1941 The Campaign into Yugoslavia
On 6th April the invasion begun after theYugoslavian government
which just had signed a pact with Germany and Italy had been overthrown
in a coup d’Etat by the Yugoslavian army. Thus, the Gebirgsjäger of
the 1. Gebirgs-Division along with those of the 4. Gebirgs-Division saw
action in a new theater of war. The 1. Gebirgs-Division started its advance
on the 9th April from southwest of Graz and already on the 14th April when
the advanced units of the division had reached the Bosnian town of Bihac,
Yugoslavia surrendered. During this short campaign the 1. Gebirgs-Division
had lost only 6 men killed in action.
Gabriel Kopold at that time didn't know that for him personally
the war would in fact end more than 7 years later in December 1948 in exactly
this area.
While the 1. and 4. Gebirgs-Divison during this
campaign saw relatively little action, the 5. and 6. Gebirgs-Division fought
their way through the heaverly defended Metaxas-Line from Bulgaria into
Greece. But when on 27th April 1941 a Gebirgsjäger hoisted the flag
with the swastika over the Acropolis in Athenes the campaign was not yet
over. Until 1st June when the fierce fighting for Crete ended, the 5. Gebirgs-Division
would lose another 1100 men killed, missing and wounded.
|
|
|
