge remains, with the Soviets determined to use it as a base for another
attack in mid-May.
The Regiment takes part in Operation Fridericus, which was General Paulus’s first operation
as commander of Sixth Army.
Fridericus is a counteroffensive designed to encircle and destroy Soviet forces attacking
near Kharkov, thus winning the battle.
This, the Second Battle of Kharkov, was the first time the Croatians would fight as a
complete regiment.
They start in the area of Golubovka, and inflict heavy losses on the Soviets before
advancing to the Sokhoi Torets river at a place called Novo Pavlovka.
In fact, on the first day of the operation, 17th of May 1942, the Croatian 2nd Battalion
advances 28 kilometers in a single day - a rapid pace.
The infantry moved so quick that their artillery could not keep up.
By the 18th, they were across the Sukhoi Torets river, to capture Ivanovka on the
19th.
On the 20th, they take part in a heavy fight to take Serafimovka, where
the Soviets fight on desperately.
Despite some casualties, Serafimovka is taken, and over the next few days the Legion
help crush the Soviets still fighting in the pocket.
On the 26th, they take 1,556 prisoners alone, and the cauldron that the Soviets were in,
shrinks dramatically.
A legionary describes the final days of the Kharkov pocket:
This huge pocket was cut to pieces. A mass of Soviet soldiers were taken into captivity.
Columns of them flow down the roads like rivers…
Some do not speak Russian at all. These are from the Far East. Some think that they are
on German territory, only 50 kilometers from Berlin. That’s what they’ve been told
by their commissars and other political figures, they say.
On the 6th of June 1942, all German light infantry divisions were redesignated “Jäger”
divisions, so Sanne’s division, which the Croatians are part of, becomes the 100th Jäger
Division.
After another rest period, the Regiment takes part in Fall Blau, the Axis summer offensive
in 1942.
The original plan is to strike through Soviet lines, take the area south of the Don, head
to Astrakhan, and then south into the Caucasus.
Stalingrad was not even on the agenda, but the Regiment would find itself fighting in
the city.
The Regiment receives a new commander for Blau, Oberst Viktor Pavicic,
who would lead his unit through Blau, the battles at the Don, and ultimately into Stalingrad.
Throughout June and July, the Regiment advances against weak Soviet resistance, as by this
point Soviet morale had collapsed in this sector of the front.
They advance from Kharkov to the Don River and then follow the course of the river towards
the Don’s Great Bend.
I’ll be covering the Croatian Legion’s exploits from the 28th of July to their demise
in the Battle of Stalingrad in greater detail in my upcoming Battlestorm Stalingrad documentary.
But, to sum up the fighting, the Croatian Legion (as the only non-German unit to take
part in the city) fought hard inside the ruined buildings, and at places like Mamaev Kurgan
and the Krasnyi Oktiabr (Red October) Factory, right up until almost the very end.
Ultimately, having its combat elements bled to death, and, being surrounded after Operation
Uranus, the Croatians surrendered what little remained on the 30th of January 1943 along
with other elements of 100th Jäger Division.
A few Croatians didn’t surrender with their regiment and continued to fight until the
final hours of the 31st of January 1942, just two days before the Sixth Army itself surrenders.
As a bit of a side-note, those legionaries who surrendered at Stalingrad and survived
for some time, were formed with other nationalities into a new unit - the First Yugoslav Brigade,
or “First Brigade of the People’s Liberation Army in the Soviet Union”.
Croatians are appointed commanders of the unit, which doesn’t see action with the
Soviets.
Instead, it’s handed over to the Yugoslav forces.
And on October 31st 1944, fighting at the city of Cacak, it suffers heavy
casualties “under somewhat shady circumstances”.
Describing the action, Jason D. Mark says - “On 1 November the Brigade attacked and
advanced swiftly at first but the units on both flanks did not move forward at all. They
just remained in their positions, idle. With its flanks widely exposed, the Brigade soon
ran into trouble.”
Some Croatians were shot for the incompetence shown by the Brigade, others dismissed.
In the last months of the war, the Brigade was basically abused and eventually disbanded
in November 1945.
The Croatian Legion is resented by some for national, political, racial, and even religious
reasons.
Putting those reasons aside, there’s no doubt that the Croatian Legion fought hard
during its limited time on the Eastern Front.
It’s soldiers were often praised by their German and Austrian counterparts.
And it’s a very interesting unit, that plays a part in one of the bloodiest battles of
all time, in the biggest war of all time.
Ok, just to point out, this isn’t a sponsored video, however, for further reading, I do highly recommend
this book - Croatian Legion, by Jason D. Mark and Obhođaš.
It’s one of the best presented history books I’ve ever come across, and was the main
source of information on this video.
In fact, it’s probably the only English source on this particular unit.
And this video would not have been possible without this book and the support of my Patreons, who paid
for half of it - this was an expensive book and took a month to arrive from Australia!
So thank you very much to my patreons! You made this video possible!
I’ll leave a link in the description below to the leaping horsemen site where you can
pick up a copy of this amazing history book if you so wish. And I do recommend it, it's a good one.
And yes, I did say I was working on a Battle of Stalingrad documentary and I will be going
into a lot more detail about the Croatian Legion during that battle than I can possibly
go into in a short video like this.
This was just a light introduction to the Legion. And a bit of background to the main event.
Stalingrad will be very similar to my other Battlestorm documentaries, like Operation
Battleaxe here.
Go watch if you haven’t already.
And thanks for watching everyone, bye for now.