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

Ordered formed during the second half of November 1944 with HQ in Zagreb. The Division was equipped primarily with Italian, Czech and British small arms and had no artillery. It was considered a weak, third-rate formation averaging between 4,500 and 5,000 personnel. There was a small German liaison team (DVK 302) assigned to the Division for coordination purposes. (1)

Operational History

Dec 44 – Mar 45: Division deployed north, northwest and west of Zagreb along the border between Croatia and Slovenia and also south of Zagreb. Although tactically under the German LXIX, Armeekorps, its principal function was to garrison towns and villages around the perimeter of the capital and to defend these against attack by the Partisans. These towns included: Samobor, Velika Horvatska, Kanić, Leskovac, D. Bistra, Tuheljske Toplica, Lomnica, Čučerje, Rakitovac, Stupnik, Babići, Krapinske Toplice, Krapina, Zabok, Sesvete, Marija Bistrica and Velika Gorica. Although it served a purely defensive role, it occasionally carried out battalion-level offensive sweeps against enemy concentrations and strong points, suffering very few losses in the process. Most of the Division’s monthly operational reports survived the war and a review of these reveal no change in its defensive pattern through March 1945.
Apr 45: 2d Croatian Inf. Div. was completely reorganized by disbanding its three brigades and reconstituting them as 26th and 27th Infantry Regiments. There is also some circumstantial evidence that it may have been renamed 2d Assault Division (2. udarna divizija) in the final week or two of the war.
7-9 May 45: Division remnants began withdrawing from the Zagreb area north to the Austrian border.

Commanders

General Mirko Gregurić (Nov 1944 - Mar 1945)
General Adolf Sabljak (Apr 1945 - May 1945)

Subordination

I Territorial Corps (Nov 1944 - c. 15 Mar 1945)
I Ustasha Corps (c. 15 Mar 1945 - c. 15 Apr 1945)
Poglavnik Bodyguard Corps (c. 15 Apr 1945 - May 1945)

Order of battle (Dec 1944)

Div. HQ in Zagreb
15th Ustasha Brigade (I – IV Bn.)
20th Ustasha Brigade (I – VI Bn.)
20th Infantry Brigade (I – IV Bn.)
Later, the III Replacement Engineer Bn. became a component of the Division.

Footnotes

1. AVII Beograd, kut. 134a, reg.br. 3/1; [Vojnoistorijski institute]. Zbornik dokumenata I podataka o narodnooslobodilačkom ratu jugoslovenskih naroda, Tom (vol.) V/36, pp.747-57; V/37, pp.737-42; V/38, pp.668-71; Colić 1979, p.163; Colić 1976, pp.1049-50; NARA WashDC: RG 226 (OSS intelligence documents Nos. 109636, 110433 and 126034); Schramm, Percy E. (ed.) - Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht, 1940-1945, IV/1312.

Reference material on this unit

- None known at this time -