Yugoslav Partisan in the context of "Anti-fascism"

The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (Macedonian: Социјалистичка Република Македонија, romanized: Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and a nation state of the Macedonians. After the transition of the political system to parliamentary democracy in 1990, the Republic changed its official name to Republic of Macedonia in 1991, and with the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia, it declared itself an independent country and held a referendum on 8 September 1991 on which a sovereign and independent state of Macedonia, with a right to enter into any alliance with sovereign states of Yugoslavia was approved.

Geographically, SR Macedonia bordered Albania to the west, Greece to the south and Bulgaria to the east. Within Yugoslavia, it bordered SR Serbia (including SAP Kosovo) to the north. It was one of the two landlocked federal republics, along with SR Serbia.

Case Black (German: Fall Schwarz), also known as the Fifth Enemy Offensive (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Peta neprijateljska ofanziva) in Yugoslav historiography and often identified with its final phase, the Battle of the Sutjeska (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Bitka na Sutjesci pronounced [bîtka na sûtjɛst͡si]), was a joint attack by the Axis. Taking place from 15 May to 16 June 1943, it aimed to destroy the main Yugoslav Partisan force, near the Sutjeska River in south-eastern Bosnia. The failure of the offensive marked a turning point for Yugoslavia during World War II. It was also the last major German-Italian joint operation against the partisans.

The operation immediately followed Case White which had failed in accomplishing the same objectives: to eliminate the central Partisan formations and capture their commander, Josip Broz Tito.