The Year of Aggression
Part 7: Operation Anicius Gallus III, August 11 – August 25, 1939
During the period of August bracketed by these dates, Operation Anicius Gallus developed in beneficial, though unanticipated, ways. Rather than a wholly successfully broad front sweeping forward, large segments of that front stalled against heavy Yugoslav resistance, allowing for the evolution of spearheads of infantry divisions. These were units which broke through the Yugoslav lines and, for whatever reason, did not find secondary defenses behind the frontline. Also during this time, Bastico’s 2a Armata verged on completing the final conquest of the very north of Yugoslavia.
Delnice, having become a heavily torn battlefield between Italian and Yugoslav forces early in August, finally received respite from the deluge of steel and blood on the 11th. In a battle that lasted more than a week, nearly five hundred Italians lost their lives, in exchange for over 1,300 Yugoslav soldiers, which amounted to more than a full quarter of their entire force present at Delnice. Simultaneously with this victory, Bitossi of Roatta’s corps became involved in a battle at Sisak. At Sisak, for the first time, partially-mobilized Yugoslav forces made their battlefield appearance. Importantly, while the Italian divisions were binary, with two regiments of infantry, Yugoslav divisions comprised three regiments each. Italian divisions were a third smaller than their hostile counterparts. In an indication for the future difficulty of the Yugoslav campaign, Sisak would become, even more than Delnice, a wrecked and blood-sodden area, a testament to Yugoslav obstinacy.
Battle at Sisak, and battle over at Delnice.
Events in the north were, Sisak notwithstanding, going well. Bastico’s 2a Armata was pushing toward the Hungarian border, moving beyond their original objective of Ljubljana, and won a victory at Ptuj that was reminiscent of the frontier battles: forty-eight Italians were killed, as opposed to over five hundred Yugoslav soldiers, nearly half the entire force. Nevertheless, the most important part of the front had perhaps become the southernmost flank. It was here, certainly, that half of Gambara’s corps and his headquarters, with Pintor’s own army headquarters in tow, were exploiting southward with alacrity risen from a lack of opposition. The two actual divisions in this ad hoc grouping, commanded by Messe and Frattini, were tasked to conquer and reconquer Split and Zadar, respectively. The broken remnants of the Yugoslav navy would be forced into the open, and the constant advance would allow the front to remain fluid.
Limited Italian forces exploiting southward.
By midday on the 13th, the task set before Messe and Frattini had grown. They were, far from simply capturing the eastern Adriatic ports, to march on Albania and secure it from the minor and unknown Yugoslav forces demonstrating down there. Further, it was anticipated that from Albania they would push back northward toward Belgrade and take it in a grand pincer movement, a maneuver for which they would have enough time given that the Yugoslav army was resisting heavily to the north.
The southern exploitation on the way to becoming a grand flanking movement.
The fighting on Roatta’s front during this entire period was indeed quite heavy. There were only two battles taking place, at Vrnograc and at Sisak, but both were becoming bloody and lengthy affairs. The former was, indeed, longer lasting than the latter. The battle of Sisak was brought to an end late on the 18th, after a week of battle. Just over six hundred Italians were slain, as well as nearly 1,650 Yugoslav soldiers. As Gambara’s two southernmost divisions were pushing ahead against no opposition, the rest of Gambara’s corps, as well as Roatta’s corps, were becoming mired in repeated major week-long battles against improvised Yugoslav defenses. Vrnograc would only end on the 26th, another week after Sisak, and cost Italy nearly 770 young men, and Yugoslavia nearly 1,900.
The battle of Sisak, concluded.
By the 20th, the north had been by and large completely cleared of Yugoslav forces by Bastico’s 2a Armata, in an often overlooked series of victories that resulted in the destruction of numerous partially-formed Yugoslav divisions. These were small scale battles, as opposed to the relatively titanic battles on Roatta’s front, though they were important in freeing Bastico to move his army southward to reinforce Roatta. In the very south, Frattini had been diverted from Zadar to push toward Sarajevo, leaving Messe as the only commander still pushing along the coast to the very south of Yugoslavia, though Frattini’s overall mission was to protect Messe’s increasingly lengthening line of supply and northern flank. While the broad front advance was still occurring, by this date there was a very noticeable slant to it. The front, rather than running from northeast to southwest as anticipated in the pre-war plans, ran almost northwest to southeast. Slow progress in the north, as Roatta fought steadily through increasing resistance, was juxtaposed to Messe’s completely unopposed march down the coast to Albania.
The broad front push, working but not as well as had been hoped.
By the 25th, the last remnants of the northern Yugoslav forces were isolated by Bastico’s army and under their final assault. A corps headquarters and two damaged divisions, including one mountain division, were to be removed from the strategic balance. Along the Hungarian border, Bitossi and Mancinelli, both of Roatta’s corps, had broken through the Yugoslav front at last and were marching forward quickly. One was commanded to take the northern road, to completely secure the Hungarian border and get north of the Danube. The other was directed southward to link up with Caracciolo di Feroleto of Gambara’s corps, who had broken away from the heavy fighting on Roatta’s front and was advancing quickly as well, toward Belgrade. This link up was expected to isolate in an enormous pocket the greater portion of the Yugoslav army. Unfortunately, Pintor had not the resources to secure the pocket. This was bound to make the pocket a very fluid, and messy, affair.
The Italian vanguard units pushing onwards, even as the bulk of the fighting continued behind them.
The period of two weeks from August 11 to August 25 showed that the first trappings of real success were finally emerging. Spearhead units were breaking through and racing behind the Yugoslav front, ready to cause mayhem in the deep rear. However, in other portions of the front the Yugoslav forces were slowing down the Italian push considerably, by weeks even, already. The density and obstinacy of Yugoslav resistance was astounding, and was inflicting heavy casualties on the Italian units even while taking far heavier casualties themselves. The Italian death toll for the war had likely already passed five thousand, with the Yugoslav casualties safely triple that amount, but the bloodshed was not to end soon.