Palestine 1948

Much like the rumors surrounding the die hards of the W-SS in the post war years at places like Dien Bien Phu, there are plenty of the same concerning Bosnians and their supposed deeds in the middle eastern wars of the late 1940s. The leading story is that al-Husseini was trying to save as many of them from European POW camps and in doing so found hundreds and even thousands (by some sources) of willing fighters in time for the 1948 war. In reality, all except for a chance meeting with Dzozo in 1968 in Cairo, al-Husseini never came back in contact with the men he helped recruit in 1943.
It was opportunity for many of them. Those fearing punishment for war crimes saw exile as a favorable alternative. Tito actually supported them in this, and exiled hundreds of former Ustasa to the Levant. It is unclear which position he personally held on the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, but it was a win-win scenario, so long as he was rid of potential trouble makers. The majority however simply went back to Bosnia in 1945-46 to face whatever punishment they had coming. For some it was hard labor, a year or two in a prison and a year of service in the Yugoslavian army before being pardoned.
The Zionist article out of which these details were taken out of makes the claim that the 1947 Bosnians were following in the footsteps of those that left Bosnia in 1878 during the decline of the Ottoman empire and settled in the Levant. It also goes on to tie in the 1990s War of Independence to the religious troubles in the middle east and the supposed roots of that war in WW2. It is all far fetched and plagued with the admitted lack of details and uncertain numbers.
So it was that in 1947, the Syrian govt made a request for the 8.000 Bosnian Muslims refugees at that time in Italy. By December of the same year, the Palestinian Post reports “Bosnian S.S. in Syrian Forces” (December 19th 1947) The article boasts that the nucleus of the division has reformed at Damascus. Israel Baer also went on to say that “the latest recruits to the Syrian army are members of the Bosnian Waffen SS” and that they were “directing a school for commando tactics for the Syrian army.” If not odd enough, Yugoslavia supported the Palestinian cause until Sept 3rd 1948. Tito himself ordered the extradition of some of those former Ustasas, leaving the option of fighting for the Arabs open to them.
A series of Palestine Post headlines best illustrates how this myth got underway.
April 18th 1947 – “Syria wants Muslim Nazis”
December 19th 1947 – “Bosnian S.S. in Syrian Forces”
February 2nd 1948 – “Ustashis join Arabs” (21 Croats that came over on the 14th of March, along with “20 Yugoslavs and 67 Albanians”)
March 2nd 1948 “Arabs need Balkan soldiers”
April 1948 – 200 Bosnians arrive to Beirut aboard the SS Augustina
April 9th 1948 “Nazi Fighting Forces to support Arabs”
(Palestine Post daily was established in Jerusalem in 1932 as part of a Zionist-Jewish initiative) It goes to prove that members of Handschar could still be exploited for propaganda purposes. It seems that to the survivors of the Holocaust in Europe now fighting for independence, nothing made for better propaganda than to say that they were still fighting the same enemy. Which was entirely true. The numbers they reported weren’t however.

Total figures:
520 Bosniaks (57 in Syria)
67 Albanians
111 Croats (Syria mostly – May 1948)
890-1,000 Yugoslavs (?) and Albanians in the Middle East – May 1948

2-3 April 1948 -Reports indicate a 100 or so Bosnians may have taken part in the battle for Kastel
25 April – 5 May, Reports tell of “400 Yugoslavs defend Jaffa”. Actual records seem to indicate that the place was defended by locals instead
The details on the participation of the Bosnian or all Yugoslav volunteers (to include Croats and Albanians) during these two battles is so vague that no one can place them. Individual testimony is all that exists. Croatian news agency Večernji List also covered this pro Arab crusade (Dec. 23 2005) Their story has the same origins in the Italian POW camp in the year 1947. It mentions a “150 Ustasas from Handschar” and partisan division being sent over to support the Arabs all on Tito’s direct order.
Their article centers around Kamel Rustomović. Who apparently stuck around with the division until it’s surrender to the British. He is currently still alive and living in Beirut. During the Battle at Jenin, he makes the claim that the (150) Bosnians and members of the “Tito division” under the command of Fuad Šefkobegović destroyed 10 Israeli tanks. The latter fought fanatically and to the last, according to Kamel. On the 29. Nov 1948, at Haram they were “betrayed” by the Arabs who were routing by then.
Other accounts were pieced together by one, Emilio Traubner, who came across the diary of Jusuf Begovic (from Pale, Sarajevo) His sources show 70,000 Bosnian Muslims (soldiers with civilians/families) in the Taranto area Italy 1947 (highly unlikely).

Other Legacies

If not ironic enough, certain figures that are central to the story of the Handschar division kept and keep re-surfacing to this day in highly unlikely places. Somewhere behind the scenes of this meeting with the Pres. of Egypt is Tito’s translator and former Sturmbannfuhrer Husein Dzozo. Dzozo accompanied Tito in his travels throughout the Arab countries in the decades after the war when the Communist bloc was jockying for power and influence in the region. Dzozo recently re-surfaced once again when a school in Gorazde was named after him. The Serb population of the country was quick to villify him and draw links to his war-time service with the Germans but to be fair he worked extensively as a reformist in the latter half of his life.

Tito’s troops never truly defeated the Handschar division, they came close at Lopare but were thrown back by German reinforcements. Instead the most destructive strategem he ever played was the offer of amnesty to all those that came over to his side at the close of the year 1944. Coupled with events on the eastern front and elsewhere this move cost the Handschar division thousands. It also aided in the healing of old wounds after the war.

Above: Muslim partisans that defected in 1944 from the Handschar division and other German formations.