Film Treatment: Devils’ Division
Written by: Joseph C. Jukic
Starring: Mike Jukic, Joe Jukic, Bruno Jukic, Marko Boskovic
Genre: War Drama / Historical Tragedy
Runtime: Approx. 120 minutes
Logline:
Four Croatian brothers join the Devils’ Division—a notorious volunteer unit fighting alongside Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front. As they march into the Russian inferno of Stalingrad, each man confronts his loyalty, morality, and mortality in a war that devours everything.
TITLE MEANING:
“Devils’ Division” refers to the 369th Reinforced Croatian Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the “Devil’s Division” by the Germans. Formed in 1941, it was the only non-German unit to serve under the Wehrmacht’s direct command at Stalingrad.
ACT I: THE PLEDGE
Zagreb, 1941 – The newly formed puppet state of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) allies with Nazi Germany. Four brothers—Ivan (Mike Jukic), a loyal nationalist; Stipe (Joe Jukic), a quiet poet-turned-soldier; Zvonko (Bruno Jukic), a brutal realist; and Petar (Marko Boskovic), an idealistic Catholic—enlist in the 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment, eager to fight communism and prove Croatia’s strength.
They are sent to boot camp under harsh German officers and Croatian Ustaše loyalists. There, they meet Captain Schulz, a cold, calculating Wehrmacht officer who sees them as expendable tools.
In a powerful church scene, the brothers swear loyalty to God, Croatia, and the Axis—each with different motivations.
ACT II: INTO THE ABYSS
Summer 1942 – Russia
The Devils’ Division advances through Ukraine, witnessing scorched villages and mass graves. Petar begins to question the morality of their campaign. Stipe writes poems in secret, hiding them in his rifle stock. Ivan remains steadfast, even as Zvonko loots and kills with no remorse.
They cross the Don River into hellfire: the Battle of Stalingrad.
Fighting alongside the German 6th Army, the Croatian unit is sent to Pavlov’s House, Red October factory, and the Volga riverbanks. They are constantly shelled, starved, and surrounded. Frostbite and madness creep in.
ACT III: CRACKS IN THE BROTHERHOOD
As Soviet resistance stiffens, the brothers begin to unravel:
- Petar saves a Russian child and hides him, violating orders.
- Zvonko executes a captured partisan woman, fracturing his relationship with Stipe.
- Ivan receives a letter from home saying the NDH is executing Serbs and Jews in camps like Jasenovac. His patriotic certainty begins to crack.
- Stipe deserts his post briefly to find a safe place to write. He’s caught and flogged but spared execution when Petar pleads with Captain Schulz.
During a Soviet counterattack, their bunker is overrun. Zvonko sacrifices himself by holding a grenade against an incoming tank. His last words: “We’re not devils—we’re meat.”
ACT IV: FROZEN GRAVES
Winter 1942–1943 – The Encirclement
The German lines collapse. Hitler refuses to let the 6th Army retreat. The Devils’ Division is abandoned—no resupply, no escape.
Petar and Ivan debate desertion. Stipe wants to surrender. Ivan insists they hold the line to the death. A final firefight sees Ivan gunned down, defending a wounded Schulz, still believing in honor.
Petar and Stipe are captured by the Soviets. During a forced march, Petar dies from exhaustion, reciting a prayer as he collapses into the snow.
Stipe, frostbitten and skeletal, survives the gulag. He writes the story of the Devils’ Division on scraps of bark.
EPILOGUE:
Zagreb, 1990s – An old man (Stipe) watches Yugoslavia fall apart again. He sits in a church, holding his lost brothers’ dog tags, now tarnished relics. A young Croatian soldier asks if the story of the Devils’ Division is true.
Stipe replies: “We were devils, yes… but not by nature. By command.”
THEMES:
- Brotherhood vs ideology: What happens when family loyalty collides with political extremism?
- Blind patriotism: The cost of following orders under false flags.
- The dehumanizing nature of war: How men lose their souls in the machinery of history.
- Faith, guilt, and redemption: Especially for Petar and Stipe, torn between Catholic values and Nazi allegiance.
STYLE & TONE:
A bleak, brutal war film in the spirit of Come and See, Das Boot, and Stalingrad (1993). Realistic handheld combat sequences are contrasted with haunting, quiet moments—frozen prayers, whispered regrets, the sound of wind over snowy corpses. The score blends Croatian folk laments with dirges of distant artillery.
Tagline:
“They marched to Russia with fire in their hearts. Stalingrad turned them to ash.”