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On 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland, beginning the Second World War. Among the rising Wehrmacht officers is Gustav Fehn, a disciplined career soldier shaped by the First World War and the Reichswehr.
After campaigns in Poland and France, Fehn is sent to the Balkans, where he commands German forces in anti-partisan warfare against resistance fighters led by Josip Broz Tito. These operations go beyond conventional combat—villages are burned, hostages executed, and civilians targeted in reprisals.
Following service in North Africa and a return to the Balkans, Fehn remains a loyal officer until Germany’s collapse. Captured in May 1945, he is handed over to Yugoslav partisans, where he ultimately faced his final reckoning for the actions carried out under his command.
His story reflects the brutality of German anti-partisan warfare in the Balkans.

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“German Anti-Partisan Warfare in the Balkans: General Gustav Fehn”

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#WW2History #MilitaryHistory #WorldWar2 #HistoricalFacts #Balkans

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00:00Rather than uphold the rules of war, Fenn implemented and enforced Hitler's brutal directives for bandit fighting, which treated civilians
00:08and partisans as one and the same.
00:11In doing so, he transformed the German withdrawal from the Balkans into a scorched-earth campaign that left behind a
00:18trail of destruction, death, and lasting trauma.
00:22In May 1945, with the German surrender, Fenn was taken prisoner by the British.
00:29Like many captured officers, he expected to face interrogation and internment, perhaps even a formal war crimes trial.
00:36Instead, on the 4th of June 1945, the British handed him over to the Yugoslav partisans, who accused him of
00:44responsibility for the atrocities committed by the German troops in the Balkans.
00:48There was no formal trial, no written sentence.
00:53Discover the full story on worldhistory.tv
00:58In May
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