Operation "Ball Lightning". Like a snow avalanche, the white motorised columns of the 1st Mountain Division slide down the snow-covered hills of Sandžak towards the units of the II Proletarian Division, at the beginning of the operation named after the well known atmospheric phenomenon, the unpredictable and deadly ball lightning (Kugelblitz). The German attack was indeed sudden, powerful and lethal: during the fighting for Prijepolje, on the first day of the operation, the surprised I Šumadija Brigade lost two-thirds of its men. The Partisans were defending desperately, getting killed, jumping in panic into the Lim and disappearing in the dark waters of the icy river. The massacre of the smashed Partisan units continued on the following day, about which the deputy commander of the II Proletarian Brigade, Miodrag Milovanović "Lune", wrote in his diary: "The Germans made a breakthrough early in the morning and stormed to Pljevlja by road. Already at 2 p.m., they were in Pljevlja. They surprised our men at Jabuka, finding entire columns of supplies and men on the road. Men couldn't believe that the tanks were German. Some tried to stop them waving their hands for a lift, while the Germans, those bandits and butchers, killed whoever they wanted and however they wanted. They simply sat on tanks and, like hunters, shot with pistols whoever they liked. They called the Partisans to come and take a ride on their tanks, pushing down the road through our columns, while our men, having spotted the tanks, fled in all directions."
Text: Ivan Ž.; Miodrag Milovanović "Lune".
Photographer: Günter Thiede, Army War Correspondent Platoon F.
Date: 4 December 1943.
Location: unknown (district of Mileševa), Yugoslavia.
Original caption: "The gangs are mopped up. The motorcyclists often need to overcome extraordinary difficulties in the mountains of Bosnia, especially when mud and snow get stuck between the fenders and wheels, or when they descend steep mountain slopes."
Sources: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe, 2-541; Isidor Đuković, Prva šumadijska brigada, Vojnoizdavački zavod, Beograd, 1978, pp. 288, 331, 338; Günter Thiede, "Mit den Banden wird aufgeräumt", Marburger Zeitung, 05.01.1944, vol. LXXXIV, no 5, p. 1. (Photo restoration: Ivan Ž.)
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Operacija "Loptasta munja". Poput snežne lavine obrušavaju se bele motorizovane kolone 1. brdske divizije niz zavejana brda Sandžaka prema jedinicama II proleterske divizije, na početku operacije nazvane po poznatom atmosferskom fenomenu, nepredvidivoj i ubitačnoj loptastoj munji (Kugelblitz). Nemački napad je zaista bio iznenadan, silovit i smrtonosan: u borbama za Prijepolje, prvog dana operacije, zatečena I šumadijska brigada izgubila je dve trećine svog ljudstva. Partizani su se očajnički branili, ginuli, panično skakali u Lim i nestajali u mutnoj vodi ledene reke. Masakr razbijenih partizanskih jedinica nastavljen je i sutradan, o čemu je zamenik komandanta II proleterske brigade, Miodrag Milovanović Lune, u svom dnevniku zapisao sledeće: "Nemci su izjutra rano napravili proboj i projurili drumom za Pljevlja. Već u 14 časova oni su bili u Pljevljima. Na Jabuci su naše iznenadili i čitave kolone komore i ljudstva našli su na drumu. Ljudi uopšte nisu verovali da su to nemački tenkovi. Neki su ih zaustavljali i mahali rukama da ih povezu, a Nemci, banditi i kasapi, ubijali su koga su hteli i kako su hteli. Prosto su sedeli na tenkovima i kao lovci ubijali iz revolvera koga im se svidi. Vikali su na partizane da dođu da ih vozaju na tenkovima i tako su gurali cestom kroz naše kolone, a ljudstvo je, videvši tenkove, bežalo na sve strane."
Tekst: Ivan Ž.; Miodrag Milovanović Lune.
Fotograf: Ginter Tide, Vojni ratnodopisnički vod F.
Datum: 4. decembar 1943.
Mesto: nepoznato (srez Mileševski), Jugoslavija.
Originalni natpis: "Bande su počišćene. Motociklisti u planinama Bosne često moraju da savladaju izuzetne napore, posebno kada se blato i sneg zaglave između blatobrana i točkova, ili kad se spuštaju niz strme brdske padine."
Izvori: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe, 2-541; Isidor Đuković, Prva šumadijska brigada, Vojnoizdavački zavod, Beograd, 1978, str. 288, 331, 338; Günter Thiede, "Mit den Banden wird aufgeräumt", Marburger Zeitung, 05.01.1944, god. LXXXIV, br. 5, str. 1. (Foto-restauracija: Ivan Ž.)
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