(Evan Brennan) wrote in message om...
(robert arndt) wrote in message . com...

The German Tito raid was carried out by the SS Parachute Battalion 500
which was mostly a low morale penal unit. Yugoslavia with its rugged
mountails and poor rail & communications structure also made it an
excellent partisan stronghold.

You fail to mention that a large number of Tito's partisans were
killed in the assault

That is a myth invented by the Germans. Tito's partisans suffered
light casualties. The slow-witted SS paratroops had plenty of help
from a mountain division and other Nazi units, but they were no match
for the partisans.

In general, the Germans were not very good at counterguerrilla warfare.



Tito himself was almost caught.


Almost doesn't count.

If you want to see a job done better, look at the US special forces
operation against the guerrilla chief Che Guevera. They assisted the
Bolivian patrol who killed the bugger. Intended as a slap in the face
to Castro.


the Germans DID rescue/recapture Mussolini from Gran Sasso...


Only because there was no significant opposition.

If there was, you would see a repeat of the slaughter that visited
German troops and their stooges around Tito's headquarters.

Here is a site that tells about the battle

http://www.eliteforces.freewire.co.u...es/FAL_500.htm

Most of my history books on WW2 say that Marshall Tito barely escaped
with his life, so IMO the Germans didn't do any worse than the current
US Special Forces that were searching for Osama Bin Laden or Saddam
Hussein. Same situtation in both Afghanistan and Iraq with resistance.

I would also have to agree that the terrain in Yugoslavia favored the
defenders as the Germans didn't control most of the countryside
anyway. However, the Germans did kill many partisans in constant
reprisal raids even though they were tied down in the country.

Kenneth Williams