369th (Croatian) Reinforced Infantry Regiment - Military Action On Eastern Front

Military Action On Eastern Front

In order to accustom the regiment to the conditions and divisional procedures, as well as to further progress their training, the units of the regiment were initially divided up among other regiments of the division immediately after their arrival on the front line near Kharkov. The divisional diary recorded that the main goal for units of the regiment during this period was to improve discipline across various areas. To improve poor discipline, on 30 September 1941, Colonel Ivan Markulj sent 43 officers and NCOs as well as 144 soldiers back to the NDH due to illness and/or for disciplinary reasons.

After the Red Army counterattacked and re-took Rostov in November 1941, the 100th Light Infantry Division was marched south to the front line on the Mius River on 22 November. Temperatures dropped as low as -18C and the regiment had no winter clothing. The units of the regiment, still divided among the other regiments of the division, dug in alongside the Slovak Mobile Brigade and SS-Division Wiking. In mid-January 1942, the 100th Light Infantry Division was deployed to the Stalino area to assist in fighting off a Soviet cavalry corps that had broken through the front line. Through some heavy fighting along the line of the Samara River, the division held on through the winter.

Starting in early 1942, soldiers of the unit were able to send messages back to the Independent State of Croatia. Messages for family members and friends were written on any paper the troops could find, such as cigarette papers or pages torn from notebooks. Communications from the Regiment's soldiers were subsequently broadcast on Radio Zagreb (later known as Hrvatski Krugoval), alongside propaganda announcements that praised the Croatian authorities and did not mention the soldiers' fate — most often death or capture.

The commander of the 100th Light Infantry Division, Generalleutnant Werner Sanne commended the regiment's successes over the winter, especially the actions of Lieutenant Colonel Marko Mesić's artillery battalion on 21–22 February 1942. On 23 February 1942, Sanne awarded Mesić the Iron Cross.

During April 1942 four soldiers of the regiment were sentenced to death and shot while many others were sentenced to imprisonment of between 2–10 years.

From mid-May 1942 the regiment was re-united under Colonel Markulj, after which the 100th Light Infantry Division joined in the final phases of the pincer attack on the Red Army bridgehead at Kharkov. In June, the division supported the drive of the 1st Panzer Army along the Don River, through Voronezh to Kalach where the regiment incurred heavy casualties trying to cross the river in the face of serious resistance.

After the Second Battle of Kharkov, Colonel Markulj, Lieutenant Eduard Bakarec and six other officers of the regiment were awarded the Iron Cross First Class. A report dated 21 June 1942 states that Legion contained 113 officers, 7 military clerks, 625 NCOs, and 4317 soldiers, as well as 2902 horses.

After participating in mopping-up operations in along the Don, the division rested briefly in September, and the regiment was re-organised after receiving some reinforcements.

Markulj was transferred back to Croatia and was temporarily replaced by Colonel Marko Mesić on 7 July 1942 and Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Babić who was finally replaced by Colonel Viktor Pavičić.

At 'Proljet Kultura,' the regiment suffered 53 dead and 186 wounded in desperate hand-to-hand combat during the German attack on 27 July and subsequent overwhelming Soviet counterattack on 28 July. The worst recorded casualties before Stalingrad were 171 dead suffered in combat in various villages along the Samara River. Lt. Tomljenović, Lt. Tomislav Anić and Lt. Ivan Malički were killed in action during this period.

On 24 September 1942, during a visit to the 6th Army headquarters, Pavelić decorated and promoted some soldiers of the regiment. Two days later the 100th Light Infantry Division was committed to the Battle of Stalingrad.

The number of legionnaires from that date was fast reducing to a reported total of 1,403 altogether by 21 October 1942. New fresh forces from Croatia were not added except for returns of sick and wounded and a few officers and staff. A total of 22 (15%) officers were killed, 38 (26%) wounded and 66 (45%) returned to Croatia from the original 147 Legion officers in total before fall. Only 20 officers, including Mesic, remained in Stalingrad and one is treated as MIA.

Lt. Bakarec, who was the first Legion soldier ever to receive the Iron Cross 2nd class, was later wounded at Stalingrad and evacuated to Croatia, where he was killed on 5 July 1944. Col. and later NDH general Markulj was tried and executed in Belgrade in September 1945. Markulj was court-martialled and executed after his capture by the Allies, who extradited him to the Yugoslav army in summer 1945.