The best known photo from Drvar 1944 - a fraud?

[Ivan Ž.]

Hello, everyone

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Does anyone have more details about this well known photo allegedly taken in May 1944 in Drvar, when the Germans tried to capture the Yugoslav partisan leader Tito? It shows a partisan woman Gospe Talić, who survived the war, and was considered a national hero by the partisans, because she allegedly didn't say a word about her comrades to the Germans. Didn't say a word and survived? Hardly possible. Also, she was pictured clearly as she was naming something/someone, look at her hand (Germans especially loved to take such shots of captured partisans, while they were pointing at / listing something with their hand, and then published them as proofs of their betrayal). The only "Luftwaffe" ground forces in the Drvar operation were actually the SS paratroopers, as far as is known. So these German helmets, uniforms and insignia in the photo (which belong to the real Luftwaffe ground forces, not even paratroopers, nor SS) do not match the location. Just about everything in this photo & its official background story does not seem right.

So, where this photo could have been really taken (or: does anyone perhaps have an info that the Luftwaffe ground forces were present in Drvar at the time) and how exactly did Gospe Talić survive the war? Any (reliable) info is most welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Ivan

PS
Moderators, feel free to move the topic in a more appropriate section if needed.

[Larry D.]

There were no Luftwaffen-Feldverbände in the NDH at that time. However, there were lots (c. 30,000) of Luftwaffen-Bodenorganisation personnel in the NDH in May 1944, including in BiH and Dalmatia. There were Luftnachrichtentruppen, Flaktruppen and Fliegerhorst aircraft servicing, admin, supply and transportation personnel. The nearest of these to Drvar would have been at the airfield at Bihac. My educated guess is that this photo was taken elsewhere.

L.

[Ivan Ž.]

Thank you for your contribution, Larry.

Cheers,
Ivan

PS
By "ground forces" I was merely making a difference between the units active in the air (pilots) and those active exclusively on the ground, because Luftwaffe pilots did participate in the Drvar operation, as we know, and only in the air of course (so such Luftwaffe personnel couldn't have been present in Drvar with G. Talić).

[AHK]

Maybe personnel used to collect gliders after the assault.

[Ivan Ž.]

Maybe personnel used to collect gliders after the assault.

Thank you for the reply - but please, no "maybes". This would mean that a Waffen-SS or a special Heer unit captured a communist partisan and then handed her over to a Luftwaffe glider collecting unit to interogate her about the location of the enemy leader they've just failed to capture. I doubt this could happen in any army. Guessing can lead only in circles and away from facts and answers.

Any (reliable) info is most welcome.

Cheers,
Ivan

[Ivan Ž.]

The only "Luftwaffe" ground forces in the Drvar operation were actually the SS paratroopers, as far as is known. So these German helmets, uniforms and insignia in the photo (which belong to the real Luftwaffe ground forces, not even paratroopers, nor SS) do not match the location.

Update: such troops were indeed present at Drvar at the time, they are only not listed in the known historical studies of the battle. Here we can see them, together with SS paratroopers in the background; from Beeldbank WO2 (caption is original, period German): Erfolgreicher Schlag gegen das bosnische Bandennest Drvar. Sofort nach dem Absetzen der Fallschirmjäger und Luftlandetruppen nahmen die Funktrupps ihre Tätigkeit auf, um Verbindung zwischen den einzelnen Kampfgruppen herzustellen und die Phasen der Operation zu leiten. Ein Funktrupp der Luftwaffe bei der Arbeit.

This question remains open:

It shows a partisan woman Gospe Talić, who survived the war, and was considered a national hero by the partisans, because she allegedly didn't say a word about her comrades to the Germans. Didn't say a word and survived? Hardly possible. Also, she was pictured clearly as she was naming something/someone, look at her hand [...] how exactly did Gospe Talić survive the war?

Cheers,
Ivan