along the right bank of the river, and the second (the 10th Herzegovina Brigade) along the left. The hastily organized attack began in the evening of 22 February. Due to insufficient intelligence, the 10th Brigade ran into strong Chetnik resistance on the eastern bank and could barely reach the town before dawn. On the opposite bank, the 5th Brigade faced stiff resistance by German and Italian forces, achieving little success. As a result, the 3rd Division saw no alternative but to cancel the attack by the morning of the 23rd. For the next attempt, on 24 February in the evening, the attacking forces were reinforced with the 4th Montenegro Brigade from the 2nd Proletarian Division, and the Tank Company of the Supreme Headquarters. The attack went on through the night, and resumed the next night, but to no avail. In a report, Germans praised the "help of the brave Chetniks". As the blockade of the Ivan Sedlo Pass by the 1st Proletarian Division seemed to be holding, and no further parts of the battle group Annaker reached Konjic, Tito decided to send another brigade. Early on 26 February, the 3rd Krajina Brigade left its positions around Prozor, and started the march to the embattled town. However, after only a few hours, it was summoned back. The appearance of the 717th Infantry Division (now attacking Prozor instead of Livno, as originally envisaged by the plan for Weiss 2) on the flank of battle group Vogel endangered the whole western front of the NOVJ; the Central Hospital at Šćit was now directly exposed to the German onslaught. Consequently, the attack on Konjic, using additional forces from the Prozor area, had to be cancelled. At this stage, Tito and his HQ had suddenly found themselves facing an entirely different situation from the one they faced only days earlier. By 20 February, the prospects looked good for the "Main Operational Group": all but one Italian garrison in the Neretva Valley were destroyed and the road to Eastern Herzegovina looked open. Now, the road was blocked by unexpectedly strong resistance in Konjic, and the Partisan army was hemmed in the narrow Neretva valley surrounded on all sides by strong enemy forces: On 25 February the Germans launched Weiss 2, attacking Drvar, Glamoč and Livno with two divisions; the Italians in Mostar regrouped, and fielded two battle groups with Chetnik support up the river; further strong