When the Hungarian troops started to invade Croatia on 11 April 1941, they attacked the Batchka region. When the Hungarians attacked from the north, the Yugoslav troops retreated from their first defensive line along the border with Hungary to behind the Franz Josef Canal. The two canal bridges at Szenttanas and Verbasz had to be taken before the Hungarian Mobile Corps could occupy the rest of the region. The Hungarian Parachute Battalion was to be dropped behind the canal, approach the bridges from the rear, and seize them.
