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With the successful invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers in April 1941, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and his Italian ally, Benito Mussolini, did not hesitate to help establish the state. independent from Croatia, emerged over vast areas and is present today within the current borders of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia.
Two months after its emergence, the newly formed state did not hesitate to make an error which precipitated its end: on June 22, 1941, Germany announced the start of the process of invading the Soviet Union.
The next day, the head of the independent state of Croatia, Ante Pavelic, of the Ustaše movement, preferred to support his friend Hitler, even though the latter did not need Croatian support in his war against the Soviet Union.
Without any pressure exerted on him, Ante Paveli declared war on the Soviet Union on April 23, 1941, plunging his country into a war it could not have had.
Portrait of Antti Pavlich with the Nazi Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop
An organized resistance movement
The policy of Ante Pavlich and his declaration of war against the Soviets resulted in the emergence of a heated conflict in the areas of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where a large number of people rejected the policy of supporting the Nazis and the fascists.
For this reason, a communist resistance movement emerged, led by Josip Broz Tito who owned Croatian assets, who opposed the policies of the Ustasha movement and quickly spread among Croats, Bosnians, Serbs and the Slovenes.
Portrait of Joseph Broz Tito
While Tito’s movement was more organized than the anti-fascist movements that were widespread in Europe at the time, the latter initially numbered 80,000 members and by the end of the war the number of volunteers in his ranks was estimated at around one. million.
369 Infantry Support Corps
Meanwhile, the Independent State of Croatia was unable to send large numbers of troops to support the Germans on the Eastern Front, as most of its soldiers remained in the country to fight the resistance movement. , while Ante Paveli sent Support Infantry Corps No. 369, also known as the Croatian Corps, which consisted of 4,000 volunteers, mostly Croats and Bosnians to fight against the Red Army.
A photo of a Croatian soldier who fought alongside the Germans
Upon joining the German army, this Croatian division joined the 100th German Light Infantry Corps brigade, and its members received clothing painted with the checkerboard squares logo and wore letters on their caps referring to the Croatia.
Defeat of Stalingrad
During the war, these Croats left for Ukraine before being transported with the 100th German Light Infantry Corps to Stalingrad in September 1942.
A photo of a number of Ustasha soldiers
While the Croats were allowed to enter Stalingrad and fight alongside the Germans in Army Group South, compared to the Italians and Romanians who remained outside the city to protect it.
With the start of the Soviet counterattack, Croatian soldiers, along with the rest of the German Sixth Army, were trapped inside Stalingrad, until at the end of the battle a thousand between them escaped after their early evacuation from the city by plane.
German tank under Soviet influence at Stalingrad
Croatian pilots
In addition, the Croats sent a number of pilots who joined the 4th Fighter Squadron and the 5th Bomber Squadron and commanded the Germans Do17 and Messerschmitt Bf 109 and managed to shoot down 283 Soviet aircraft.
A number of Croats also participated in the Kriegsmarine side, i.e. the German Sea Army, and were often sent to the Black Sea and worked on minesweepers.
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