January 1943.

As Hitler’s armies are collapsing at Stalingrad, a new military formation is taking shape hundreds of miles away.

Its soldiers carry the number of a regiment that has already been destroyed.

Its nickname sounds like something out of a nightmare:

The Devil’s Division.

And before the war is over, its name will become associated not with battlefield victories, but with some of the worst atrocities committed in occupied Yugoslavia.

BORN FROM THE DISASTER OF STALINGRAD

The story begins with the Croatian Legion, a volunteer unit raised by the fascist Independent State of Croatia and sent to fight alongside Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front.

Nearly 5,000 Croatian volunteers marched east to join Hitler’s war against the Soviet Union.

Then came Stalingrad.

The regiment was thrown into some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II.

By the end of 1942, it had been reduced to a fraction of its original strength.

When the Soviet Red Army encircled the German Sixth Army, the Croatian Legion was trapped inside the pocket.

Most of its surviving soldiers either died or disappeared into Soviet captivity.

The unit was effectively wiped out.

But its story was far from over.

HITLER’S NEW CROATIAN FORCE

Determined to preserve the regiment’s legacy, German commanders created a new formation:

The 369th Croatian Infantry Division.

Around 14,000 men were assembled and trained in Austria.

Although officially Croatian, the division was controlled almost entirely by German officers.

The troops wore Wehrmacht uniforms marked with Croatian insignia and swore loyalty both to Adolf Hitler and Croatian fascist leader Ante Pavelić.

The division inherited a notorious nickname from an Austro-Hungarian military unit of World War I:

“The Devil’s Division.”

It would soon earn that name in a very different way.

A WAR AGAINST CIVILIANS

Originally intended for the Eastern Front, the division was instead sent to Yugoslavia.

There, communist Partisans under Josip Broz Tito were leading a growing resistance movement against German occupation.

Unable to eliminate the Partisans directly, German forces increasingly turned their attention to civilians.

The Devil’s Division became heavily involved in anti-partisan operations across Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Villages suspected of helping resistance fighters were surrounded.

Men were rounded up.

People were executed without trial.

Food supplies were seized.

Homes were burned.

Entire communities were wiped out.

THE MASSACRE THAT SHOCKED DALMATIA

In March 1944, the division participated in one of the deadliest anti-partisan operations of the war.

Together with other Axis formations, it swept through villages in the Dalmatian hinterland.

The Partisans had already withdrawn.

The people left behind were mostly civilians.

What followed was a catastrophe.

In the village of Donji Dolac, soldiers forced residents into their homes before setting the buildings on fire.

Anyone who attempted to escape was shot.

A total of 272 people were burned alive.

Among them were 103 children.

CHILDREN AMONG THE DEAD

The violence did not stop there.

In the nearby village of Voštane, between 337 and 400 civilians were killed.

At least 143 of the victims were children.

The same pattern repeated across villages including Podi, Ruda, Otok, Krivodol, Ljut, and Rože.

By the end of the operation, at least 1,525 civilians had been killed in just five days.

Some estimates place the death toll closer to 3,000.

Entire communities were devastated.

“HANG ALL THE MEN”

Even as Germany’s military position collapsed in 1944, the killings continued.

On September 11, under direct orders from division commander Fritz Neidholt, soldiers entered the villages of Zagnježđe and Udora.

Every man they found was hanged.

Women and children were expelled from their homes.

It was another example of collective punishment carried out on a massive scale.

THE DIVISION FALLS APART

As the war turned against Germany, the Devil’s Division began to crumble.

Desertions increased dramatically.

Some Croatian soldiers even turned their weapons against their own German officers.

Trust vanished.

Morale collapsed.

The once-powerful division shrank to only a few thousand men by the spring of 1945.

Its soldiers knew the war was lost.

THE FINAL RETREAT

As Yugoslavia was liberated, the division retreated toward Austria.

Many hoped to surrender to British forces rather than fall into the hands of Tito’s Partisans.

Some succeeded.

Others were less fortunate.

Large numbers of Croatian soldiers captured by Yugoslav forces were reportedly executed after being returned across the border.

The Devil’s Division was gone.

JUSTICE AFTER THE WAR

The division’s commander, Fritz Neidholt, could not escape responsibility forever.

After the war, he was extradited to Yugoslavia and placed on trial for war crimes connected to actions carried out by his division.

The verdict was guilty.

The sentence was death.

On March 5, 1947, Fritz Neidholt was executed by hanging.

A LEGACY OF FIRE AND MASS GRAVES

The 369th Croatian Infantry Division is remembered not for military brilliance or major victories.

Its legacy is measured in burned villages, destroyed families, and mass graves.

Where the Devil’s Division marched, it often left behind only ruins, mourning, and silence.

More than seventy years later, the scars of its actions remain part of the painful memory of the Balkans during World War II.