Croatia was an Italian-German satellite state created after the breakup of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Its leader Ante Pavelic ordered the formation of Croatian armed forces to reinforce his Axis allies and overlords.>
Italy has always had territorial ambitions over Yugoslavia, since 1918, long before Mussolini came to power. The Italian dictator, having the vision of the resurrection of the Roman Empire, was the one who wanted to annex the Dalmatian coast and other border areas. However, when the Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia on April 6, the Croatian units gave up the fight.
The Pavelic regime imposed on Croatia is responsible for the murders of millions of people, mostly Serbs, but also Jews and Gypsies. At the same time, the regime formed armed forces with the primary purpose of clearing non-Croats from the state's territories and secondary the reinforcement of the Italian and German allies.
In the service of Italy
In July 1941 the Italian High Command demanded from Pavelić the formation of a Croatian "legion" that would fight alongside the Italian Army on the Eastern Front. Pavelić was not particularly enthusiastic about the Italian request but for purely political reasons he decided to consent. So on July 26, the Croatian administration ordered the formation of the Light Motorized Battalion (LMT).
The EMT organically joined the body of the Blackcoats. It had a strength of 45 officers, 70 non-commissioned officers and 1,100 enlisted men. It consisted of three rifle companies, a machine gun company, an 81mm mortar company, a replacement company and an escort artillery with four 65mm mountain guns.
Lieutenant Colonel Egon Zitnik was placed in command and the unit was moved to northern Croatia for training. However, due to a failure of the Italian logistics, the EMT was forced to remain in the area for a longer time. In fact, in order not to be idle, it was decided to participate in liquidation operations against hidden Yugoslav soldiers and partisans.
Eastern Front
It was not until December 17 that the EMT moved but not to the Eastern Front. He went to Italy where he was supplied with new armament and trained for three months. Finally the battalion reached the Eastern Front on 16 April 1942 in Ukraine and joined the Italian 3rd Cavalry Division (MI) "Principe Amadeo Duca D'Aosta" . There he was supplied and granted three small cars, six motorcycles and 44 trucks, as well as 108 horses. On May 11, EMT received its baptism of fire attempting to reinforce the Italian 63rd Tagliamento Blackcoat Battalion.
In this conflict he also suffered his first losses. The battalion continued to fight in Ukraine. On 11 July 1942 the 3rd MI was allocated to the Italian 35th SS. The next day the battalion distinguished itself in the attack against the Soviets, achieving an advance about 19 km deep into the enemy position. Operations continued apace and on July 28 the battalion crossed the Donetsk River and continued its eastward advance.
On August 20 he received a strong Soviet counterattack at Serafimovich on the Don River. The Croats withstood the pressure, repulsed the attack and captured all 46 Soviet prisoners. However his losses were heavy as the EMT mourned 27 dead and also had 90 men wounded. However, the Italians recognized the militancy of the Croats and the battalion received a commendation from the commander of the Italian 35th SS.
The Italian 8th Army held its positions on the Don until December 1942 when it came under a heavy Soviet attack and broke up. On December 19 the Croatian battalion was deployed on hills 210 and 168 at the Cir River location. There the EMK was surrounded and fought, literally, to the end, for two days. No EMT men survived.
The Italians formed new Croatian units, but they only acted against the partisans.