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Abstract

There were Turks and Muslims among Germany’s minor allies as countries, nations or ethnic groups during the Second World War. Some of them volunteered for the SS divisions which were composed of elite soldiers of very tight belief to the Nazi ideology. One of those divisions was the 13th SS Mountain Division, recruited around Bosnia-Herzogovina and named “Handschar”. Those soldiers, differed from others wearing black fezzes, were specially trained as mountain troops. Division “Handschar” were on duty in the mountainous area especially in Bosnia and around, and joined large-scale sweeping operations against Tito’s partisans. After the Germans had withdrawn to Hungary, Handschar was reduced to the brigade level, by demobilizing most of the division’s soldiers. Remains of the division continued fighting against the Soviet armies in Hungary and Austria, until their surrender to the British

Keywords

• 13th SS Mountain Division, Handschar Division, Second World War, Yugoslavia, Bosnians

İKİNCİ DÜNYA SAVAŞI’NDA ALMAN 13. SS DAĞ TÜMENİ “HANÇER”

Abstract

İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nda Almanların müttefiki olan ülkeler, milletler ya da çeşitli etnik gruplar arasında Türkler ve Müslümanlar da mevcuttu. Bunlardan Nazi ideolojisine sıkı sıkıya bağlı elit askerlerden oluşturulan SS tümenlerine de katılımlar olmuştu. Bunlardan biri, Bosna-Hersek civarından toplanan ve “Hançer” adı verilen 13. SS Dağ Tümeni idi. Diğerlerinden farklı olarak fes takan bu tümenin askerleri, özel eğitimli dağ askerleriydi. Hançer Tümeni özellikle Bosna ve civarındaki dağlık bölgelerde görev yapmış ve Tito’nun partizan birliklerine karşı girişilen geniş kapsamlı temizleme harekâtlarına katılmıştı. Almanların Macaristan’a çekilmesiyle birlikte askerlerinin çoğu terhis edilen Hançer, tugay kuvvetine inmişti. Tümenden kalanlar ise Sovyet ordularına karşı Macaristan ve Avusturya’da, savaşın sonunda İngilizlere teslim oluncaya kadar çarpışmaya devam etmişlerdi.

Keywords

• 13. SS Dağ Tümeni, Hançer Tümeni, İkinci Dünya Savaşı, Yugoslavya, Boşnaklar

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