The last battle of World War II in Europe began before the official end of the war but continued for several days afterwards. It was a particularly fierce battle with a strong flavor of righteous revenge. However, it is also an almost unknown battle, and this is because the regime that prevailed after the war in this country wanted to erase it from historical memory for political reasons.
Onjak is a small town in present-day Bosnia-Herzegovina near the border with Croatia. During World War II the city belonged to the independent Croatian state, the slaughterhouse of Ante Pavelic and the Ustasi. In April 1945, no one had any doubts about the turn of the war. Berlin was besieged by the Soviets and the Axis had collapsed. It was the period when the guilty took care to save their flesh. This also happened in Croatia. Ustasi criminals were trying to escape.
But there were also fanatics like Petar Raikovacsis . He, pursued by Tito's partisans, with about 10,000 men fortified themselves in Onjak and several surrounding villages, ready to fight to the end. Of these men, however, about 1,800 remained in their positions and fought until the end.
The Croats fortified their positions between the rivers Bosnia and Sava. Fatefully the partisans would attack them from one direction. On the other hand, Tito's forces had been reinforced even with tanks.
Failed attacks
The partisan attack began on April 19 with the vanguard of the 27th Division of Tito's 3rd Partisan Corps. However, although the attack continued until April 28, the partisans suffered a heavy defeat. The 16th Brigade of the division in question was decimated with over 600 dead, including its commander Spaso Misic. An entire battalion of partisans was killed and the Croats captured several cannons, mortars and an anti-tank gun.
The 28th and 53rd Partisan Divisions then entered the battle. Under the pressure of these forces the outer defensive perimeter of the Croats began to break. Finally the Croats were pushed back to the village of Vlaska Mala where some Croats surrendered but as soon as they laid down their arms they were massacred by the partisans. This resulted in the rest fighting fanatically, literally to the death.
Due to the lack of ammunition the Croats let the partisans get within 10 m before opening fire on them so that every shot would land. Many partisans were killed and those who were wounded and fell into the hands of their opponents were brutally massacred. It was a battle without mercy.
The partisans now continued their attacks against their opponents' main defensive line and entered Onjak. But Raikovacsis launched a successful counterattack in early May. The partisans did not expect this eventuality and were taken by surprise and suffered heavy losses. Their lines were broken and their units fled.
The Croats recaptured the destroyed town, killing many men of the 20th Serbian Assault Brigade of the Partisans. Those Serbs who survived started slaughtering, literally, anyone they found in front of them. In the meantime an Ustasi unit under Ibrahim Hujdurovic managed to route the 14th Partisan Brigade and escape into the surrounding mountains where they continued to wage guerrilla warfare for another three months.
Tito:Capture the City
In the meantime the prolonged resistance of the Croats had caused Tito discomfort. So a general attack was ordered against them with the support of air force. The reorganized 27th Division would once again form the vanguard. The city had to be captured by all means, casualties were of no importance, Tito's order said.
Even armed with Soviet Katyusha rocket launchers the partisans attacked with momentum only to be repulsed again. One attack was followed by another without particular results. On May 23, two squadrons of Partisan aircraft began bombing and strafing the Croats.
Raikovacsis was wounded twice by the shelling. It was obvious that the defense was collapsing. So Raikovacsis ordered his men to attempt to break the line on the night of May 24-25. A group of 700 Croats managed to break through the partisan lines and escape, temporarily. In Nuitsa Stala many Croats were surrounded and fought to the death. The partisans also rushed into the hospital there and killed all they found, Ustasi and civilians.
The 700 Croats who escaped were surrounded, then forced to lay down their arms. Other Croats managed to escape. In Onjak the Partisans executed all the men aged 15 and over. Even children were killed. The last Croats who escaped managed to continue the fight in the surrounding mountains until 1947 when they were exterminated. Overall the losses were very heavy. The partisans had thousands of men killed or wounded, while the Croats were annihilated. Raikovatsis committed suicide to avoid arrest.
Silence
The Tito regime banned any allusion to the battle as the reference was considered a "conspiracy against the fraternal unity of the Yugoslavs" . The first public report on the battle was made by the Serbian newspaper NIN in 1975!