the position of the military commander of German-occupied Serbia. Böhme arrived to Serbia on 19 September 1941 and two days later, on 21 September 1941, he issued the order for the operation "Cleaning Up the Sava Crescent". This operation was one of many Axis offensive operations organized in Summer and Autumn 1941 against rebels in Serbia. The German commanders knew that it was impossible to suppress the uprising in all parts of Serbia at once. That is why they first decided to clean region of the Sava crescent, then western parts of Serbia and Šumadija. Only after successful cleansing of western Serbia, German command planned to organize cleansing of the region around Bor in eastern Serbia from rebel forces. The aims of operation were: destruction of the rebel forces of communist led Partisans and Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland and capture of rebel leaders on mountain Cer capture of all male population of the targeted region and mass massacre of its population to set a "terrifying example" to whole country with intention to suppress the uprising and strengthen the influence of Nedić regime. The operation "Cleaning Up the Sava Crescent" included capture of Šabac and its surroundings and operation "Mačva" (until 27 September) and operation "Cer—Iverak" (8 September – 9 October 1941) and was followed by the series of military operations that lasted until 4 December 1941. Forces Axis forces Before Operation Barbarrossa the Wehrmacht had withdrawn its combat units from German-occupied Serbia. At the beginning of the uprising in Serbia, the German forces were limited to only four divisions of poorly equipped and untrained soldiers of older age who were at best able to perform as occupational forces, but not as combat forces against the prolonged rebel activities. At the beginning of the uprising in Serbia German Field Marshall Wilhelm List requested reinforcement of his troops with one combat division, but his request was refused because the German command did not want to weaken its forces during the operations on Eastern Front. On 13 September 1941 List again requested additional infantry and armored units as reinforcements to his forces in Serbia, and this time his request was accepted. The 342nd Infantry Division with 12,000 soldiers commanded by Walter Hinghoffer moved from France to Western Serbia to carry out the order of the new military commander Böhme to "clean the Sava crescent". It was composed of the 697th, 698th and