Operation "Black". Hotchkiss tanks (H39) of the 2nd Company, 202nd Armoured Battalion, attached to the SS Division "Prinz Eugen" (right column), passing by a destroyed house on the Stolac–Bileća road, while pursuing the Herzegovinian Chetniks. The German photographer, SS war correspondent Kollik, described the image as follows: "Captured in a surprise attack. The tanks advance as vanguard past the houses destroyed by the gangs in earlier fighting." (The title of the report refers to the Chetniks, who were indeed captured in a surprise attack.) The photo, however, got a much more imaginative caption from Allied reporters (ACME), who copied it from the German press: "Destroy all for few. Yugoslavia. A Nazi tank patrols the devastated streets of a Yugoslav village which was deliberately razed after the capture of a band of Chetniks hiding out in the mountain town. When the presence of the patriotic band was suspected, German troops were dispatched to clear up the district. The village was surrounded, and after fierce fighting the guerrillas surrendered, carrying their flag. The next typical Nazi step was to destroy the town nestled in the mountains of Herzegovina. In the words of the German caption: 'Tanks patrolled the streets of the village which was destroyed without fresh fighting.' This inning belongs to the patriots who have opened a full-scale anti-Axis offensive in eastern and central Bosnia with several towns already captured by forces of General Mikhailovitch." (The Chetniks did prepare a full-scale offensive, as the German reports confirm, but the Germans forestalled it with their big counter-guerrilla operation. Everything else stated in the Allied caption was a product of journalistic imagination. There was no fighting near this, judging by other images, isolated ruin on the Stolac–Bileća road.)
Text: Ivan Ž.
Photographer: Kollik, SS War Correspondent Battalion.
Date: May 1943.
Location: unknown, Yugoslavia.
Original caption: "Captured in a surprise attack. The tanks advance as vanguard past the houses destroyed by the gangs in earlier fighting."
Sources: National Archives, 242-JRP-45-39-21; ibid., RG 242, T314, r. 560, 000808; ibid., T78, r. 332, 6289986; ibid., T311, r. 175, 001440; ibid., 001420–32; Cegesoma, 64703; eBay, arieteii, 322203901660. (Photo restoration: Ivan Ž.)
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Operacija "Crno". Hočkisovi tenkovi (H-39) 2. čete 202. oklopnog bataljona, priključeni SS-diviziji "Princ Ojgen" (desnoj koloni), prolaze pored jedne razrušene kuće na putu Stolac–Bileća, goneći hercegovačke četnike. Nemački fotograf, ratni dopisnik SS-a Kolik, sliku je opisao sledećim rečima: "U iznenadnom napadu zarobljeni. Tenkovi nastupaju kao prethodnica pored kuća uništenih od bandi u ranijim borbama." (Naslov reportaže se odnosi na četnike, koji su zaista u iznenadnom napadu zarobljeni.) Fotografija je, međutim, znatno maštovitiji natpis dobila od savezničkih reportera (ACME), koji su je preuzeli iz nemačke štampe: "Uništiti sve zbog nekolicine. Jugoslavija. Nacistički tenk patrolira razorenim ulicama jugoslovenskog sela koje je namerno uništeno nakon hvatanja grupe četnika koja se skrivala u ovom planinskom gradu. Kada se posumnjalo na prisustvo grupe rodoljuba, nemačke trupe su poslate da raščiste oblast. Selo je opkoljeno i posle žestokih borbi gerilci su se predali, noseći svoju zastavu. Sledeći uobičajeni nacistički korak bio je uništenje ovog grada u Hercegovini. Po rečima nemačkog natpisa: 'Tenkovi su patrolirali ulicama sela koje je uništeno bez novih borbi.' Sada su na redu rodoljubi koji su otpočeli opštu ofanzivu protiv Osovine u istočnoj i centralnoj Bosni, tokom koje su snage generala Mihailovića već zauzele nekoliko gradova." (Četnici jesu pripremali opštu ofanzivu, što potvrđuju i nemački izveštaji, ali su je Nemci sprečili svojom velikom protivustaničkom operacijom. Sve ostalo navedeno u savezničkom natpisu plod je novinarske mašte. Nikakve borbe nisu vođene kod ove, sudeći po ostalim slikama, usamljene ruševine na putu Stolac–Bileća.)
Tekst: Ivan Ž.
Fotograf: Kolik, Ratnodopisnički bataljon SS-a.
Datum: maj 1943.
Mesto: nepoznato, Jugoslavija.
Originalni natpis: "U iznenadnom napadu zarobljeni. Tenkovi nastupaju kao prethodnica pored kuća uništenih od bandi u ranijim borbama."
Izvori: National Archives, 242-JRP-45-39-21; ibid., RG 242, T314, r. 560, 000808; ibid., T78, r. 332, 6289986; ibid., T311, r. 175, 001440; ibid., 001420–32; Cegesoma, 64703; eBay, arieteii, 322203901660. (Foto-restauracija: Ivan Ž.)
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