TENKOVSKA CerA t. KORPUSA NOV-aHRVATSKE
TANK COMPANY OF THE lST CORPSNOV CROATIA Thebeginningof 'OperationWeis"found the TankPlatoonof the 1't CorpsNOVCroatiain Korenicawith verylittle fuel for the vehicles Heavywinter with temperatures below -20oC and deepsnow renderedthe usageof tankettesoutsideof clearedroads impossible Due to the numericalsuperiorityof the enemyany utilizationof the armorwouldbe ineffective svrsishod na Thecommanderof the TankPlatoonreceivedordersto destroythe Zapovjedniku je da tanketeuni5ti vehiclesand to join hismen to the infantryunit ThePlatoonHQ Tenkovskog voda zapovijedeno kakone bi paleu rukeprotivniku, a ljudstvo da prikljutipjeSadijskim decidedto keepthe tankettesand moved them to the villageof postrojbama naterenu. FarkasicThroughoutthe next day the vehicleswere being placed into thepreviously preparedholesin the stonewallssurroundingthe plough-fields and coveredwith rocksafter that Newsnowfallquickly hid all tracesltaliantroopspassed by the buriedand camouflaged tankettesseveraltimesin the next few dayswithout frndingthem. Thewinterconditionsthat were theproblemfor the paftisans were evenmoreof the problemfor the Germanand ltalianforcesltalian ' and 'Re' sustained divisions'Sassari heavycombat/osses as wel/as /osses due to the harshwinterconditionsltalianunitswere beaten Zimske prilike jo5 vremenske smetale su partizanima, ali viSeitalijanNOV. postrojbama. sko-njematkim NapodrutjuLikeposebno suu borbama in severalbattleswith the 6thLikaand the BthKordunDivisions At the beginningof FebruaryGermanforcessustainedsignificant i od zimestradale postrojbe talijanske iz sastava divizijeSassari i Re /o55e5 roo Postrojbe 6. litkei 8. kordunaSke divizijeNOV-au viSesu bojevakraThroughout thisperiod paftisanforcesseizedsignificantbooty that jem sijetnjapotukletalijanske postrojbe. Podetkom veljatei njematke includedarmoredvehicles postrojbe naovomterenutrpeosjetne gubitke, gthLikaDivisionNOVcapturedtwo 1.3 tanpartizanske U ovomrazdoblju postrojbe domoglesu se i znatnog On 24 January1943the kettesnearthe villageof Tusice.The 1't LikaBrigadeNOVcaptured patakoi oklopnih ratnogplijena vozila. on 30 January1943.OneH.39 je kodselaTuiice three1.3 tanketfesnearZalusevrca Dana24.sijednja 9. litkabrigada NOV-a zaplijenila tank was capturednearDrenovaca by the 5thKordunBrigadeNOV u Licidvijetankete 1.3.Dana30.sijednja 1. litkabrigada NOV-a zapli- on 6 February whileanotherone wasdamagedand abandoned by jenilaje na Zaluievici tri tankete1.3.Dana6. veljaie5, kordunaika the Germanforcesnearthe villageof Cvitkoviciin the Kordunarea je na Drenovati jednatenkHotchkiss brigada NOV-a zaplijenila H.39. KodselaCvitkovita naKordunu njemaike snage suu sijednju napustile Oncethe fightingshiftedto the territoryof Bosniaand Herzegovina the partisans in the Likaand Kordunareasbeganwith the reformoitetenitenkHotchkiss H,39 ing and refittingof their units Duringthis processthe HQ of the lst CroatianCorpsNV decidedto collectall capturedarmoredvehicles Thedecisionto createthe TankCompanyof the 1n CroatianCorps NOV using the existrngTankPlatoonas a kernelwas made on 7 March1943 The new companywas equippedwith eight L 3 tankettes(three capturedin Januaryand five from the earlierTankPlatoon) Only U sastavu detenalazi seosamtanketa1.3.:petzarobljenih u sijetnju four tanketteswere armed with machinequnswhile someof the itri iz prija(njeg sastava Tenkovskog voda.Strojnice su imalesamo tankefteswere inoperablerequiring ma.loirepairwork Besides the ietiri tanktete.Dioje bio i tehnidkineispravan te je zahtijevao veie fankettesthe Companvhad two HotchkissH 39 tanks The tank popravke. captured nearDrelnovaca was repaireddespitethe fact that the Uztankete L 3 tetaje imalai dvatenkaHotchkiss H.39TenkHotchkiss Germancrewremovedthegun breachbeforeabandoning the tank Paftisans managedto producereplacement in a fieldshop Thetank capturednearCvitkovicicouldnot be repairedand it was usedasa sourceof sparepaftsfor the other tank ln accordance plan the ltalians with the'15thJanuaDl' beganpulling out of Likaleavingthat areato the Ustasha-Domobran and Chetnik forces.The lst CroatianCorpsNOVhavinq severaldivisionson disposal(6thLika,BthKordunand 13thPimolsko Goranska) attempted to gaincontrolof that area With that intent paftisanforcesattacked severalChetnikstrongholdsin Lika The TankCompanywas intensivelyusedduringthesebattles Twotankettespafticipatedin the attackon Chetniksin the village GornjiBabinPotokon the night of 6thMarch 1943. Thetankettes were to be brought to the staftline by trucksbut due to the difficultieson the snow coveredroads they enteredcombatonly in the morninghours Movingthroughthe deepsnow the tank tracks got packedwith snow and one tanketteeven lost its track While repairingthe track one of the crew memberswas wounded The tankettesbypassedthe villageand approachedthe Chetniksfrom the rearforcingthemto abandontherrpositionsand retreattowards VrhovineA strongChetnikgarrisonin CrnaVlastwas attackedon 2 2 1 P a r l i z a n s kt ei n k H o t c h k i s sH 3 9 s n i m l j e nu s e l uB a b i nP o t o k2 1 o l u j k a 19 4 3 g o d i n e ,n e p o s r e d n op r i j e n a p a d an a i e t n i i k o u p o r i s t eu C r n o jV l a s t i ( H P M ,Z a g r e b ) A Hotchkiss H 39 tank in Partisan hands photographed in the vtllage of Babin Potok on March 21, 1943 moments before the attack on Chetntk positions in Crna Vlast (HPM, Zagreb)
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