42nd Home Guard Infantry Division


The 42nd Home Guard Infantry Division, nicknamed the Devil's Division, was an infantry division of the Croatian Home Guard">Croats">Croatian Home Guard within the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I. Composed primarily of Croatian troops, the division was deployed on multiple fronts, including Serbia, Galicia, the Russian front, and the Italian Front.

Formation history

The 42nd Home Guard Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Royal Croatian Home Guard, part of the Austro-Hungarian Army. In Hungarian, it was referred to as Honvéd, and in German as Landwehr. While it carried the honorary designation Slavonski Domobrani, its official title was the Devil's Division.
The division was formed shortly before the outbreak of World War I as part of the 7th Home Guard Croatia-Slavonia District of the Royal Croatian Home Guard. It consisted of approximately 14,000 troops in peacetime. As with other Austro-Hungarian Home Guard divisions, its units were recruited regionally.

Operational history

At the start of war, the 42nd division was commanded by Stjepan Sarkotić, a Croatian officer from the former Military Border, born near Otočac.
The Division took part in the Serbian Campaign of 1914 as part of the XIII Corps, first in Syrmia, in Mačva, then during the seven-day battle for Šabac as well as the battles of Cer and Kolubara. Josip Broz Tito fought in its ranks and achieved promotion from corporal to staff sergeant. The division was accused of war crimes, including rape, torture and murder, against the Serbian civilians of western Serbia. On November 11, 1914 Sarkotić was replaced by Johann von Salis-Seewis who led the division during the second Serbian offensive. After the failure of the campaign, it was redeployed at the beginning of 1915 in Galicia on the Eastern front along with the rest of the XIII. Corps. On 22 June 1915 Salis-Seewis was replaced by Anton Lipošćak before the Russian Empire launched the Brusilov offensive in January 1916. In February 1916, took over from Lipošćak. On 25 June 1917 assumed command of the division. At the beginning of 1918, the 42nd Division was transferred to the Italian battlefield, in June 1918, the command was taken over by, the division remained in Italy until the end of the war.

Legacy

During World War II, after the 369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment, a unit of the Wehrmacht composed of Croat and Bosnian Muslim volunteers under a mostly German command, was annihilated during the battle of Stalingrad, it was reformed as the 369th Croatian Infantry Division with the nickname of Devil's Division in honour of the 42nd Home Guard Infantry Division of World War I.

Commanders