Operation "Axis". A machine gun nest of the Reconnaissance Battalion, "Tiger Division" (373rd Infantry Division), near the village of Mazin (near Gračac). The division's task during the operation was to secure the supply lines of the 114th Jäger Division from Partisan attacks – which was not an easy job. From a report by Sergeant Major Ortner (Reconnaissance Battalion): "We were under constant fire, unable to see the enemy." The same NCO also mentions a case of desertion from the battalion, already on the second night of the operation (a quote from the book "Croatian Theatre of War" by Franz Schraml): "Late in the evening, Croat B. returned, barefoot, wearing nothing but shirt and underpants, and told that a comrade woke them up at night, remarking that an advance was planned. Without knowing what was going on, they marched a few hundred metres forward, where the Partisans awaited them, and immediately proceeded further. After a few kilometres, a stop was made, all their ammunition, weapons and clothes were taken away (ringleaders excluded), and then they were driven barefoot into the mountains. Although many wanted to go back, he was the only one who had the courage to flee."
Text: Ivan Ž. / Franz Schraml / Ortner.
Photographer: unknown.
Date: September 1943.
Location: Mazin (district of Gračac), Yugoslavia.
Original caption: unknown.
File source: Franz Schraml, "Kriegsschauplatz Kroatien" (p. 176/177).
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Operacija "Osovina". Mitraljesko gnezdo izviđačkog bataljona "Tigar-divizije" (373. pešadijska divizija) kod sela Mazina (kod Gračca). Divizija je za vreme operacije imala zadatak da obezbeđuje liniju snabdevanja 114. lovačke divizije od partizanskih napada – što nije bio nimalo lak posao. Iz izveštaja narednika-vodnika Ortnera (izviđački bataljon): "Bili smo pod stalnom vatrom, ali nismo mogli da vidimo neprijatelja." Isti podoficir pominje i slučaj dezertiranja iz bataljona, već tokom druge noći operacije (citat iz knjige "Hrvatsko ratište" Franca Šramla): "Kasno uveče vratio se Hrvat B., bosonog, samo u košulji i gaćama, i ispričao da ih je neki drug probudio u toku noći, napominjući da je planiran pokret. Ne znajući o čemu se radi, otišli su nekoliko stotina metara napred, gde su ih dočekali partizani, i odmah nastavili dalje. Posle nekoliko kilometara napravljena je pauza, sva municija, oružje i odeća im je oduzeta (osim kolovođama), a zatim su bosonogi poterani u planine. Iako su mnogi želeli nazad, jedini je on imao hrabrosti da pobegne."
Tekst: Ivan Ž. / Franc Šraml / Ortner.
Fotograf: nepoznat.
Datum: septembar 1943.
Mesto: Mazin (srez Gračački), Jugoslavija.
Originalni natpis: nepoznat.
Izvor fajla: Franz Schraml, "Kriegsschauplatz Kroatien" (str. 176/177).
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