in the donji miholjac area, the german lxxxxi corps attacked on march 6 with about 35,000 troops. two infantry divisions of this corps, the 297th and 104th, crossed the drava and, pressing the sparsely deployed bulgarian iv corps' 3rd infantry division, occupied an area 18 to 20 kilometers deep and five to six kilometers wide. on march 7, general stoychev ordered the 16th infantry division in the bulgarian iii corps to reinforce the 3rd division at donji miholjac, but this required a march of 85 kilometers. during march 8–9, some bulgarian elements began a military evacuation of pécs. at this, marshal tolbukhin ordered the soviet 133rd rifle corps out of reserve to reinforce the bulgarian iv corps. during the march to the battlefield, the soviet troops encountered bulgarian forces and fired upon them because the bulgarian helmets resembled those of the germans. the 133rd rifle corps, reinforced by soviet artillery units and supported by ground-attack aircraft, subsequently took up positions at the critical junction of the bulgarian and yugoslav forces. ironically, the german troops found themselves facing panzer iv tanks operated by the bulgarian army.