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Battle of Lijevča field
Part of the Yugoslav Front of World War II
Date March 30 – April 8, 1945 Location Lijevča field, Independent State of Croatia; today's Bosnia and Herzegovina Result Croatian victory
Belligerents
Montenegrin People's Army (rogue faction of the Chetnik movement)	Independent State of Croatia
Commanders and leaders
Pavle Đurišić Petar Bačević	Vladimir Metikoš Marko Sučić
Strength
17,000	27,940
Casualties and losses
7,000 killed, 5,000 captured, 5,000 deserted	1,200 killed, 2,000 wounded, 300 missing

The Battle on Lijevča field was a battle fought between March 30 and April 8 1945 between the Croatian Armed Forces (the amalgamated Ustaša and Home Guard forces) and the runoff Chetnik forces of Pavle Đurišić, the Montenegrin People's Army, near Banja Luka in what was then the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).

The Croatian Armed Forces were led by General Vladimir Metikoš, while the Chetniks were led by Voivoda Pavle Đurišić.

Build-up to the battle

In the fall of 1944, the Chetniks were scattered across the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Divisions of the Red Army had entered Serbia and were assisting Yugoslav forces in capturing and destroying the Chetniks.

The Army of the Independent State of Croatia was reorganized in November 1944 to combine the units of the Ustaše and Croatian Home Guard into eighteen divisions, comprising 13 infantry, two mountain, two assault and one replacement Croatian Divisions, each with its own organic artillery and other support units. There were also several armoured units. From early 1945, the Croatian Divisions were allocated to various German Corps and by March 1945 were holding the Southern Front. Securing the rear areas were some 32,000 men of the Croatian Gendarmerie (Hrvatsko Oruznistvo), organised into 5 Police Volunteer Regiments plus 15 independent battalions, equipped with standard light infantry weapons, including mortars.

The Chetnik plan

When the German forces began to abandon Montenegro, the Chetniks decided to head out with them as there was little escape from Partisan attacks in the region. Before they left, a command was issued by the Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović (who was at that time in Serbia), to head towards Bosnia where they would join up with an alleged number of 100,000 troops from Serbia.

It was decided that the Chetniks would consolidate in the area between the rivers Bosna, Vrbas and Sava. On December 5, 1944, Đurišić's Chetniks headed north along the Drina river, and met up with Mihailović in the village of Kožuhe. With him were 10,000 soldiers, far short of what had been promised. Much of Mihailović's troops in these final months were forcefully mobilized peasants from Serbia who frequently deserted.

There are varying versions of what the Chetniks further plans were:

• Later, Ustaša emigrants claimed that the Chetniks had sought to attack the Croatian capital Zagreb after the Germans had left. This would have destroyed the Independent State of Croatia, and this would allegedly have shown the Allies that the Chetniks were a "powerful anti-fascist army upon whom they could count on".
• Yugoslav Partisan sources say that Mihailović sought to utilize Đurišić's forces to return to Serbia to raise an "anti-communist rebellion". Đurišić did not accept this, refusing Mihailović's commands. He then began to retreat towards Slovenia.
• Chetnik sources claim that Mihailović commanded Đurišić to head toward Slovenia to join with those Chetnik forces which would surrender to the Americans. Đurišić's Chetniks eventually headed towards Lijevča field near Banja Luka.

The Battle

Beginning of the battle

The Croatian Armed Forces which were located in the region numbered 27,940 soldiers. On March 30, Chetnik forces passed the river Vrbas and took the village of Razboj. From there the Sanjak Chetniks headed towards the Sava river and the village of Dolinama on the road toward Bosanska Gradiška.

At the same time, three Ustaša companies from the 10. Ustaša Brigade commanded by General Metikoš headed out from Banja Luka towards Gradiška and took position near the village of Gornje Doline. There they battled with the Chetnik forces. With Chetniks in greater numbers, the Ustaša companies were forced to retreat. Concurrently, the local Croatian population began to flee the area towards Gradiška in fear of the Chetniks. At this time the Chetniks destroyed the villages of Junuzovce and Gornje Doline: it is claimed that they killed 2,500 civilians during this period.

April 2, General Metikoš along with the 6. Croatian Infantry Division attacked the Chetniks not far from Gornja Doline. After half a day of battle, the Croatian forces forced the Chetniks to withdraw. They had also captured a Chetnik officer, Captain Mijuković. He was a Montenegrin by background, a supporter of a Montenegrin independence as well as a follower of Sekula Drljević. Mijuković did not agree with the Chetnik ideology and he gave the Ustaša officers information about the intentions of the Chetnik command.

Attack on Bosanska Gradiška is foiled

From records, General Metikoš and the commander of the 17. Croatian Infantry Division, General Marko Sučić, made a decision towards a quick attack against the Chetniks. General Sučić moved an Armored Group that same day from Novska as well as an Artillery Group from Nova Gradiška and two infantry battalions. Generals Metikoš and Sučić met in Bosanska Gradiška and discussed a plan of attack. The fifth battalion of the 10. Ustaša Brigade was sent to the town of Vrbačko to assure against any possible Partisan attacks. That same day at noon Ustaša gunners began artillery fire on the Sanjak Chetnik Corps. At the same time, the Ustaša Armored Group with 24 armoured vehicles and 4 Panzer IV tanks entered Doline and began to fire their machine guns at the fleeing Chetnik troops. After an hour the battle was over. The Armored Group captured 400 Chetniks, among them some officers, while on the field of battle lay 2,000 dead or injured Chetniks.

During questioning of the captured officers, the Ustaše found that the Chetniks were planning to attack Bosanska Gradiška that very day. They also established the makeup of the Chetnik force: the Sanjak Corps led by Captain Kalajitović; the Drina Corps led by Voivoda Drašković; as well as 5,000 Montenegrin Chetniks led by Voivoda Boško Agram. They also found that the Chetniks had received help from the Germans to get there.

Disruption of Chetnik command

Because of the unexpected loss of their forward troops, the heads of the Chetnik forces came to a spat and even some armed conflict erupted between officers. Voivoda Đurišić had some of the Montenegrin Chetnik officers shot to placate the rest and to stop any argument. However, this only intensified the dissatisfaction of the Montenegrins who were forcefully mobilized and who did not want to fight for a Greater Serbia. Just as Captain Mijuković had foreseen, 5,000 Montenegrins deserted the Chetniks in the following days and defected to the Ustaša.

This forced Đurišić to change plans. April 3 he made the decision not to attack Bosanska Gradiška nor Banja Luka, but to take the remaining Chetnik forces across the Vrbas, to take Lijevča field and the villages of Topola, Dubrava and Maglajan. There they would care for their provisions and horses, and begin to head across Mount Kozara towards Kordun where they would meet with Voivoda Đujić's troops from Slovenia.

On April 4 Durišić decided to break through the Croatian Army's ranks. In the meantime the Croatian Armed Forces built and strengthened bunkers on the road from Bosanska Gradiška to Banja Luka. The building of the bunkers was overseen by the engineering Lieutenant Colonel Josić. In the bunkers were placed Home Guard troops from 4. Jager Brigade. Every bunker was armed with a mortar and a machine-gun, while each crew numbered thirty soldiers. The bunkers were situated at the intersections of roads: Nova Topoli, Gornja Topola, Maglajan and Laktaš were all fortified. On 40 km of road 22 bunkers were built. In Laktaš, one Armored Group and two Infantry Battalions stealthily moved towards the road near Razboj. General Sučić placed one Armored Group towards Donji Doljani, deployed a battalion with a motorized infantry and a Tank Company behind them in the village of Bukovac. A battalion under Major Ante Vrban was sent towards Vilus to protect against a Partisan attack from Kozara.

Main battle

In the morning of April 5 at 2:00am, the Chetniks began a frontal assault on the bunkers, showering them with hand grenades and infantry gunfire. The Croatian Home Guard troops in the bunkers waited until the Chetniks came closer then opened fire with their machine guns and mortars, which resulted in high losses to the Chetniks, as well as confusion among their ranks. This lasted for the remainder of the day and into the night.

Chetnik Mihajlo Minić later recalled the battle with these words: "The valley of Lijevča field echoes with the thunder of exploding grenades and hand-bombs. Ustaša tanks snorted and sowed fire on all sides. Night turned to day."

However, on April 6 at 6:00am, Chetnik forces under Captain Perišić succeeded in penetrating between bunkers and attacked the Croatian 3rd battalion from behind. General Sučić with part of his own division blocked the Chetnik penetration point, and sent two tank companies to the road from Bukovac to Turjak to help the 3rd battalion. With his remaining troops Sučić set off to hunt down the Chetnik group, which numbered about 1,000 troops. Soon the tank companies reached the 3rd battalion and commenced their attack, killing approximately 500 Chetniks, while the survivors retreated towards Kozara.

The 3rd battalion, strengthened by the arrival of the armoured units, then set out to find the remaining 500 Chetniks. Two days later a battalion from the 4. Croatian Infantry Division under the command of General Zdenko Begić came across these fleeing groups and completely destroyed the unit.

During the night of April 7, due to the attacks by the Croatian Armed Forces, panic struck the Chetnik ranks all the way up to the top command and their forces began to flee across the Vrbas with the intention to spread out into the forests. In the morning Croatian artillery began to shoot down boats attempting the cross and in this way halted the Chetnik retreat.

At this time, Yugoslav Partisan forces opportunistically began a troop build up near Bosanski Petrovac and Sanski Most. As the Croatian Armed Forces did not wish to fight a battle on two fronts, the commander of the 4. Division Josip Metzger decided to launch a final attack on the remaining Chetniks who numbered approximately 7,000.

At 11:00am the 6. and 7. Croatian Infantry Divisions began to attack those Chetniks who had gathered around Razboj. Over Dolina and Glamočani towards Razboj turned the first Armoured Group led by 4 Panzer IVs, along with a motorized artillery company and motorized infantry. Another Armoured Group headed down the Brezovljani-Glamočani road. From the south the Armoured Group from the 6. Division chased the Chetniks from Kukolk towards Razboj. Behind them came a motorized artillery company and two infantry battalions which began a frontal battle with the Chetniks. The Home Guard troops left their bunkers and returned sharp machine-gun fire.

Under the onrush of Croatian tanks and armoured vehicles, the Chetnik right flank was crushed and Ustaša forces circled to the their rear and began to attack with machine-gun fire. The Chetnik Drina Corps began to crumble while Chetnik forces tried to close the Ustaša penetration. Under ceaseless fire from the Ustaša force accompanied by hand grenades, panic spread across the Chetniks. The Chetniks began to abandon their posts and attempted to flee, but they did so in vain as they were surrounded on all sides. The Croatian Infantry destroyed the resistance of the Chetniks, who soon surrendered. At 1:00pm the battle was over.

The Montenegrins who had earlier deserted the Chetnik ranks buried the dead. The spoils of war were great, five thousand Chetniks were captured, among them Voivoda Đurišić who had hid beneath a carriage hoping to escape by nightfall. He had to be closely guarded to ensure the Montenegrins did not kill him.

Aftermath

After the battle Đurišić, together with 1,500 of his officers and elite Chetniks, were taken to the Ustaša camp at Stara Gradiška where they were killed a few days later. It is unknown what happened to the remaining 3,500 Chetniks. It is likely that they were killed at another location.

Five thousand Montenegrins were moved to Sisak, where they were left armed and placed under Ustaša command as the Montenegrin People's Army. In May these troops were among the Ustaša and Croatian Home Guard forces, as well as Croatian civilians, who retreated at war's end towards Austria. At Bleiburg they surrendered, along with the Croatian Armed Forces, to the British Army which later returned them to the Yugoslav Partisans. Many were killed during the return trip to the new Yugoslav state, with those survivors being interned at various POW camps.

See also

• Croatian Armed Forces (NDH)
• Croatian Home Guard
• 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment
• Military history of Croatia
• Independent State of Croatia
• Yugoslav Front
• Yugoslav Partisans
• Chetniks
• Resistance during World War II
• Anti-partisan operations in World War II

Sources

• Process against Draža Mihailović, Vijesnik 1948
• "Američki Srbobran" October 2, 1950
• "Iskra" München, May 24, 1951 article "Kad je krvca iz zemlje provrela".
• From the records of the crosspoint of Perišić, May 1, 1945 records of Drina
• Alvin E. Conski, account of Draža Mihailović, read out at the meeting of the American congress May 24, 1945
• Boško N. Kostić, "Za istoriju naših dana", Munich
• Thomas, N., K. Mikulan, and C. Pavelic. Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941-45. London: Osprey, 1995. ISBN 1-85532-473-3.

References

1. ^
2. Thomas, 1995, p.17
3. Thomas 1995, p. 30.

• Yugoslavia in World War II
• World War II Eastern European Theatre
• Battles and operations of World War II
• Independent State of Croatia
• Battles involving the Independent State of Croatia