Viktor Pavičić

Eastern Front of World War II:
- Battle of Stalingrad †

Viktor Pavičić (15 October 1898 – 20 January 1943) was a Croatian military commander who led the 369th Reinforced Croatian Infantry Regiment, which fought on the Eastern Front and was involved in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II.

Biography

Viktor Pavičić was born on 15 October 1898. A colonel, he was the commander of the Croatian Home Guard military academy from July to August 1942. In August, he was named commander of the 369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment that was to fight alongside other Axis forces on the Eastern Front. In late September, Croatian leader Ante Pavelić met with Pavičić and decorated him. Immediately afterwards, Pavičić and his regiment left the Independent State of Croatia to participate in the Battle of Stalingrad.^[1]

The 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment was devastated in the ensuing battle, and Pavičić elected to leave the surviving Croatian soldiers, and return to Croatia. He was killed on 20 January 1943. There are several conflicting accounts of how he died. One account holds that the airplane in which he was travelling was shot down by the Soviets, while another states that he was executed by the Germans for wishing to leave the battlefield.^[1] He was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Marko Mesić on 21 January.^[2]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Dizdar et al. 1997, p. 312.
^ de Bruyne & Rikmenspoel 2004, p. 272.

References

de Bruyne, Eddy; Rikmenspoel, Marc (2004). For Rex and for Belgium: Léon Degrelle and Walloon Political & Military Collaboration, 1940–45. Gliwice: Helion. ISBN 978-1-87462-232-1.
Dizdar, Zdravko; Grčić, Marko; Ravlić, Slaven; Stuparić, Darko (1997). Tko je tko u NDH (in Croatian). Zagreb: Minerva. ISBN 978-953-6377-03-9.

Battle of Stalingrad

Operations

Nazi Germany	Donnerschlag Winter Storm
Soviet Union	Uranus Little Saturn Koltso

Formations

Army groups
and fronts

	B Centre Don
	Don Southwestern Stalingrad Voronezh

Armies

Axis	German 4th Panzer German 6th Hungarian 2nd Italian 8th Romanian 3rd and 4th
	1st Guards 2nd Guards 3rd Guards 21st 51st 62nd 64th 65th

Corps

XIV Panzer
XXXX Panzer
XXXXVIII Panzer
IV
VIII
XI
LI
8th Air

Tank	1st 4th 13th 16th 24th 26th
others	4th Mechanised 3rd Guards Cavalry 4th Cavalry 8th Cavalry

Divisions

Panzer	6th 14th 16th 17th 22nd 24th
Infantry	3rd Motorised 29th Motorised 60th Motorised 5th 44th 71st 76th 79th 94th 100th 113th 295th 297th 305th 371st 376th 384th 389th
others	9th Flak

Guards Rifle	13th 15th 33rd 35th 36th 37th 39th
Rifle	38th 45th 62nd 64th 91st 93rd 95th 112th 138th 157th 169th 173rd 181st 193rd 196th 204th 214th 221st 248th 284th 302nd 308th 422nd
others	60th Cavalry 81st Cavalry

Notable participants

Nazi Germany	Adolf Hitler Alexander Edler von Daniels Hermann Göring Hermann Hoth Hans-Valentin Hube Erich von Manstein Friedrich Paulus Wolfram von Richthofen Arthur Schmidt Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach Karl Strecker
Romania	Constantin Constantinescu-Claps Petre Dumitrescu Mihail Lascăr
Other Axis members	Viktor Pavičić (Croatia) Italo Gariboldi (Italy) Gusztáv Jány (Hungary)
Soviet Union	Joseph Stalin Hazi Aslanov Vasily Badanov Vasily Chuikov Nikolay Dyatlenko Sasha Filippov Filipp Golikov Vasily Gordov Vasily Grossman Nikita Khrushchev Nikolay Krylov Dmitry Lelyushenko Rodion Malinovsky Kirill Moskalenko Yakov Pavlov Alexander Rodimtsev Konstantin Rokossovsky Alexander Shcherbakov Semyon Timoshenko Aleksandr Vasilevsky Nikolay Voronov Erich Weinert Andrei Yeremenko Vasily Zaitsev Aleksey Zhadov Georgy Zhukov

Significant locations
Barmaley Fountain Barrikady Factory Grain Elevator Gumrak Kalach Mamayev Kurgan Pavlov's House Pitomnik Airfield Red October Steel Factory River Don River Volga Tatsinskaya Airfield Tsaritsa Gorge Tractor Plant