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Second Enemy Offensive
Part of the Yugoslav Front of World War II
Mount Igman where the 1st Proletarian Brigade crossed
Date late January - early February 1942 Location eastern Bosnia Result Partisan strategic withdrawal
Belligerents
Axis:  Germany  Independent State of Croatia  Italy	Allies: Partisans
Commanders and leaders
Johann Fortner	Josip Broz Tito Slaviša Vajner-Čiča  †
Strength
30,000 - 35,000 troops	5,000 troops
Casualties and losses
25 dead, 131 wounded, and one missing

The Second Enemy Offensive (Template:Lang-sh) was a battle fought between the Yugoslav Partisans and German forces, aided by a number of units of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and Italian support, in eastern Bosnia between late January and early February 1942.

Offensive

The operation included the German 718th and 342nd Divisions, a number of NDH units (including the Black Legion), and the Italian army which provided support. The offensive was targeted at areas held by the Romanija, Zvijezda, Birač, and Ozren Detachments of the Partisans. The Romanija Detachment consisted of two-thirds of all Partisans in eastern Bosnia and bore most of the burden in the battle.

The Supreme Staff and 1st Proletarian Brigade retreated south towards Foča. The Partisan 1st Proletarian Brigade, excluding two battlions which were accompanying the Supreme Staff, took part in the "Igman March" and crossed the Igman mountain near Sarajevo. With conditions at minus 32 degrees celsius, 172 Partisans suffered severe hypothermic injury, 6 of whom died. The Supreme Staff entered Foča on 25 January and stayed there for three and a half months. The German and NDH forces were successful in recapturing Sokolac, Rogatica, Bratunac, Srebrenica, Vlasenica, Han Pijesak, Olovo, Bosansko Petrovo Selo, and some smaller settlements.

After the Chetniks failed to cooperate and give any assistance to the Partisans in the battle, the Yugoslav Central Committee seized all further attempts to cooperate with them and declared on 22 January to the "Bosnians! Serbs, Muslims, Croats!" that Chetnik leaders Boško Todorović, Aćim Babić, and others were traitors. It further proclaimed that the Partisans fought alone "all across Bosnia and Herzegovina" and ended stating "long live the united people's liberation struggle of all the peoples of Bosnia!".

The Germans caused considerable losses onto the Partisans and captured their territory; however, they failed in eliminating them as a military factor and, consequently, had to undertake Operation Trio, the third enemy offensive, afterwards. The Romanija Detachment's commander, Slaviša Vajner-Čiča, was killed in combat against the Germans. Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo reported that the detachment had "wholly collapsed".

See also

• Yugoslav Front
• Seven anti-Partisan offensives
• Resistance during World War II
• Anti-partisan operations in World War II

Notes

1. ^ Hoare (2006), pp. 185-186
2. Popović (1988)
3. Tomasevich (2001), p. 413

References

• Hoare, Marko Attila (2006). Genocide and Resistance in Hitler's Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks, 1941-1943. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0197263801.
• Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Vol. 2. San Francisco: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3615-4.
• Popović, Koča (1988). Beleške uz ratovanje. BIGZ. ISBN 8613002900.

• Seven anti-Partisan offensives
• Battles and operations of World War II
• Yugoslavia in World War II
• Eastern European theatre of World War II
• Battles involving Yugoslavia
• Anti-partisan operations of World War II
• Military operations of World War II involving Germany