Although the Third Reich officially surrendered on May 8, 1945, some bipeds (such as Chris Alexander) have mistaken this for the end of World War II: a risibly Eurocentric conclusion. Yet even if one chooses to overlook the Empire of Japan, there were a few illegal battles in Europe that broke out later that month. The Battle of Poljana is one such example:
Even more worrying to the Yugoslav leadership was the vast host of collaborationist formations, including the Croatian fascist Ustashe, royalist Chetniks, Serbian Volunteer Corps (Serbisches Freiwilligen-Korps, SFK), Slovene Home Guards (Domobranci), and (white) Russian Protective Corps (Russisches Schutzkorps, RSK), which were retreating together with the [Wehrmacht]. Although often at odds with one another, they were all united in their fierce anti-Communism, and a firm intention not to fall into the Partisans’ hands.
With these forces at large, Communist hold of the country would never be entirely secure: it was feared that the Western powers would retain them in their service, and possibly use them to invade the country, either independently, or as a part of a wider foreign intervention.¹⁴
For as long as [Heeresgruppe E’s] front remained intact, the Yugoslavs could not concentrate against the collaborationists; without [Reich] “corsets” on the battlefield and their logistical support, however, the latter could not hold out for long.
All being said, agreeing to German proposals would bring immense practical dividends: it would open the road to southern Austria, enable the tightening of the ring around domestic foes, and secure large quantities of military equipment, all with little cost in blood and time. Once their most dangerous enemy was disarmed, and own troop contingent in Slovenia strengthened, the Yugoslavs would be free to dictate new terms.¹⁵
[…]
The disarming rarely went smoothly, especially where collaborationist units were involved. On 11 May, the Slovene Home Guards, supported by artillery and tanks, attacked a brigade of the 14th [Yugoslav Division] guarding the Drava bridges at Ferlach.
By the next day, the attack had succeeded in opening the way to Klagenfurt for a large column of about 30 000 members of the Battle Group von Seeler (including the RSK, parts of the SFK, and a host of smaller units) retreating from Ljubljana. The Partisans, who had lost ca. 200 KIA and four tanks, were forced to request the assistance from the British, who eventually let them have the materiel, but not the prisoners.³⁹
[…]
The last clash between the [Wehrmacht] and the Yugoslav Army took place some 12 kilometres southwest of Dravograd on 13 May 1945. On this day, Partisan pickets stopped the head of a large Axis column (of about 12 000 men)⁴¹ as it tried to exit the Meža River Valley at a place called Poljana.
Following their usual practice, the Partisans demanded all of the heavy weapons, at the same time agreeing to leave every tenth man his rifle, and officers their pistols. In this way, the column “would fall like ripe fruit” to another Yugoslav brigade posted some distance behind, at Völkermarkt.
After some deliberation, [Wehrmacht] officers agreed to a twelve point-treaty proposed by the Partisans. At that moment, a senior naval officer appeared at the scene and repudiated the terms, threatening to open the way to the border with force. He had informed the staff of [Heeresgruppe E] of his decision, but whether he acted on their instructions, as claimed by the Yugoslavs, is not certain.
The envoys of both sides were still talking when suddenly shots rang out (who fired first is unclear). The battle was pretty much a one-sided affair: the [anticommunists] were bunched up in the narrow valley, unable to deploy, whereas the Yugoslavs controlled the surrounding heights, and had ample automatic weapons and mortars.
After some 45 minutes, the firing stopped; the sight of dozens of burning vehicles and an estimated several hundred casualties proved too much for the remainder of the column, which surrendered unconditionally.⁴² Two days later, on 15 May 1945, in the same area, the bulk of the [Nezavisna država Hrvatska] forces followed suit, which brought an end to military operations in Yugoslavia.⁴³
(Emphasis added. Click here for more.)
Establishing the approximate strength and ethnic composition of the [Axis’s] force in the Balkans is especially important in the context of the question of mortality rates in the Yugoslav captivity after the war.⁵⁰ […] According to the Yugoslav data, [Germans and Austrians] constituted only about a half of the total (84 453, and 27 398, respectively), the remainder being Italians (57 150), Russians/“Vlassovites” (26 611), Poles (9425), Hungarians (4461), French (3868), Romanians (3139), Czechoslovaks (2849), and others (933).
Although these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt,⁵² they do underline the fact — which is practically ignored in older German historiography — that a large number of persons born in occupied, annexed, or satellite countries (Ethnic Germans, or those deemed as such by [Axis] authorities) were serving in [Wehrmacht] formations in the Balkans at the end of the war.
For example, soldiers coming from Poland (Generalgouvernement, Reichsgaue Danzig-Westpreußen, and Wartheland) constituted from three to twelve percent of the manpower in three divisions of the HGE (the 104th JD, 11th LWFD, and 181st ID) on 1 March 1945.⁵³
Fighting between us and remnants of the Western Axis continued throughout May 1945 and climaxed in the obscure and largely forgotten Battle of Odžak, Europe’s last World War II battle—unless you count the numerous Axis collaborators who fought the Soviets throughout 1945 and the years afterwards.
Further reading: Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941–45