Hello commander !
Today, let’s have another look at
Steel Division 2’s next planned expansion:
Nemesis - Raid on Drvar.
If you don’t remember,
this DLC won Nemesis’ Run 5 competition almost a year back.
In last week’s DevBlog, we have been reviewing the Axis battlegroup
Unternehmen Rosselsprungs. Today, let’s focus on its Allies counterpart, the Yugoslav partisan
NOV (standing for
Narodnooslobodilačka vojska, or
National Liberation Army).
[h2]The rise of Tito[/h2]As we have seen last week, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by several Axis powers and capitulated between April 6th & 18th, 1941. The young king was forced to flee in exile, leaving a power vacuum in the country.
Two men rose to prominence on that occasion: the communist Josip Broz, more famous under his
nom de guerre Tito, and the royalist
Draža Mihailović. The two men joined forces in a large-scale uprising starting in July 1941 in Serbia, soon spreading to most Yugoslavia. Yet, the two groups’ incompatible goals will soon break that national union, ultimately driving them on a collision course.
Mihailović wanted the return of the king, relied on his Serbian-only nationalist
Chetnik movement and was politically leaning toward fascism and antisemitism ; while Tito saw the war as an opportunity to get rid of the monarchy and establish a socialist government, welcomed any Yugoslav ethnicity in his ranks, and saved and enlisted Jews.
From October 1941, Mihailović and his Chetniks split from the partisans, and even sought German support to fight the communists. But the Germans refused, only willing to accept their unconditional surrender. Therefore, the Chetniks remained at war, both with the Germans AND Tito’s communists.
Forced to evacuated Serbia, under pressure from both Germans & Chetniks, Tito moved and settled to Bosnia which would become the partisan army’s stronghold.
There, he worked on organizing, arming and expanding his partisans, crating the
1st Proletarian Brigade (December 1941), then a
2nd (March 1942), and so on … By 1943, with Italy’s capitulation and their subsequent disarming by German troops, many Italian soldiers (in one instance almost an entire division) went to the partisans, increasing their numbers. By 1944, Tito had built the largest and most effective partisan movement in occupied Europe.
[h2]Foreign support[/h2]But to equip & maintain such an army, Tito needed more supplies than what hidden workshops or raids on Axis outposts & depots could provide. He needed foreign recognition and support.
And such support could only come from the Western Allies, and especially
Great-Britain through the Mediterranean Sea, since USSR, the fellow communist power, was too far away beyond German occupied territories.
Britain supported both communists & Chetniks, although leaned more in favor of the latter at first. But this changed when British intelligence officers on the ground transmitted reports of Chetnik atrocities against civilians, and that they would let Axis forces move unscathed through their territories to attack communist group, when not even siding with them. From September 1943, Churchill switched support to Tito, “
a much more effective, and reliable, ally in the war against Germany”, although maintaining minimal support to Mihailović’s men.
Allied support took various forms, the most tangible for the partisans on the ground being the airdrop of weapons, ammunitions, uniforms, … and other supplies which they lack most. They also evacuated wounded partisans by air or sea toward Italy, to be treated. British
SOE & American
OSS also sent intelligence officers and sabotage instructors to train the partisans in various new guerilla techniques and weapons, and to act as liaison with both Tito & Mihailović’s HQs. When the German paratroopers jumped over Drvar on May 25th, 1944, both OSS & SOE had a mission in the town, the British one even including Churchill’s own son!
Another form of support was air superiority, contesting Axis use of the Yugoslav airspace and securing Allies airdrops. Yet, Allied fighters remained in high altitude, which they dominated, but rarely got close to the ground. Thus, Germany and it auxiliaries could still provide some air support to their ground troops, as long as they kept flying at low altitude. Allied air forces over Yugoslavia were a mixed bunch of British, South African & Greek squadrons from
Mediterranean Allied Air Command, soon (barely ten days after the start of
Unternehmen Rosselsprungs) to be regrouped in a dedicated
Balkan Air Force.
[h2]NOV forces at Drvar[/h2]When the Germans managed to pinpoint Tito’s HQ at
Drvar, the Bosnian town was protected by elements from two partisan corps, the 5th & 8th, combining elements from five divisions (1st, 4th, 6th, 9th & 39th) et various independent units. “Division” was actually a big word, for none fielded as many men as a mere German infantry regiment, and the comparison was even more at their disadvantage when it comes to support weapons.
Partisan equipment is a motley assortment from many sources: old Yugoslav army weapons (M.24 rifle, ZK-383 SMG & ZB-30J “
Zorka” LMG), captured German or Italian ones (Kar. 98 & Carcano rifles, MP-40 & Beretta SMG, Breda 30 & MG-34 LMG, Solothurn ATR), or Allies-supplied ones (Sten & UD-M42 SMG, Bren LMG, Boys ATR & PIAT). But the true “badge of honor” of any Yugoslav partisan was to be entrusted with one of the rare
Šarac : a captured MG-42. To be given such prized weapon was akin to an award of bravery, and few gunners would dare lose such trophy before their life. So well-regarded was the MG-42 among Yugoslavs that it was retro-engineered and kept in production with few modifications as the
Zastava M53 until the end of the Cold War!
Heavier equipment is either old Yugoslav mountain artillery, or captured light AA, AT or fire support guns. Likewise, the few armors owned by the partisans were all captured ones, either in combat or salvaged from the Italians after the armistice of Cassibile neutralized them.
NOV had no air force of its own at the time of Drvar, although Yugoslav pilots were being trained by the British in Egypt on Spitfires. But they weren’t ready and would play no part in this battle. The British-led
Balkan Air Force (only a few days from being created, but already operational and active on May 25th, 1944) provided only high altitude air superiority & supply drop or evacuation, but took no direct part in ground operation. At least until the raid on Drvar …
From then on, the BAF literally “fell from the sky” and engaged German troops everywhere it could, playing a major role in the defeat of the German anti-partisan operation. And would provide strong close air support to the partisans until the end of the war …
The partisans had no real uniforms: some had retained old Yugoslav army fatigues, others captured from enemy depots, civilian clothes or British ones dropped by the RAF. It also included a bigger ratio of women than any other armies. But there was one piece of clothing which unified them all and became the trademark of Yugoslav partisan: the
Titovka, a side cap of varying colors (although usually green) but always displaying a red star.
[h2]NOV’s main features[/h2]What can you expect from
NOV in
Steel Division 2?
- As a partisan army, almost all NOV units have the Raider trait.
- The partisans have eyes everywhere, and as such can count on a generous RECON tab, both in terms of slors, AP costs & choices, although most of them are infantry. The only combat recon vehicles being BLINDA, captured Autoblinda 41.
- Being an infantry-centric battlegroup, you can also count on a maximum of slots and choices in this category: the PROLETERI equipped with the best weapons, including MG-34 & PzFaust ; the regular BORCI (with M.24 & Zorka) ; the tank hunter LOVCI TENKOVA (with Boys ATR & AT grenades) ; Fanatical KURSANTI (cadets) from the nearby NCO school who were among the first one to engage and pin down the German paratroopers ; or Disheartened PIONIRI, who were merely construction workers with no combat experience et barely had a few weapons ; …
While BORCI are the regular partisan squad, a partisan company would usually reorganize its elements into more specialized task-orientated groups when attacking a target: PODRŠKA with two automatic rifles provided fire support, JURIŠNICI with some SMG & Molotov cocktails would be the main assault elements, while Fanatical BOMBAŠI with Italian carbines & “Eksploziv” would storm buildings. The latter are smaller bombs than TNT but being carried in large numbers.
The category also includes OSS & SOE LDR. as few elite & well-armed American & British command/instructor squads.
- As can be expected, the TANK tab isn’t very prolific, with few and quickly expensive slots of R-35, L6/40 & Somua in small numbers.
- While the partisans can’t rely much on heavy equipment in other tabs, SUPPORT is quite open and well-furbished, with a selection of light mortars, infantry support guns, MG (both captured Italian Breda M37 and MG-42, the latter ŠARAC being Fanatical for the reasons explained before) but also a few (four IRL) L3/35 tankettes. One unique unit is the PARTOP, a cut-off 80mm mortar being used to propel a round of roughly 10kg explosive (usually salvaged from unexploded German aerial bombs): with very short range, it can blast any entrenched infantry.
- The partisans had some AT weapons, but most of them very light or obsolete: 20mm ATR, DŽONBULISTI (meaning “JohnBullist”, “John Bull” being the PIAT’s nickname), Italian 47mm or German 50mm anti-tank guns, with just a handful of PaK 40.
- Most partisan AA weapons were heavy HMGs or various mountain guns. We have unified that great variety of guns into a single card of Itaian Breda 20mm AA gun. By chance, Drvar being Tito’s HQ, it was also protected by the only “heavy” AA guns NOV possessed: four Yugoslav Royal Army M.28 76,5mm guns. But AA is NOV’s weakest spot, with very few slots and very expensive.
- NOV didn’t lacked artillery, although over 80% of them were mortars. The rest being M.28 75mm & M.17(i) (captured Italian) 100mm mountain guns.
- Thanks to the BAF’s decision to finally “get closer to the fight”, NOV can count on massive and very efficient air cover … but not immediately. In A, only a few fighters are available, representing the high altitude air superiority patrols, while only from phase B do the close air support and heavy pounders arrive. Phase A only includes British BEAUFIGHTER & MUSTANG Mk.III (the latter so far only available to the Poles) fighters, while phase B sees the unlocking of Greek BALTIMORE & SPITFIRE Mk.Vc/trop, tank-busting British HURRICANE Mk.IV (introduced recently with Tribute to the Liberation of Italy, actually the same squadron at two different times) & BEAUFIGHTER with rockets, and the new South African VENTURA bomber.
[h2]Au revoir and until next week![/h2]We’d love to know what you think. Leave your feedback and your comments.
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See you on the battlefield, commander!
