The operation involved Cause_to_be_included many German units withdrawn Escaping from the failed Ardennes Offensive on the Western Front , including the 6th Panzer Army and its subordinate Waffen-SS divisions .

The Axis order Request of battle Hostile_encounter against the Bulgarians and Yugoslavs in this operation Military_operation comprised Cause_to_be_included some 17,000 men including the Kampfgruppe `` Langer '' with three infantry companies , one artillery battery and one platoon of tanks , Kampfgruppe `` Bredow '' with six infantry battalions , three artillery battalions and 10 tanks ) , Kampfgruppe `` Skanderbeg '' with about 7,000 men of Waffen-SS August Schmidhuber 's 21st Mountain Division `` Skanderbeg '' and about 4,000 German navy personnel making their way to the north from Greece .

In total , the actions of the Wehrmacht , the Waffen-SS , and the SD claimed Statement the lives of 213 civilian residents of Tulle .

On 8 May , the Czech and German leaders signed Sign_agreement a ceasefire allowing the German forces to withdraw Escaping from the city , but not all Waffen-SS units obeyed Action .