Zaključni boji v okolici Ilirske Bistrice ob koncu druge svetovne vojne. (Slovenian)

Two important road connections pass through the area of the municipality of Ilirska Bistrica: Trieste–Reka and Ljubljana–Rijeka, which continues South along the sea to Split and was the key to the Nazi control of the Croatian coast during the Second World War. They became even more important at the end of the war, when the Wehrmacht units began to retreat from Greece, Albania, Serbia and Croatia towards the borders of the Third Reich. The Wehrmacht needed to keep connections to the north cleaned and protected from Partisan ambushes blocking their way. For this reason, it was imperative for the Germans to maintain a firm hold on Ilirska Bistrica and the surrounding area until the arrival of their units from the South. The task was assigned to the 97th Army Corps (97. Armeekorps) under the command of Ludwig Kübler, which engaged the 4th Army of Yugoslav Partisans pressing for a rapid advance to occupy Trieste. The fighting that ensued constituted one of the major battles in Slovenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skozi občino Ilirska Bistrica potekata dve pomembni cestni povezavi: Ljubljana–Reka, ki se proti jugu nadaljuje ob morju do Splita in je bila ključna za nemški nadzor nad hrvaško obalo, in Trst–Reka. Povezavi sta postali še toliko pomembnejši, ko so se ob koncu druge svetovne vojne pri umikanju iz Grčije, Albanije, Srbije in Hrvaške enote Wehrmachta premikale proti mejam Tretjega rajha. Nemška vojska je morala zagotoviti odprte povezave proti severu, da ne bi prišlo do partizanskih zased, ki bi jim ovirale pot. Iz tega razloga so morali Nemci Ilirsko Bistrico in okolico do prihoda enote z juga obdržati trdno v rokah, za kar je bil zadolžen 97. armadni korpus (97. Armeekorps – 97. AK) pod poveljstvom Ludwiga Küblerja. Nasproti mu je stala 4. jugoslovanska armada, ki je želela karseda hitro prodreti in zasesti Trst. Boj med tema formacijama je privedel do ene največjih frontnih bitk na Slovenskem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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