Post by Janjevac on May 13, 2005 15:49:27 GMT 1
The Bleiburg Tragedy.
In May 1945 the Second World War in Croatia was drawing to an end, the fate of Croatia's independence and sovereignty was given it's death knoll. Communist, guerilla leader Tito and his "Yugoslav" Partisans were given control on a federal "Yugoslavia" by the English and their allies.
The Croatian army was withdrawing towards the Austrian border. They were ordered to surrender to the English there rather than to the Partisans. The last battle was fought on 13 May 1945 against the 51st partisan Division for the possession of the bridges over the Drava River at Dravograd. On 14 May the Croatians reached the area of Bleiburg, Austria, which was already in English hands.
The commanders of the various Croatian units established contact with the English for the purpose of surrendering to them. The English accepted their surrender. The Croatians were formally assured that they would be treated according to the rules of the Geneva Convention regarding prisoners of war.
Against the Geneva convention over prisoners of war, Englishmen transferred 200,000 Croatian soldiers and approx. 500,000 Croatian civilians to Yugoslav partisans on 15 May 1945.
The English crowded this human mass into the area of Bleiburg and then, by direction of the English Minister of War, Harold McMillan, committed the greatest military betrayal of the war by handing over the surrendered Croatian soldiers to the Partisans. The Partisans immediately began to transport the men by foot, in several columns to Maribor.
As soon as they were out of the sight of the English the systematic mass murder of the Croatian soldiers began. Tens of thousands of them were slaughtered that day. The killings continued for days. At the end of May the "death marches" were organised. By foot, without food and water they were marched hundreds of miles through Croatian villages by way of Bjelovar and Osijek to Vrsac. The stragglers were shot and corpses left in the forests and on the roadside. Civilians known to be sympathetic towards the Croatian Government were also rounded up and ordered to march.
A series of mock trials were set up, and thousands of Croatians were sentenced to death and killed. It is estimated that up to half a million Croatians were killed between Bleiburg and Vrsac.
This betrayal of the human race is a black page in the history of humanity, and in the Anglo-American military history, with the subsequent slaughter of half a million Croatians, it is the Croatian Holocaust, and is known as the The Bleiburg Tragedy.
In May 1945 the Second World War in Croatia was drawing to an end, the fate of Croatia's independence and sovereignty was given it's death knoll. Communist, guerilla leader Tito and his "Yugoslav" Partisans were given control on a federal "Yugoslavia" by the English and their allies.
The Croatian army was withdrawing towards the Austrian border. They were ordered to surrender to the English there rather than to the Partisans. The last battle was fought on 13 May 1945 against the 51st partisan Division for the possession of the bridges over the Drava River at Dravograd. On 14 May the Croatians reached the area of Bleiburg, Austria, which was already in English hands.
The commanders of the various Croatian units established contact with the English for the purpose of surrendering to them. The English accepted their surrender. The Croatians were formally assured that they would be treated according to the rules of the Geneva Convention regarding prisoners of war.
Against the Geneva convention over prisoners of war, Englishmen transferred 200,000 Croatian soldiers and approx. 500,000 Croatian civilians to Yugoslav partisans on 15 May 1945.
The English crowded this human mass into the area of Bleiburg and then, by direction of the English Minister of War, Harold McMillan, committed the greatest military betrayal of the war by handing over the surrendered Croatian soldiers to the Partisans. The Partisans immediately began to transport the men by foot, in several columns to Maribor.
As soon as they were out of the sight of the English the systematic mass murder of the Croatian soldiers began. Tens of thousands of them were slaughtered that day. The killings continued for days. At the end of May the "death marches" were organised. By foot, without food and water they were marched hundreds of miles through Croatian villages by way of Bjelovar and Osijek to Vrsac. The stragglers were shot and corpses left in the forests and on the roadside. Civilians known to be sympathetic towards the Croatian Government were also rounded up and ordered to march.
A series of mock trials were set up, and thousands of Croatians were sentenced to death and killed. It is estimated that up to half a million Croatians were killed between Bleiburg and Vrsac.
This betrayal of the human race is a black page in the history of humanity, and in the Anglo-American military history, with the subsequent slaughter of half a million Croatians, it is the Croatian Holocaust, and is known as the The Bleiburg Tragedy.