THE LANDSCHUTZ OF THE ADRIATIC COAST(OZAK)

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After the Armistice and the consequent German occupation of the Julian regions, which were in fact annexed to the German Reich with the creation of the Zone of Operations of the Adriatic Coast, the German military authorities decreed the establishment of territorial self-defense units, formed by Italian, Slovenian, and Croatian citizens, to flank the German units in the fight against the partisan phenomenon.

The Landschutz was thus organized as an ethnically based corps to contribute to the maintenance of order and security. It was formally established by Supreme Commissioner Rainer on October 1, 1943. In the varied panorama of units created during the war with non-German personnel, not enough importance has ever been given to these small units of Territorial Defense, and this volume attempts to provide as in-depth an analysis of the life of the Landschutz.