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"Handschar mutinied because they WERE'NT being sent home , they signed up to defend their homes , and feared they were being sent elsewhere to fight ."
Thats the story behind the 1944 mutiny, in which two officers were executed for not ordering their troops out of Bosnia.
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This reminds me of another unit that went against their SS masters, the SS-Handschar, they
tried their hand at mutiny and they too were based in France 1944, in a town called Villafranche
but their mutiny did not work
The 1943 mutiny was not a division-wide event. One isolated pionier company had 3-4 rotten apples that timed their coup well to cause some unrest before being put down by loyal Bosnians. Most of the ring leaders were Croatian communists, with one being a Bosnian for sure.
The backbone of the division, 27th and 28th Regiments showed no signs of disloyalty.
The mutiny didnt work because of that company's imam (Halim Malkoc)
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these too were being sent back home and imho i reckon a few of them
got cold feet when they realised what could happen if they fell into the tender mercies of the Soviets
how? when they had a year of fighting the partisans ahead of them. Most of the battalion and regiment level awards the unit was written up for came for their actions on the Danube and for covering the retreat of German units across the Mura with the Bulgarian 1st and Soviet 57th army on their heels. Not to mention keeping the railways open for the retreating Axis troops out of Greece in the summer of 1944.