German Counterinsurgency in the Balkans: The Prinz Eugen Division Example, 1942–1944

During World War II, German and Axis forces in Southeast Europe subdued failed states and minor powers in transformational campaigns of lightning speed with minimal but overwhelming force. When protracted rebellion began in the Balkans, fed by existing ethnic and religious violence, this could not be halted by the coalition's superior conventional military. One solution was the creation of dedicated counter-insurgency forces manned from local populations. The example of one of these, the Prince Eugen-Mountain Division, is examined in this article. While a success in the military sense it brought about increased problems that reflected the lack of effective Axis national and theater-level policies.