LIGHT ON POSITION IN YUGOSLAVIA

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 13, 11 October 1943, Page 6

LIGHT ON POSITION IN YUGOSLAVIA

Past Eighteen Months PARTISAN ARMY AND MIKHAILOVITCH Tito’s Present Struggle

(British Official Wireless.) (Received Otcpber 10, 7 p.m.) RUGBY, October 9. The collapse of Italy has enabled many (bands of Yugoslav patriots who never admitted that their country was defeated to arm themselves with weapons of the Italian garrison troops and take the field against the Germans. The nature of the warfare they are waging is becoming better known , through the radio and other communi-' cation between the patriots and t.ie Allied headquarters, and fuller information is available about “Partisans and other forces in the country. . The first organized resistance too shape under General Mikhailoyitch attei Yugoslavia was invaded. Th ? n became active after the «* Tas,o “ sia. Mikhailovitch s forces are PJ e(,0 “‘“ antlv a Serb organization and mainly consist of elements of the Yugoslav Army which survived the invasion. He al»o works through Chetnik groups m Bosnia and Dalmatia which, acting more oi less independently, .at one time b ought some discredit on his cause by collaboi atin°- with the Italians. . . riis policy has been largely determined by the extreme savagery of .the German repression in Serbia, and his aim is safeguard his countrymen from annihilation'’by not exposing them to mass reprisals for attacks.on the Germans, which he considers premature, and m the meantime, to arm and train his forces for thday when they can collaborate with an Allied invasion. Small Armed Forces. ’’ His method is to maintain only small armed forces under local commanders. Each of these cadres, trains much larger numbers, who remain in the y*tla„es till the time comes. Because .of this policy of waiting and conserving his , strength it is not easy to judge .the military potentialities of Mikhailovitch s organization, but the Serbians are tough h ”The S Partisan movement is not based on the old army, though former army - officers belong to it. The nucleus was formed mainly by the small but energetic •Communist Party.. The movement has, however, grown into a large and powerful organization, the mass of whose members are not Communists. It is fighting a national and not an ideological struggle,. and . its published aims are democratic and moderate. The commander of the Partisans SP CS under the pseudonym of Tito. One ot the political leaders is M. Ivan Tahas, formerly a respected member of the Seth Democratic Party. The majority of th? Partisans appear to be Serbs, but there is a large number of Croats and Slovenes. The movement is Yugoslav in ' character. The forces include politicians, students, peasants and industrial workers. The Partisans’ equipment was mainly captured from the Italians, and .it includes artillery. They have attained a high degree of organization and discipline and in the past 18 months have withstood live offensives, in some of which several German divisions were employed. Un each occasion the Germans, claimed that the Partisans had been liquidated, but the greater part had succeeded m withdrawing and re-forming, and starting counter-attacks.

At various times they temporarily liberated large areas 'which came completely under their control. The liberation of such areas does not achieve lasting military results and it ‘leads to heavy loss of civilian life through reprisals, but it causes serious dissipation of the German military strength and disrupts communications. Recent Offensive. The collapse of. Italy presented the Partisans with an opportunity which they a were Quick to take. Some. Italian divisions occupied the Adriatic coast, extending about 10 miles inland, and also Montenegro. The Germans seem to have lacked the necessary forces to disarm all the.ltalian divisions and carry out a swift occupation of the Italian zone. This gave the Partisans their chance, and they seized it. They now hold all of the Croatian and Dalmatian coast except such key harbours . as Fiume, Zara, Split, Dubrovnik,_ Otor and Bar, where the Germans anticipated them or have driven them out. The concentration of the German effort on these ports was no doubt a precaution against possible Allied landings. In the interior the greater part of southern Croatia and Bqsnia is actively supporting the insurgents, and only the larger towns are held by the Germans and the Croat satellites. Most of the Istrian Peninsula appears to be in the hands of the Partisans, and they are conducting a campaign to hold up the advance of German and Croat 'troops into Dalmatia and Slovenia. Germans Reinforcing. According to neutral reports, they number about 200/100 men in all. of whom 150,000 are effective fighting forces and the remainder are employed on police duty in the liberated area. One Partisan army is said to be defending Bosnia and Dalmatia and another is holding Slovenia in positions north, south and west of Zagreb. They appear to have secured considerable quantities of Italian arms and supplies. In view of strong reinforcements which the Germans are said to be bringing against them, they may be driven out of Istria and 'Slovenia and from the coastal zone, but they should be able to keep the resistance going, as they , have always done in the mountainous core of Bosnia and Montenegro. » Tn Albania .the position is extremely confused. A few weeks ago some two and a half armed Italian divisions were moving in co-operation with the guerrilla forces against Tirana and Volona, which were held by the Germans.