Talk:Rommel offensive

Sources

This article lacks reliable sources in English. Was this an actual military operation? Did Rommel even command forces in this theatre? ~2026-26646-07 (talk) 18:32, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

You can answer these questions by using a translator. Translator applications are built into every modern browser. A source does not become more reliable because it's written in your preferred language. I am sure getting some English sources would be beneficial for accessibility, but it in no way does that change the validity of the content. In fact all English sources would be translations and retelling of sources in other languages, as this was on the eastern front where they did not speak English.

Squee22 (talk) 20:03, 22 May 2026 (UTC)

Completely unreliable and laughable sources how's this even allowed to stay up? Kel0bthe6er (talk) 14:12, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

If you don't like the sources feel free to find additional sources and add them to the list.

Squee22 (talk) 18:35, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Problematic Historical Inaccuracies of the Page

Historical Inaccuracies

I would like to address the problematic historical inaccuracies in this article whether published inadvertently or intentionally. The historical event described here informally known as "Rommel's Offensive" (the name given to this page) refers to Operations Wolkenbruch and Istrien. Much of this page is actually an English translation of the Serbo-Croatian article https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romelova_ofanziva, but with critical alterations. The first error is the inclusion of the the SS Prinz Eugen Division in this operation, despite the lack of reliable sources for such a claim. Prinz Eugen Division is not mentioned anywhere in connection with this operation; whats more, the page's first revision cited "Serbian volunteers within the Prinz Eugen Division," which is absurd, as neither did the Prinz Eugen Division participate in this operation, nor is there any record of Serbian volunteers within its ranks. Furthermore author mentions the Slovenian Home Guard in the context of collaboration with the Italians during the Italian occupation, ignoring the fact that the Slovenian Home Guard was not formed until after the Italian capitulation. It is also claimed that Slovenian Home Guard members and Slovenian Chetniks participated in Rommel's offensive, even though there is no reliable source or evidence to support this. Another major error is the mention of only Croatian Partisans during the operation. As the page itself notes, the operation took place in Slovenia as well as in Istria—a region of ethnic diversity. The operation—and thus "Rommel's Offensive"—was a response to the massive uprising of Slovenian Partisans following Italy's capitulation (like mentioned in article). Hitler's order for the operation transmitted to the troops on September 24, 1943 reads:

"The Slovenian-communist uprising in Istria must be suppressed with ruthless cruelty, and the insurgents must be eradicated and shot. Anyone who joins the fight against us with a weapon in hand must be shot immediately, regardless of whether they are Slovenians, former Italian soldiers or insurgents of other ethnic origin. The approach and balance of forces must be such that great success is guaranteed and most formations are freed for other tasks. The Slovenian animal must never again pose a danger"

Source: AVII, NAV-T-354, roll 608, frame 1007 https://znaci.org/NARA/T316.php?broj=1011&rec=354&roll=606

This page fails to mention the Slovenian partisans and formations such as the 18th, 30th, and 31st Slovenian Divisions, as well as the Istrian Slovenian Detachment of the Yugoslav partisans. I would also like to mention the Italian partisans who participated in the resistance as part of the Garibaldi Battalion within the Sušak-Kastav National Liberation Movement (NOP) detachment and Serbs from 13th Yugoslav Division. Finally, the most critical issue with this article is an addition not found in the original Serbo-Croatian version: the infobox. It lists Croatian partisans as the sole combatants, ignoring the all the Slovenian detachments, citing "4,096 Croatian Partisans killed and 6,850 captured" the source cited for that figure (http://www.vojska.net/eng/world-war-2/operation/istrien-1943/) does not attribute the casualties specifically to Croatian partisans; in fact, it lists Slovenian partisan divisions earlier mentioned here. The data regarding civilian casualties is even worse; it lists "2,000 Croatian civilians killed in reprisals" and "21,508 Croats deported to labour camps in Germany and Austria." While various sources and existing articles cite the number of killed civilians as 2,000, they refer to them generally as "Istrian victims"—a term that must be viewed in the context of the Istrian peninsula's ethnic diversity at the time, as this effectively obscures the number of Slovenian and Italian victims. Even more absurd is the figure for "deported Croats," which stands at a staggering 21,508. Such a large number would certainly have been written down in several historiographical works, but I was not able to find any, and the cited page next to this number is an unprofessional newspaper article (https://hrvatskepraviceblog.com/2022/01/08/sajini-i-bokordic-simboli-nacistickog-terora-u-istri/) which itself does not give a clear statement as to whether the 21,508 number refers only to the number of people deported during the entire war or the number of people deported to camps during this operation, and besides, they do not mention "Croats" as specific victims. The absurdity of this is also the fact that all other sources, including those quoted on the page, say that the number of people deported during the operation was about 500 inhabitants of Istria. (http://www.vojska.net/eng/world-war-2/operation/istrien-1943/)

The Problematic Editor

In addition to this page, I also identified issues regarding the user SpeedyHate and his wiki editing history, which clearly reflects a strong pro-Serbian agenda and pushing misleading and false information onto this site—for instance, his creation of an entire page about an absurd "Serbian victory" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Petrinja_(1995)) during Operation Storm in 1995. This along side original revision of Rommel Offensive page that includes Serbian volunteers inside SS Prinz Eugen and other stuff mentioned above just shows to me that this page was intentionally filled with false information to push nationalist agenda. His profile was also concerning, as it suggests he is a young person, given his use of terms like "opps" and "i liked discord." while impersonating an Albanian. He now deleted all the text found on his profile which is even more suspicious but it can still be viewed in his profile history. Kjhhfgg (talk) 17:15, 24 August 2026 (UTC)