With Allied support in logistics, equipment, training and airpower, and with the assistance of Soviet troops taking part in the 1944 Belgrade Offensive, the Partisans gained control of Yugoslavia and the border regions of Italy and Austria by May 1945. Members of the NDH armed forces and other Axis troops, as well as civilians, were in retreat towards Austria. Following their surrender and the aftermath of the Bleiburg repatriations, many were killed by the Yugoslav Partisans. In the following years, ethnic Germans faced persecution in Yugoslavia, and many were interned in camps.