Partisans in Croatia*
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Date: November 23, 1943*                     
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Battle Type: Yugoslavia assault vs. German defend*
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Design: CB Blackard*
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Description:  None of the major European forces of World War Two were trained to fight a guerrilla war.  'Blitzkrieg', the brainchild of Liddell Hart and Heinz Guderian which involved the use of mass armor to penetrate enemy positions, was, by 1943, the accepted military doctrine throughout Europe.  Germany had used 'blitzkrieg' to defeat Poland and France; the Russians were utilizing the same techniques during the counter-offensive at Kursk; and the Americans and British were preparing to employ 'blitzkrieg' tactics in the upcoming invasion of France.*
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Neither Guderian nor other European or American advocates of 'blitzkrieg' appear to have given much thought to the threat posed to their own rear areas while the armor units were advancing at breakneck speed through enemy lines.  It was assumed that enemy forces, once cut off by the advancing armor, would either surrender or simply evaporate in the face of the following infantry.  Indeed, this was the case in Poland and France.  But in the inhospitable mountains of the Balkans and the vast spaces of Russia, many enemy forces continued to operate long after the German tanks and infantry had passed them by.  Nowhere was the problem greater than in Yugoslavia where partisans flourished in the rugged terrain of Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro.  The most powerful and successful were the communist partisan forces of Tito.*
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Hitler, fearing a Balkan invasion, was compelled to station German troops in Yugoslavia, thus exposing them to a savage form of warfare for which most were ill-prepared.  In this scenario, partisans attack units of 1./SS-Regiment 24 holding the Croatian town of Glina.*
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Note:  If played against the AI, this scenario is best played with the human player taking the side of Yugoslavia.* 
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Sources:  Keegan, "The Times Atlas of the Second World War" p. 129; Tieke, "Tragedy of the Faithful", pp. 7-11.*

 
