Case White

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Case White
Part of World War II in Yugoslavia
Date 20 January – March 1943 Location West Bosnia, and then vicinity of the Neretva river, Herzegovina, occupied Yugoslavia Result Partisan retreat with heavy losses, Chetnik defeat, Axis failure to achieve strategic goals
Belligerents
Germany  Italy  Croatia  Chetniks	Yugoslav Partisans
Commanders and leaders
Alexander Löhr Rudolf Lüters Mario Roatta Draža Mihailović Zaharije Ostojić Dobroslav Jevđević Pavle Đurišić Vojislav Lukačević	Josip Broz Tito Arso Jovanović Velimir Terzić Koča Popović Peko Dapčević Pero Ćetković [sh] † Vicko Krstulović
Strength
90,000 Germans, Italians, NDH troops 12 air squadrons 12,000–15,000 Chetniks	Unknown (about 20,000 men)
Casualties and losses
514–583 killed 1,214–1,642 wounded 145–158 missing[1][2] 1,605 killed 983 captured[2] 126 killed 258 wounded 218 missing[2] 2,000–3,000 killed or wounded[2] Total: 7,000–8,600	11,915–12,000 killed, 616 executed 2,099–2,506 captured (German claim)[1][3] 10,000 killed, wounded and missing and 2,000 captured (Yugoslav claim)[2]
3,370 civilians killed 1,722 civilians deported to concentration camps[4]

Case White (German: Fall Weiss), also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive (Serbo-Croatian: Četvrta neprijateljska ofenziva/ofanziva), was a combined Axis strategic offensive launched against the Yugoslav Partisans throughout occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. It was one of the most significant confrontations of World War II in Yugoslavia. The offensive took place in early 1943, between 20 January^[5][6] and mid-to-late March.^[7] The Axis operation prompted the Partisan Supreme Command to enact its plans to drive toward eastern Herzegovina, Sandžak and Montenegro.^[8]

In order to do this, Tito formed the so-called Main Operational Group, which eventually succeeded in forcing its way across the Neretva in mid-March 1943, after a series of battles with various hostile formations. Other Partisan formations, the 1st Croatian and 1st Bosnian Corps, managed to evade Axis blows and, despite significant losses, reclaim most of the territory they had held before the beginning of the operation. Since its final stage took place on the Neretva River, the operation was known in Yugoslavia as the Battle of the Neretva (Bitka na Neretvi). This stage is also known as the Battle for the Wounded (Bitka za ranjenike).