The Battle of Kočevje () was an encounter between the

Slovene Partisans The Slovene Partisans, formally the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Slovenia, were part of Europe's most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement Jeffreys-Jones, R. (2013): ''In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence ...

, the armed wing of the pro-

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

Liberation Front of the Slovene People The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation (), or simply Liberation Front (''Osvobodilna fronta'', OF), originally called the Anti-Imperialist Front (''Protiimperialistična fronta'', PIF), was a Slovene anti-fascist political party. The Anti-Imp ...

and on the other hand the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

occupying forces and the pro-

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

Slovene Home Guard The Slovene Home Guard (, SD; ) was a Slovenes#World War II and aftermath, Slovene anti-Slovene Partisans, Partisan militia that was founded and supported by the Germans and fought alongside them against the Partisans. It operated during part of ...

Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral The Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (, OZAK; or colloquially: ''Operationszone Adria''; ; ; ) was a Nazi German district on the northern Adriatic coast created during World War II in 1943. It was formed out of territories that were pre ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Under the command of

Mirko Bračič Mirko (Cyrillic script: Мирко) is a masculine given name of South Slavic origin. By Slavic etymology, the name is composed of the root ''mir'' (meaning peace) and hypocoristic suffix ''-ko'' usual in South Slavic languages, which together mea ...

at midnight on 9 December 1943 the town of

Kočevje Kočevje (; ; ''Göttscheab'' or ''Gətscheab'' in the local Gottscheerish dialect; ) is a town and the seat of Municipality of Kočevje in southern Slovenia. Geography The town is located at the foot of the Kočevski Rog karst plateau on t ...

(German: Gotschee) was attacked by three Slovene Partisans brigades. The attack was supported by the partisan artillery and mortars. The Kočevje mine, student hostel, school and some other important buildings in the city were captured by the partisans. The remnants of the German-Home Guard garrison retreated into the Gotschee Castle where it remained protected by its thick walls until two German relief columns under the command of

Oskar von Niedermayer Oskar Ritter von Niedermayer (8 November 1885 – 25 September 1948) was a German General, professor and a German spy. Sometimes referred to as the German Lawrence (just like Wilhelm Wassmuss), Niedermayer is remembered for having led the 1915� ...

came from Ljubljana and broke the partisan encirclement, rescuing the besieged German garrison on 12 December 1943.Hans-Ulrich Seidt (2002) "Berlin-Kabul-Moskau: Oskar von Niedermayer und Deutschlands Geopolitik", Universitas in der F.A., Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung, München, 509 S.,

References

Further reading