10 February. On 15 February it reached Neretva and attacked a small Italian garrison in Drežinca. The 1st Battalion of the 260th Regiment of the Division Murge intervened from Mostar, but was almost completely annihilated (120 dead and 286 captured, including the Commander, Lt. Col. Francesco Metella), on 16 February with the loss of all its equipment. The Partisans sent a messenger to Mostar to propose a prisoner exchange, but the exchange did not happen. With this success, the 2nd Division wrested control over the Neretva valley north of Mostar from enemy forces, and severed all contact between the city and Italian garrisons to the north. The Italian Command concluded that the Mostar garrison was endangered, and decided to mobilize immediately all available Chetnik units. Originally, the Italians had agreed not to use the Chetniks from Montenegro on the territory of the NDH, but now had to reverse their decision in the face of the looming threat to their interests in Herzegovina. The 2nd Proletarian Division, for its part, felt confident in its new position. As it had fulfilled its main task, the Division sent its 4th Proletarian Brigade to the north in order to assist the Central Column. In the opening phase the Central Column (3rd Division) captured Gornji Vakuf on 30 January, and by 8 February was making preparations for an attack on the Prozor garrison. Prozor was defended by the 3rd Battalion of the Italian 259th Regiment, reinforced with some infantry and artillery units, along with a company of L3 light tanks. The town was heavily fortified with a large number of stone and concrete bunkers surrounded by wire obstacles and covered by a well-organized fire system. The Partisan attack began on the evening of 15 February, but failed due to the fierce resistance of the garrison. After receiving reinforcements, the 3rd Division made another attempt and the second attack ultimately succeeded. The Italian garrison was destroyed, with 120 killed and 220 captured. Partisans also captured four 100 mm howitzers, two 47 mm anti-tank guns, nine 81 mm mortars and 12 heavy and 25 light machine-guns. All of the tanks were captured or destroyed: nine of them were captured in the Prozor area, and two were captured later in Ostrožac, and all eleven were used for the formation of the Tank Company of the Supreme Command. The Italian reinforcements sent earlier that day were also destroyed: the