Unternehmen Vollmond

Plans were based off intel derived from decrypted partisan radio messages. Sauberzweig ordered that the forces mobilize to prevent the enemy from advancing north towards the Majevica-Posavina-Semberija area.

Plan being as follows:
‘1st and 2nd Battalion from 27. SS Regiment to attack south towards Visoka Glava (I/27) and Jasenica (II/27) with support of 2nd Battery located in Donja Trnova.
1st Battalion from 28. SS Regiment to hold heights around Priboj covering position of 6th and 7th Battery and after attack starts it will link up with 4th Battalion from 28. SS Regiment which was in Lopare.’
The general idea was: “assault the enemy from the north and west, pushing him against the Drina.” (Sauberzweig)
It commenced on the early morning of June 8th at 3:45 AM.

SS-Ostuf. Heinz Driesner’s I/28 battalion was moved in position to block the “weaker” forces that in reality was the partisan western column of advance. So, a single battalion with 2 supporting batteries now stood alone in front of the advancing 16th Vojvodina division.

I/28 was made up of fresh recruits, some with zero training. One partisan commander said “The situation was ripe for action.” This was contrary to Sauberzweig’s beliefs, as he assumed the partisans would bypass Lopare and the Priboj area.

German positions:

Driesner’s men made their last stand on the hill southeast of Lopare, and behind them, less than 500 meters, just across the Lopare-Priboj road was 6th Battery of AR 13, and the 7th heavy Battery with four 150mm sFH 18 howitzers. They were located on elevated ground that overlooked the road near the village of Zajednice, just east of Lopare (at the base of hill Brezovacha)

The Attack Begins

Lopare battle from the German perspective. (First hours)

Partisan attack was commenced at 1800 by the 1st Battalion of the 16th Vojvodina. It’s 4th and 5th brigades went straight towards I/28. The 2nd Vj. Brigade was an hour late but it soon joined reinforcing the assault and attacking northwest across Radojevici towards Medenik.
I/28’s mortars were firing danger close to their own men, trying to disorganize the partisan attack, which was now on top of them. Having been overrun, a number of men of the battalion were scattered, some retreated to the positions of the batteries on the hills.
(Two days later, about 500 members of the battered I/28 turned up, the partisans had made a mistake in not pursuing after I/28, and they would soon pay dearly for it at Lopare)

Heinz Rudolph, the commander of the heavy battery, had about 80 men at his disposal. The heaviest of the small arms they possessed to fend off enemy infantry was a single MG42.

Rudolph directing fire for one of his sFH 18 Howitzers.

The howitzers, meant for suppressing the enemy from a distance (in-direct fire) now found themselves shooting directly into the advancing partisans. Shooting about 4-5 shells a minute, which was still painfully slow. The 7th battery was under small arms fire before the 6th (at the village of Brezovaca) because a partisan column bypassed I/28 to east, cut the road to Priboj and was now preparing to attack (2300)
Following a heavy 4 hour firefight with the insurgents and staying true to his artilleryman spirit, Rudolph was the last to leave his howitzers that night. The survivors were out of small arms ammunition, and were now making their way towards the 6th Battery at Brezovaca.
A number of Rudolph’s men were buried on the ground they held.

Just now, was the regimental commander learning of the situation, so he mobilized II/28 to help out.
II/28 was about 30 km away in Srebrenik, they would not get there that night.

It was also soon found out that on the other flank of the battlefield, areas assigned to Regt. 27’s units were far too wide to cover and the enemy forces of the eastern column continued right through them (Regt. 27 was not mobilized soon enough to block the eastern column, it was not in position). Interestingly enough, the local Cetniks, who found themselves in the mess became the only oppostion to most of the partisan column, however they stood no chance and were quickly scattered.

“Re-take Lopare or be court-martialed!”

SS Regiment 28’s commander, Helmuth Raithel, watching his forces counterattack Lopare on the 9th (the illustration is that of a regimental staff officer)

II/28 having taken off at 0200 on the 9th wouldn’t move into position to attack till 1600 that day. Konig, CO of 9./28 found Heinz Driesner and received orders from Raithel to re-take Lopare or face court-martial.
Driesner was killed in action the next day faithful to his orders. Town was in German hands once again at 1730 that evening, and the partisans evacuated the area with heavy casualties.
The entire western column had retreated so fast that II/28 was not able to catch up to it

In the east, Regt. 27 enjoyed some success in blocking the eastern column’s advance. The story was, 6 howitzers, four 105mm cannons and 3 AA guns convinced the partisans to pull back.
On the 12th, partisans were pushed back across the Spreca river.

Aftermath:

(Bergmann MPs were among the small arms used at Lopare)

Heinz Stratmann, described the scene at the position where the men of the 7th Battery fought and died:

“It was a scene of destruction. The partisans had been unable to take the big guns, prime movers, or vehicles with them and had destroyed them. Thirty eight soldiers of the battery had been killed and eight were missing. I wont go into detail about how gruesomely our dead were mutilated by the enemy, but I will say that even during my two years of combat in Russia I had never experienced anything so horrible. As it was not possible to move all of the bodies to the military cemetery at Celic, the dead were buried where they had fallen.”

Eduard Roth also added how “…provisions were plundered. The tent was completely ransacked, all of the rucksacks were emptied and the personal effects were strewn about…”

During the previous Balkan war the area was mined and yet again fought for.

Sauberzweig claimed 3,000 dead partisans following the operation, which was thought to be slightly exaggerated.
The official German report stated the following.
1586 enemy killed. Having lost 205 SS men, 528 wounded and 89 missing in action. The partisan report claims that of the 89 that went missing, 30 were captured.
The SS did not record having taken prisoners or loosing men to the partisans as POWs.

The partisan report isn’t credible at all considering the magnitude of the battle and the counterattacks. The entire 16th Vojvodina admitted to 230 dead and wounded. While other reports inflated the Germans’ casualties to 350 on June 9th alone.
In fact, partisans of this division’s particular brigades suffered more non combat related casualties in less than a month and a half of marching than they were admitting they sustained during combat operations
67 partisans died from hunger and exhaustion during marches (July 23- Sept. 3 1944), 130 were once classified wounded because of poor footwear (1943). Thus it’s hard to believe their low casualty rates when they were facing 150mm howitzers at point blank range.

Counterattack of II./28 battalion prevented 16th Division to capitalize on its success and it only managed to take 60 rifles, six MG-42s and two Bergmann M-34 SMGs, 1 mortar (from I/28) , 13 pistols, 20.000 7.92 mm rounds, 100 pairs of boots, 180 uniforms, 60-70 horses… forcing it to quickly destroy 6 out of 8 captured howitzers, trucks, several cars, two motorcycles also leaving large number of shells intact (Pack mules were not spared by the partisans during the attack, it’s suprising that those 60 or so horses stayed alive)

The Cetniks, who were not present during the battle, would be seen in the following weeks scavenging for weapons and left over equipment where the SS men had fallen.
After talks with the Cetnik leaders, Hampel was able to convince them to have the equipment returned.
12 machine guns (I think both SMGs and LMGs) and 40 carbines (Karabiner 98s) and some radios.

The estimated strength of the 16th Vojvodina was slightly over 4,000 before Vollmond, the battle at Lopare had severely mauled it and the partisans were trying to cover up their own losses. Their brief occupation of Lopare and the destruction of 6 howitzers hoping to destroy the inexperienced I/28, had cost them 1586 men.