Army Group E
In the spring of 1945 the German Army and their allies were in full retreat from the Yugoslav Army. In early April the Yugoslav 3rd Army, under the command of Kosta Nađ, fanned out through the Drava Valley, reaching a point north of Zagreb, and crossed the old Austrian–Yugoslav border in the Dravograd sector. The 3rd Army closed the ring around Axis forces when its advanced motorized detachments linked up with detachments of the 4th Army in Carinthia. This action prevented the German Army Group E from escaping northwest across the Drava River. Completely surrounded, General Alexander Löhr, Commander-in-Chief of Army Group E was forced to sign the unconditional surrender of the forces under his command at Topolšica, near Velenje in Slovenia, on Wednesday May 9. Nevertheless, some of his troops, along with collaborationist units, namely the Croatian Armed Forces, the Slovene Home Guard, the Montenegrin People's Army (former Chetniks), and elements of other factions, continued to resist and tried to fight their way west to seek the protection of the British forces at Klagenfurt (in present-day Austria).