(Domobranska središnja škola)
by H.L. deZeng IV

Established summer 1941 in Varaždin to train platoon-, company- and battalion-level officers and NCOs from all branches of the combat arms. At the end of December 1941 the School was organized as follows: School HQ and HQ Co., I Bn. (1st – 3d Infantry Co.), II Bn. (4th Machine Gun Co., 5th Heavy Weapons Co., 6th Engineer Co.), Artillery Battery and a Cavalry Squadron. Most of the instructors were reserve officers and the number of students typically ran around 250. The I Bn. was temporarily mobilized and sent to relieve the Ludbreg garrison on 1 March 1943, but the Partisans that were attacking the town dispersed before they could be engaged. On 10 April 1943, 180 NCOs graduated from one of the course cycles and were promoted to the rank of Zastavnik (Ensign – the lowest commissioned rank). By summer 1943 desertions had become a problem and the Germans wanted the School moved to Germany, which the Croatians vehemently opposed. In February 1944 a mountain artillery section from the School participated in an operation against Partisans in the nearby Kalnik Mountains. On 22 September 1944 the entire School was mobilized into a 400-man composite battalion in Varaždin and sent to West Bosnia to help retake the city of Banja Luka, which had been captured by the Partisans several weeks before. The battalion remained in Banja Luka under the Banja Luka Brigade and the School was never reopened. (1)

Commandant

Podpukovnik Ivan Babić (? - ?) Jan 1943, Apr 1943
Pukovnik Zdenko Begić (? - ?) Jan 1944

Footnotes

1. Arhiv VII, kut. 134a, reg.br. 4/1; [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Zbornik dokumenata i podataka o narodnooslobodilačkom ratu jugoslovenskih naroda, Tom V/14, p.410; various issues of Hrvatski narod newspaper.