(8. Hrvatska Pješačka Divizija)
by H.L. deZeng IV

Ordered formed on or about 1 December 1944 with Division HQ in Sarajevo. There was a small German liaison team (DVK 308) assigned to the Division for coordination purposes. This was one of the NDH’s best divisions and probably its largest, too. The Germans, Partisans and Allied observers reported it to be a good fighting formation that was up to strength, but short of armament, particularly all types of heavy weapons. Its personnel were mainly Moslem who had high morale and were aggressive. Total strength on formation was 16,858, but several months later a much lower figure of around 7,000 was being reported as its fighting strength. (1)

Operational History

Dec 44: responsible for the Sarajevo-Zvornik-Visoko-Ilidža-Stambolčić-Prača area and tactically subordinated to German V. SS-Gebirgskorps.
31 Dec 44: Div. elements operating in the Kresevo area/30 km W of Sarajevo as part of German Kampfgruppe “Viktoria” during Operation “Lawine”, a large clearing sweep toward Partisan concentrations in the vicinity of Pojnica that was being conducted by V. SS-Gebirgskorps.
3 Jan 45: elements engaged against strongly occupied Partisan positions near Fojnica/44 km WNW of Sarajevo.
1 Mar 45: XI Ustasha Brigade handed over to the 17th Croatian Infantry Division, which had just been ordered formed in Zenica.
10 Apr 45: at the end of March Sarajevo came under heavy attack by powerful enemy forces and the Croatian and German defenders were forced to retreat northward along the valley of the Bosna river.
14 Apr 45: Div. withdrawing in the Doboj area around 50 km S of Sl. Brod.
15-24 Apr 45: passing through Novska, some remnants of the Division reached the Garešnica-Bjelovar area by 24 April while a separate contingent was at Ivanjska to the north of Banja Luka by the end of the month. By this point the Division was badly fragmented and could no longer be considered a cohesive division.

Commanders

General Roman Domanik (c. 1 Dec 1944 - May 1945?)

Subordination

III Territorial Corps (c. 1 Dec 1944 - c. 15 Mar 1945)
III Ustasha Corps (c. 15 Mar 45 - ?)

Order of battle (Dec 1944)

Div. HQ in Sarajevo
I Ustasha Brigade (7 battalions)
XI Ustasha Brigade (4 battalions)
18th Domobran Brigade (8 battalions)
one artillery battery

Footnotes

1. AVII Beograd, kut. 134a, reg.br. 3/1; [Vojnoistorijski institute]. Zbornik dokumenata I podataka o narodnooslobodilačkom ratu jugoslovenskih naroda, Tom IV/31, pp.452-53; IV/34, p.332; NARA WashDC: RG 226 (OSS intelligence documents Nos. 109636, 110433 and 126034); RG 242 (T-311 roll 184/1141; roll 185/437 and 513; roll 189/785); RG 331 (roll 447-B); Schramm, Percy E. (ed.). Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht, 1940-1945, vol. IV, p.1312.

Reference material on this unit

- None known at this time -