The Battle of Drazgose

[leibregiment]

I have had this pass for a while, I would like to think he was involved in this battle......I believe Polizei-Ski-Streif-Abteilung was there and the signature on page 10 is Major Otto Mann the CO of this unit........

welcome your views, cheers, Paul

[leibregiment]

2

[Lambert]

Are there any other entries in this Dienstpass, are there awards listed?
Anyway a very interesting document!!

[leibregiment]

No sadly, not a party or SS member either

[leibregiment]

Thanks To Tom "Yes, Draschgosche was the german name for Dražgoše" so he was there.........

On 9th January, 1942 it bore witness to one of the worst atrocities of the Second World War as well as to one of the most important battles between the German occupation forces and the local resistance. After a series of fierce gunfights in the nearby hills, a group of resistance fighters, known as Cankar’s battalion, retreated into the Selska Valley and sought shelter in the village of Drazgose.
Determined to flush out their prey, the numerically superior Germans began pounding Drazgose with heavy artillery as a prelude to an all out assault on the village. The resistance fighters refused to retreat and what followed was the first direct military confrontation of the Second World War between Slovenian and German forces. Poorly equipped, with no artillery and a very small number of machine guns, the local fighters exploited the only advantage they had to the nth degree. Strategically positioned snipers and machine gun nests on and around Bicek’s rock successfully repelled the German assault. Unable to make use of either their numerical superiority or their modern armaments, the three-day battle cost the German Army far more than the one hundred men that it lost. The aura of invincibility had also been shattered. Nine partisans were killed in the process and the rest were forced to seek refuge higher in the hills. Despite the appalling weather conditions they later regrouped on Jelovica plateau, where the battalion lost 12 more men before retreating further west.
When the Germans eventually occupied Drazgose and found that their quarry had eluded them, they vented their frustrations by rounding up the innocent villagers and executing 41 of them on the spot. The rest were made to standby and watch as their town was burnt to the ground.