in may 1945, a large column composed of ustaša followers and ndh army troops and civilians retreated from the partisan forces, heading northwest towards italy and austria. ante pavelić detached from the group and fled to austria, italy and finally argentina. the rest of the group, consisting of over 150,000 soldiers (including cossak troops) and civilians negotiated passage with the british forces on the austrian side of the austrian-slovenian border. the british army then turned over a number of them to the partisan forces.