The XV Mountain Corps was a German military formation that commanded German forces conducting counter-insurgency operations against the

Yugoslav Partisan The Yugoslav Partisans, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

s in the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in p ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was formed in the Balkans from the staff of the German commander in Croatia (german: Militärbefehlshabers in Kroatien) on 12 August 1943. It was subordinated to the

2nd Panzer Army The 2nd Panzer Army (german: 2. Panzerarmee) was a German armoured formation during World War II, formed from the 2nd Panzer Group on October 5, 1941. Organisation Panzer Group Guderian (german: Panzergruppe Guderian) was formed on 5 June 19 ...

. * from its formation until 1 November 1943 the corps was commanded by ''

General der Infanterie General of the Infantry is a military rank of a General officer in the infantry and refers to: * General of the Infantry (Austria) * General of the Infantry (Bulgaria) * General of the Infantry (Germany) ('), a rank of a general in the German Imp ...

'' (Lieutenant General) Rudolf Lüters. * between 1 November 1943 and July 1944 it was commanded by ''General der Infanterie'' Ernst von Leyser. * He was replaced in August 1944 by ''

General der Panzertruppe General der Panzertruppe () was a General of the branch OF8 rank of the German Army, introduced in 1935. A ''General der Panzertruppe'' was a Lieutenant General, above Major General (Generalleutnant), commanding a Panzer corps. Rank and ran ...

'' (Lieutenant General)

Gustav Fehn __NOTOC__ Gustav Fehn (21 February 1892 – 5 June 1945) was a German general during World War II. Fehn served in the Afrika Korps from November 1942 to January 1943, LXXVI Panzer Corps from July–August 1943, the XXI Army Corps from October 194 ...

who commanded the corps for the rest of the war. In May 1944, the corps was responsible for the conduct of Operation Rösselsprung, which was aimed at killing the Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito. The corps was effectively destroyed in Partisan

Lika-Primorje operation Lika-Primorje operation was a military operation carried out by the Yugoslav Partisan 4th Army against Wehrmacht units and the Croatian Armed Forces. It was conducted in the area of Lika and Western Bosnia from 20 March to 15 April 1945. In ...

. Remnants of the corps surrendered to the Partisans on 8 May 1945, and Fehn and many of the remaining men of the corps were subsequently killed by the Yugoslav authorities.

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