Kaltenegger, Roland Die Operationszone "Adratisches Küstenland". Der Kampf um Triest, Istrien und Fiume 1944-1945

By the end of August 1944, the pro-German Marshal Antonescu had been overthrown in Romania and the new government formed an alliance with the USSR. As a result of the overall situation, which had become hopeless, the German units in the Balkans were pushed back in fierce fighting. After fragmented operations, they were severely decimated and only rejoined as a united force south of Lake Balaton. In the course of the wintery position battles between the Drava and Lake Balaton, the tragedy of General Ludwig Kübler's LXXXXVII Army Corps in the "Adriatic coastal zone" took place further west in the final days of the Second World War in the port city of Trieste, on the Istrian peninsula and in the greater Fiume area.

Both the General Command and its subordinate divisions had received offensive combat orders on the eve of the unconditional surrender - against a multiple enemy superiority of regular troops and partisan units. After fighting in vain, the LXXXXVII Army Corps was forced to surrender in Yugoslavia on 5 May 1945. Thousands of members of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS died in partisan ambushes, on the inhumane "expiatory marches", as prisoners of war or as victims of Tito's partisan justice. On the basis of war diaries, the largely unknown battlefield events in the "Adriatic coastal country" in 1944/1945 are vividly portrayed here. With this expanded and updated new edition, Roland Kaltenegger impressively continues the series of his widely acclaimed military history works.