I only remember that after a number of acts of sabotage some houses in the neighborhood of the railway track near Bosh. Krupa on the Una were burnt down. These houses had been evacuated by the inhabitants a long time before and it had been unambiguously established that they had been used by the bands as bases for their raids and as stores for explosives, etc."
Under "9" the Affiant deals with the term "Bandits who were shot dead." And I would like to call attention to that.
Paragraph 10 deals with bow persons were dealt with:
10. When prisoners were taken, they were interrogated by the division, by the Ic. I often witnessed such interrogations and never observed prisoners being compelled to disclose facts by forcible means. In case they were found to be deserts, they received preferential treatment. Other prisoners too were brought into a small prisoners camp established in the neighborhood of the division staff which had the designation "Prisoners Assembly point". As far as possible the prisoners were exchanged by the Division against German prisoners. If such an exchange had not been possible for some time, the prisoners were transported to the rear in trucks returning empty under guard by the GFP (Secret Field Police) and handed over to the prisoners camps of the regional commands. The Prisoners Assembley Point never had more than about 50 inmates. They were fed there according to regulations. Occasionally they were employed in various jobs.
Under Paragraph 11 he deals with destruction of hospitals. I quote:
11. If I am reminded of the fact that in several cases the Division reported that field hospitals of the bands had been destroyed, I can only say that these were by no means hospitals in the meaning current in Europe. The bands had rather adapted houses of farmers by some primitive devices - layers of straw, bunks, medicine drawers and similar things to sort of sock bays.
Occasionally also shacks or block-houses in a remote region were built for such a purpose by the bands. It had been ordered that in campaigns against the bands their supply bases had to be destroyed, since it was not possible to keep those remote regions occupied. Now, the above mentioned huts, which had been adapted for the reception of sick people, often represented the vital part of the bases of the bands. As a matter of fact, they were never found to be in use as hospitals.
Stores or food depots of the bands were destroyed only for the reason that it was impossible to carry them away because of the inaccessibility of the terrain. To destroy the supply bases of the bands was an absolute military necessity, since they were thus paralyzed for a long while in these poor and at that completely barren regions.
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
Now, I shall read from paragraph 12, and this is what it says:
"The males fit for military service were by law bound to service for the Croatian State. Yet, the responsible Croatian authorities did not dare to go out into the country and the Croatian police was powerless. So the induction of the population fit for military service became the more incomplete the more distant the regions were from Zagreb. On the other hand, the bands used to recruit by force the population fit for military service by raiding the regions they passed through. That is why it was a tactical necessity to remove the population from those regions which were controlled by the German Wehrmacht in order to deprive the bands of their use."
The next document I want to offer is contained in the same Document Book. It is Document Leyser 13a. It is in Document Book 1 on page 38, and it is offered as Exhibit 34. This is a picture of a destroyed village. The affiant says in his affidavit about it:
"The enclosed picture represents the village Donje Vukovsko near Bugoyno. It was taken by a non-commissioned officer of the staff, whom I knew, in May 1943. I have seen the village in this condition myself. I know that at that time there had been no fighting with the partisan bands there, the village has, as a matter of fact, been destroyed by the Croats themselves in the manner shown in the picture, since the village in question was a Serb village."
In this connection I should like to offer Leyser Document 31, which is contained in Document Book I, page 63. It is offered as Leyser Exhibit 35.
JUDGE CARTER: In Exhibit 34 are you furnishing the picture, or what is the situation there?
DR. TIPP: The picture and the affidavit, if Your Honor please.
May I ask you whether the picture is contained in the English Document Book?
JUDGE CARTER: No, there is no picture here.
MR. FULKERSEN: It is in my document book, if your Honor please.
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
DR. TIPP: If your Honor please. I have another two pictures here. There must have been some mistake, and they obviously are not included in your Honors' books.
THE PRESIDENT: We need three.
DR. TIPP: I shall see whether I can find another one upstairs. I have only two down here at the moment. We only get a few numbers of the photostat copies, as a rule.
THE PRESIDENT: Did you have four or five?
DR. TIPP: Yes, I have 10 copies, and I passed them on to the office which puts together the English Document Books. I myself have no influence on the compilation. It may well be that these pictures were included in different document books, which are in the hands of different people. I myself never see the document books which are in the hands of the Court. Therefore, I couldn't find out beforehand.
MR. FULKERSEN: If Your Honor please, I believe the Prosecution has another copy of the document book, I believe there is another copy in there, and therefore we can furnish you with a copy.
THE PRESIDENT: Pardon me for the comments. Pardon me, Judge Carter, for intruding. The thing that bothers me is why they don't come down here right and why you should have to apologize for it.
Captain, will you get in touch with Major Schaefer and find out why they are not here and where they are? It is Leyser Document 34.
DR. TIPP: Exhibit 34, Document 13a.
THE PRESIDENT: Exhibit 34, Document 13a, and it is a picture. Inquire why it isn't here and where the rest of them are.
JUDGE CARTER: Now, will you repeat regarding the last exhibit, please?
DR. TIPP: The next document offered is Leyser 21, contained in Document Book I, page 63. It has been submitted as Exhibit 35. I would like to read a few important passages therefrom. It is an affidavit by a businessman named Willy Bein of Ansbach, dated 16 September 1947, and it was sworn to in Nurnberg on 17 Sept ember 1947.
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
In paragraph 1 the Affiant describes what he has been doing, and why he is in a position to make a statement at all. He says first, as a civilian he was in Zagreb since 1938. He was a businessman, and on his commercial trips he learned about Croatia, Bosnia, and sometimes the Serbian area. In 1913 he was called up and joined the Croatian Regiment subordinate to the 373rd Division, and remained until December 1944.
In Paragraph 2, and the following ones, he describes a few experiences which he had when serving down there, and is talking from the point of view of an ordinary enlisted man.
May I quote from paragraph 2:
"On 9.6.1944 I had the opportunity in Velika Skocaj, south of Bihac, conversing with natives of the country whose language I knew fairly well from working many years in Zagreb. They expressed their joy at being able to sleep at home again, since there were German troops in their village. Up to that time the men had been compelled to spend the nights in safety with German troops some distance away because it was the custom of the partisans to raid the village at night and they used to carry off with them any male inhabitants whom they found there. Many murders had been committed by the partisans; the inhabitants had been literally plundered of all they had. In spite of their great poverty, the joy of the inhabitants at having German troops with them was attested by their lavish hospitality.
"During our march to Petrovac with the baggage-train I was repeatedly able to ascertain that the surrounding villages were deserted. In this connection I must remark that there are no villages in the German sense in this entire region. The villages consisted only of a few farms, most of which were widely scattered. During the march I observed how the civilians were returning to their villages along with the German Wehrmacht. Upon our arrival at Petrovac, to which the main part of its population was returning with our baggage train for the first time, I noticed a frightful poverty. A widow, who was one of the few who had Court No. V, Case No. VII.
experienced the rule of the partisans in Petrovac, told me how the partisans ruthlessly used to requisition the farmers' cattle, and they themselves had to live only on grass, wild fruits and the like. Her husband had been murdered by the partisans.
"On 22.6.1944 an engineer detachment of Domobranen was attacked from ambush by a group of partisans a little outside of the base near Vrtoce and massacred to the last man. We were sent out to reinforce them, but could only rescue their dead bodies, which had been butchered in the most brutal fashion and completely looted. There were 40 corpses and it could be seen very clearly that the soldiers who had been shot had been killed with bayonet stabs. The remaining 18 engineers had been carried off; we could see clear traces where they had been dragged over the ground.
"Around 11.9.1944 Petrovac was evacuated again. On this occasion I noticed how the inhabitants moved out again with our baggage train, with all their property in about 150 carts.
"The partisans with whom I have come in contact in battle, or whose corpses I have seen after battle - I still remember, for example, 9 dead men after a fight near Brotnja on the Una at the end of September 1944 - could not be considered soldiers by their clothing. They were civilians wearing the clothes of the local region. At the beginning of July 1944 we brought back a wounded man near Ostrelj who had been attacked by a partisan in German uniform. On 7 October 1944 during a security operation near Kupirovo I saw for the first time 7 or 8 fleeing bandits in English Khaki uniforms."
The next, paragraph deals again with the Cetnik units:
"There was no hostility between us and the Cetnik units; on the contrary, there was a thoroughly good understanding between us. I remember that the Cetniks in our bases used to build their own primitive huts and lived in them by themselves. They drew their rations with our battalion in Petrovac every Monday. It was a constant irritation to us German soldiers that they could not be ordered into action Court No. V, Case No. VII.
and some stayed at home when we were sent out on active service. Moreover, they carried out their operations on their own initiative and slept all day long in our quarters. It was only during air raid alarms that they had to man one single observation post."
Q After this interpolation, General -
JUDGE CARTER: We will take our morning recess at this time.
THE MARSHAL: Court will recess for 15-minutes.
(Thereupon a 15-minute recess was taken.
Court V Case VII THE MARSHALL:
Persons in the Courtroom will please find their seats.
The Tribunal is again in session.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: You may proceed, Dr. Tipp.
BY DR. TIPP:
Q General, after we have talked about the documents, we shall now continue. At the very beginning, you said when you described the area of the 373rd Division, that this division also had to defend the area of Banja Luka. As you said at the time, Banja Luka was for some time the headquarters of the corps staff. I would now like to ask you, witness, whether you personally had an opportunity to observe the fight of this division against the bands.
A Yes. On the 31st of December, 1943, Banja Luka was attacked by strong band forces. For all practical purposes, these forces occupied the town area for some time and devastated it. Besides the building which housed the corps headquarters, all other main buildings were also in the hands of the bands, and the bands were also fighting for isolated strong points in houses. In this manner, I could observe the fight which also concerned my own house.
Q General, would you please talk a little more into the microphone? It is rather surprising, General, isn't it, that such an important place as Banja-Luka can be taken by surprise by the enemy in this manner and occupied by them? What were the reasons for this?
A The reasons were that the occupation forces of Banja-Luka consisted first of all mainly of Croatian militia. These people during the night of New Years Eve from 1943 to 1944 had been taken by surprise by the bands, and at the same time an uprising had taken place within the town so that these troops were more or less surprised. We then succeeded by gathering together the few forces which still remained, and by committing the whole corps staff, in holding the town of Banja-Luka until such a time when the army put at our disposal a Panzer Grenadier detachment.
After important street fights by the individual units, the encirclement of Banja-Luka was broken and the town for the moment was liberated. The bands, of course, on the occasion of the attack on BanjaLuka, put all their forces into the obtaining of this town and I believe they did that for two reasons. One reason was that it was the headquarters of the corps staff, and another main reason was that BanjaLuka was the capital of Croatia. The bands attached great importance to conquering this town and the Croatian government, on the other hand, was very interested in the bands not conquering the place. That was the reason why the fight for Banja-Luka was of some importance for the bands.
Q You said just now, General, that the bands devasted the town. Can you give us some comments on this statement from your own recollection?
A Of course I can deal here with some details that I remember. I may put it this way; the bands plundered in a creul manner. They murdered and raped. I myself saw that in one house, in a room, there were three to four children and as many women who were on one heap and were dead, beaten or shot to death. In Banja-Luka the Bolshevist terror was as bad as it could possibly be, and it was the same as I had noticed in 1919. Amongst other things in the guard room where the wounded and sick were lying all of them were murdered, and the only exception was one man who had succeeded in escaping to the attic and hiding there. I believe this description is sufficient to describe the conditions there at the time. There can, of course, be no talk when describing these people of a regular belligerent army.
Q May it please the Tribunal, I would like to offer two documents to illustrate this point. These documents will bear out General von Leyser's statements. The first one of these documents is Leyser Document 23. It is in Leyser Document Book I on page 70 and I am offering it under Exhibit 36. This is an affidavit by Otto Witscher from Dortmund. This affidavit was duly sworn to on the 18th of September in 1947 in Dortmund, and in number 1 the affiant describes the justification for his statements. He says:
"From October 1943 to October 1914 I was a Captain in the reserved and Company Commander of the 3 Vehicle Transport Unit 993 assigned to the XV Mountain Corps. In this capacity I gained first hand knowledge of the exceptional difficulties in acquiring supplies."
Numeral two deals with surprise attacks on supply vehicles I would just like to point out this paragraph.
Figure three deals with the return transport of prisoners which I do not want to read, but I do want to quote numeral four. It says here:
"On the occasion of the raid on Banja-Luka on New Years Eve 1943/44 one of the men in my company was in the ward in Banja-Luka with influenza. All the patients in the ward were taken from their beds by the bands and were shot in an adjoining court yard with the exception of one, who feigned death after he had been wounded and was released shortly after. I was able to examine the interrogation of this man myself in due course."
In addition, I would like to offer in this connection a document from Leyser Document Book II. This is Leyser Document No. 55. I beg your pardon, it is in Document Book III. It is Leyser Document 55 and it is on page 170 of Leyser Document Book III. I am offering this document as Leyser Exhibit 37. This document consists of one affidavit and one picture. I am afraid I only got these pictures at the very last moment from the photostat department, and I am now submitting them to the Tribunal. May I ask your Honors to add these pictures to Document 55 in Document Book III. This picture is self-explanatory and from the affidavit I would like to quote briefly.
"The picture which I handed in was given to me by a member of the 15th Mountain Corps. According to his statement, it represents 3 Moslem partisans who were captured during the fighting around Banja-Luka on New Years Day. 1944.
I would like to draw the Tribunal's attention to the fact that this picture shows that the prisoners did not wear any uniform nor did they bear any insignia which can be designated as recognizable from a distance. Witness, after these comments, shall we now continue?
You said that the bands devasted the town and you gave us a few examples which you still remember. Is there anything else which you can ascertain in this connection from the documents of the prosecution?
A Yes, there is. In prosecution document 1425, there are some statements about the occurrences during the fighting for Banja-Luka.
Q Document NOKW-1425, may it please the Tribunal, has been submitted by the prosecution as Exhibit 369. It is contained in Document Book SV on page 46 on the English text and page 50 of the German text. This is a report concerning details of the fighting for Banja-Luka. In the document book of the prosecution, NOKW-1425 page 46 of the English document book. In the document books of the prosecution, only one passage is contained of this document which comprises seven in all, and this is passage number four. In order to clarify this, I would like to read the missing passages from the original into the record.
May I first of all point out that this report has been submitted by the 373rd Croatian Infantry Division to the headquarters of the XV Corps and it says here, "As an enclosure, the division submits a report of the fighting of the Croatian Rifle Brigade concerning the defense of Banja-Luka dated the 31st of December, 1944, to the second of January 1943, for information."
In the cover letter which I have just read, six enclosures are mentioned. However, in the document book we only have one enclosure. And I would like to read the missing parts of this one enclosure, briefly, into the record. The headline reads "details".
"After conquering the black house (prison), the Communists have released all prisoners and taken them along." One comment to that, General. These prison inmates -- were they political prisoners or who were they? What kind of prison was this which is talked about here?
A It is quite possible that political prisoners were also there. The whole prison was a Croatian prison and I don't know exactly what people were confined there. To say the least, I am sure that a large number of criminals were there too.
Q. I shall then continue reading the document.
"Lieutenant Matulic, the man in charge of the prison, had allegedly shot two.........amongst other persons, the Minister Hilminja Beslicic and his brother were kidnapped."
"3) The Catholic Bishop of Banja-Luka was wounded."
Numeral 4 we have here in the document of the prosecution and, therefore, I do not have to read that passage. I then turn to numeral 5.
"The following buildings were burned down: the prison, the Chancellory of Minister Benac, the German Supply Depot, a number of buildings in the town and the old and new monastery in Trappistri."
General, what kind of a monastery was this? Was it the monastery of the well-known Trappist Order?
A. Yes, that was the one.
Q. And do you know how the monks were treated?
A. I am afraid I cannot give you any details. A short time later I went out to the monastery and saw there that it had been destroyed and burned down to a great extent. At that time I was not able to talk to any of the monks.
Q. I would then like to ask you to give us your comments on numeral 4 of this document. This particular passage is contained in the document books of the prosecution. It is on page 46 of the English text, and on page 50 of the German text.
A. We are concerned here with the fact that opposite the building of the brigade staff, that is the Croatian Brigade Staff, which was accommodated in a building next to my headquarters, in this building civilians were shot because of the suspicion that shots had been fired from this house.
I myself watched the incident. When the bands attacked there was suddenly quite a number of people who came running back, and the Ustasha who were accommodated in these brigade staff buildings were of the opinion that these people must be bandits; therefore, these people were shot and killed.
This was merely an error and there was no intention to shoot these people. This is quite possible in street fighting as anybody who knows anything about street fighting can imagine, and that is all I can say about it.
Q. General, we can now leave this particular document. I now would like to know from you which were the measures you took in order to cope with the attacks from outside and also to maintain law and order within the area of the town.
A. Since Banja-Luka had become a fighting area through being attacked by the bands, I made use of the authority which had been invested in me by the Croatian Government on the occasions of my visit to this government, to declare a state of emergency in Banja-Luka with the consent of the Croatian authorities. This was absolutely necessary for one reason in order to gather together all available forces for the defense, and it was also necessary in order to maintain law and order within the boundaries of the town after the attack had been defeated.
Q. You said it was necessary for the maintenance of law and order to do this. Was there any particular unrest in BanjaLuka itself, General?
A. Yes, there was unrest in Banja-Luka and this unrest was mainly caused by the Ustasha. These men had even, during the fighting, arrested several people whom they suspected of being band members, and on order of the Gauleiter four or five of these men were hanged by them in the city park.
Q. Was there opportunity, General, to take any steps against the Ustasha because of these incidents?
A. There was really no such possibility for me to take steps against the Ustasha because these men were not subordinate to me; but since I had declared a state of emergency, the executive power had been transferred to my person, and in this capacity, of course, I had the possibility to take steps against the excesses of the Ustasha and I did this.
When I gained knowledge of the excesses of the Ustasha, I went to see the Gauleiter and asked him to withdraw immediately his Ustasha who were making searches in the town at that time.
Since I was not quite sure that he would comply with this request, I sent a German company into town with the assignment to disarm the Ustasha located there. This was carried out and law and order was for the moment maintained solely by the German forces in Banja-Luka; but, of course, that was only during that state of emergency.
If I may continue, the Gauleiter made it difficult for us when on the occasion of a conference which I had called and where I discussed with the ministers of the Croatian Government and with the police authorities how long the emergency state was to last, et cetera, he said that he thought it was a great pity that not more people had been killed in Banja-Luka.
Of course, I countered this comment very sharply and told him that it was rather the duty of a Gauleiter to be interested in the welfare of the population than to act in the opposite manner. Because I thought this man was quite impossible, I made representations to the Croatian Government via the Minister Benac and I requested that this particular Gauleiter be replaced and that was done later.
Q. You were talking about placing a state of emergency over the city, General. Were you in a position to rescind immediately this measure when the fighting was concluded?
A. No, that is just what was not possible because after the actual fightings in Banja-Luka had been concluded, there were still small shootings and incidents in Banja-Luka mainly at night time. Therefore, I ordered a search of the whole area and particularly of those areas where the shootings had occurred, and on through these searches two people were arrested who were found with munition and arms.
There is one thing which I have to add in this connection, and this is that when the state of emergency was announced by posters it was stated that every person who was found with ammunition and arms would be shot. Here, then, were two people who had been arrested; they had been found with arms and ammunition.
Q. Was the threat mentioned on the poster carried out in actual fact?
A. No, of course, court proceedings were started and, since the excitement amongst the population and also amongst our own soldiers because of the occurrences during the fighting for BanjaLuka was rather considerable, I especially ordered, in order to ensure a quite neutral verdict by the court, that the president of this Court should not be an officer of the troops fighting there, but that instead an older staff officer from another locality was appointed by me to preside over this court.
The verdict of this court was the following:
One of the men was acquitted because it had been found out during the search that the ammunition which had been found on him was no longer usable. It was old. The other man received a prison sentence because, as I was informed by the president of the court, the circumstances were such that a death sentence would have been too harsh a sentence.
I quite clearly realized that this particular punishment would not have a deterrent effect on the population but, since the president of that court had informed me of the reasons for his mild sentence, I agreed with this sentence and confirmed it.
Here again I have to say that it was my capacity here to be the judicial authority which under other circumstances I would not be as Commanding General; but, since I had declared a state of emergency and since I was the holder of the executive power, I was also the judicial authority.
Q. During this time were there any other court proceedings General?
A. Not to the best of my information, and I believe this is also contained in the document. There was one more court sentence in this instance in which plunderers were put before a court, and one of these men was sentenced to death and four other men were acquitted.
Q In this connection may I point out that the last mentioned summary court martial is contained in Leyser Document 28 Leyser, Exhibit 28 which is on page 82 of Leyser Document Book II. Here under the 21st of January 1944 we have an entry and the second passage reads as follows:
"Summary court martial in Banja-Luka pronounces one death sentence because of plunder and four for acquittal."
When were you in a position to rescind this state of emergency, General?
A I saw in the document now, that on the 14th of January I called Minister Benac and representatives of the Croatian authorities and police to a conference in order to tell them that it was not the task of the German Armed Forces to take police measures in the area of Banja-Luka to maintain law and order. Minister Benac requested me to leave the state of emergency in existence for a few more days because the population had asked for it and the population felt most secure under the protection of the German Armed Forces.
As I have previously mentioned, the Gauleiter made a few rather harsh comments during this conference. I gave in to Minister Benac and I told him then: "All right, then; for a few more days I will use my troops in order to maintain law and order in Banja-Luka but this cannot go on for any length of time."
As far as I remember, this is also contained in the document, and we can see from the documents that on the 19th of January I rescinded this state of emergency and then the executive powers were again transferred to the competent Croatian authorities.
Q In the subsequent period was law and order secured in BanjaLuka ?
A It had, of course, become a lot quieter but now and again, especially at night time, small incidents, shootings, et cetera, took place. That also was the reason why the German police stationed there repeatedly carried out searched.
Q The searched which I have just mentioned are contained in a document by the prosecution in document book on page 61 of the English text and page 89 of the German text. This is exhibit 371 which is Document NOKW-1419. In this exhibit 371 we have a report by the Plenipotentiary for the Reichsfuehrer SS in Croatia who is the police leader of the area Banja-Luka. This report is dated the 8th of January 1944 and is addressed to the 15th Corps.
What are your comments on this document, General?
AAfter the state cf emergency had been rescinded it was no longer my task to maintain law and order in Banja-Luka. This task had again been transferred to the competent police authorities. Therefore, this search which is mentioned here in the document cannot have been ordered by me, but I suppose it was ordered by the responsible police authority. I myself had nothing to do with this search operation.
Q According to this report, 230 persons were arrested who had no identification and 12 persons who were found in apartments which were not their own. These people were transferred to the SD. Can you tell us why these people were transferred to the SD?
A I am not informed of the channels of command amongst the police authorities and this particular indident was not my concern. All I can say is that, in my opinion, nothing wrong happened when the police carried out search operations and on the occasion of these people did not have the proper identification.
To the best of my recollection that time it had been ordered that every individual civilian had to carry an identification card. In addition it had been ordered that people were not allowed to stay overnight in apartments which did not belong to the people.
Therefore, I cannot see anything unlawful in this arrest. I believe that the same can happen today in Germany, that people are arrested by the police if they don't have the proper identification.
Q And what happened to these people later, General?
A Of course, I don't know that exactly. I would assume that for the moment they were arrested, they were screened, and then if anything could be found against them or not they would either be detained or released.
Q We can then finally leave the 373rd Division with which we have dealt for such a long time and we shall now deal with an entirely different chapter.
Initially, you have described to us the tactical task of your corps and you said that the main task of your corps was t build up the defenses the coast and to secure the supply lines to the coast To the extent to which we have discussed the documents up to now, we could only deal with latter part of your task. Which units of your forces were actual concerned with the defenses along the coast?
A When I took ever the corps at the time, as can be seen from Sketch 1, only the left sector of my corps actually reached the coast and even there at first only the three main ports, Zara, Sibenik and Split were occupied. These three ports were occupied by the 114th Rifle Division. This 114th Rifle Division had already been placed by the 264th Infantry Division, when I arrived and took over the corps In the right sector of the corps which, to begin with, had not reached the coast, later on the 392nd Division advanced, but this division was only put at the disposal of the corps in the month of September.
Q We will then for the moment remain with the 114th Rifle Division. What was the task of this particular division?
A It was the assignment of the 114th Rifle Division to occupy the coast, to build up the defense installations along the coast, and simultaneous to occupy the islands along the coast and to build up further the second main line of defense. However, this second task was no longer carried cut by the 114th Rifle Division because, as I have mentioned previously, already at the time when I took over the command, the 264th Division had replaced the 114th Rifle Division.
The 114th Rifle Division which was the one to occupy the three ports which I had mentioned before, consisted of two regiments only. Of these two regiments each had occupied Zara and Sibenik. The port Split was not occupied by any troops of the 114th Rifle Division but instead by an SS regiment of the Division Prinz Eugen. This is why in Split, which is part of the corps sector, during the first days of my taking over command still harbored an SS regiment and this SS regiment was subordinate to the division; but during the first days of November this regiment was replaced by the 264th Division. The task of the 114th Rifle Division, as I have previously stated, was mainly the securing of these three ports.
Q What was the task of the division after it had been replaced by the 264th Infantry Division?
AAfter the division had been replaced by the 264th Infantry Division, it was first of all concentrated in the area around Knin, by which I mean just behind the coast and was put at the disposal of the army because it was to be taken to Italy quite soon. During the time, however, when it was still stationed in that area it was under assignment, to mop up and occupy the islands along the coast and to mop up the area in between the three main ports which I have previously mentioned. All these areas were to be cleared of band activities. In addition, I believe in December large parts of the division were committed in an operation and subordinated to an SS division.
Q Can you still tell me what was the occasion of this subordination and what was the purpose?
A To the best of my recollection, this was an operation of the 5th SS Corps under the name "Ziethen" where large parts of the division were put at the disposal of the corps. This operation took place in the area around Livno.