September 1, 1942
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Ever since the German and Italian armies marched into Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941, the brave bands of native guerrillas in the mountains, forests and elsewhere continued their determined resistance against the hated invaders. In spite of repeated threats of shooting or torture in Nazi concentration camps, the patriots never for a single day ceased their activities of sabotage and train-wrecking as well as open armed combat. In the latter part of the summer of 1942 the whole railway system of Yugoslavia was brought to a complete standstill for about ten days because of wide-spread destruction done to tracks and rolling stock by the guerrillas. This brought about some considerable delay in the passage of German munitions and supplies which were being rushed through the Balkans to Rommel's harassed armies on the North African front. Many towns and villages throughout Yugoslavia were bombed from the air or burned to the ground by gangs of infuriated young Nazis, but the remarkable resistance of the patriot forces continued seriously to upset the enemy's plans. This resistance much increased when the guerrillas were properly organized into groups under various brave guerrilla leaders. On September 1 about 20,000 German and Croat Fascist troops began an offensive against the guerrillas in a rugged part of the Bosnian mountains, near the little town of Banjalucka. After fifteen days of fierce fighting the enemy were beaten back at all points, leaving the patriot forces in control of the whole area. In a surprise counter-offensive, detachments of the Yugoslav Army attacked enemy garrisons, took 200 prisoners and wiped out several Croat detachments who were forcibly taking grain and crops from the peasants. The picture shows the Nazis rounding up innocent women and children in a village of the Bosnian hills. These were but a few of the hundreds of peasants carried away to concentration camps as a reprisal for patriot defiance.
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