The main Partisan unit in Upper Carniola was the Cankar Battalion, founded in August of 1941, which had already carried out a number of actions against the Germans, including an unsuccessful attempt to free prisoners from the Gestapo headquarters at Begunje. On December 12, 1941 the Cankar Battalion encountered a unit of German armed police near Rovte v Selški Dolini, killing 45 of them, perhaps one of the largest such single-battle successes to date in all occupied Europe. This further emboldened Slovenes, with hundreds voluntarily joining the Cankar Battalion.