Churchill's Big Mistake

...Having got...

...Preparations with "fianl'c haste.' 'l t»i . ·> '· shipments were -t"i>r wa- c»,i»iii.i, with i.L explanation...

...The accompanying article, "Churchill's Big Mistake," was written with mv collaboration on the haais of unpublished facta and dorumenta supplied to me by a completely reliable source...

...in the same way, right Aif property and private initiative...

...Colonel A. Seitz (Seitz has written a book about his experiences in Yugoslavia, being published by McU»aw-Hill), a West Point man, and Captain Walter Mansfield (Boston lawyer, son of a former Mayor of Boston), reserve officer in the Marines...

...Terrorist tribunals are being aet up, the ordinary courts are being suspended, and all who are suspected of patriotism, especially Serbian patriotism, are .sentencei to death or to confinement in concentration camps...

...Puritch, that the Hritish government had decided to withdraw its support from General Mihailn-vilch (which, incidentally, had been pitifully slim), and transfer it entirely to Tito...

...The populations of whole districta are taking refuge in the muuntains where lliey are exposed to death by cold and starvation...

...Speaking in the Hcmse Commons on May 24, 1944, Churchill announced that he had been informed by IN MY OPINION The plght of Yugoslavia im ironically tragic...

...As usual this terror has been instituted in the name of "the people...

...it in his hands, Churchill steered it with the skill of a master ol politics —in the interest of dictatorship against democracy, and of Russia against the Hritish Empire...

...When the Yugoslav Government still showed no Bign of submission, Churchill, through the Foreign Minuter, Anthony Eden, on March 15, advised King Peter to change the Royal Government (in-exile) and abandon the Minister of War, Mihailovitch...

...The leading Belgrade newspaper reported on November 26, 1944: "Until now justice has been anti-people...

...e affairs of the Balkans and Kastetu Europe...

...At least we can not, under pretext of imposing peace terms on an enemy, smash her Communist police tyranny and rompel democratic elections as we can elsewhere in the Balkans...

...I.Hcking any slued of proof supporting Churchill kfl accusation, the Yugoslav Government did not act upon his hint that il replace Mihailovitch with the Communist Tito...

...Roosevelt Knew tfce Facts TllE next lime Churchill saw the King, he did not stop at a "request...

...Puritch that the Hiitish government was in the possession of evidence proving the collaboration of sinne of Mihailovich's lieutenants with the Germans, which cast suspicion on the General himself...

...Our idea is government of the people, hy the- people, for the people · . · people fceing free to express by secret ballot without intimidation their deep-seated wish as to the forms and conditions of government under which they are to live...

...The one man who could have saved Yugoslavia from this fate is now, thanks to Churchill, in hiding in the mountains of eastern Bosnia, exposed to severe hardships and privations—temporarily protected from certain death by his 80,000 still-loyal fighters and a rapidly diminishing supply of ammunition...

...He added a threat so dire that the young King in final despair appealed to President Roosevelt for advice and help: "...On April 14th Mr...

...But Churchill had made up his mind...

...i«-nHi> ies .treated that aid to Yugoslavia had been stopped by the personal reaiost of the President at the urgency "f Prime Minister Churchill, who insisted that Ihe entire policy of the Allies toward V»!/" elavia In left in hi* hands...

...Ours will be without cost and quick...

...Mr President, to intervene...

...Churchill insisted, however, with the same stubborn passion, on turning over this Balkan country to an «Keilt of the Comintern, and the President yielded, lie sent a non-committal reply to the King, which made plain that neither he nor bis heroic minister, Mi-hailovic, would receive help from the United States...

...Milan Grol...

...know that Dr...

...They gave as the reason bis objection to tin "electoral law" uil pled by the government...

...He was, besides Subasitch, the only important non-Communist leader in Ihc government, the one always men-I limed by Tito to prove that his regime was not Communist...

...The Tito-Subasitch agreement stipulates that their government will proclaim democratic liberties ami guarantee their application...

...may be that the lather, son or friend sitting in the cottage is · ? I ltd out, taken awsy into the dark and no one knows whether he would ever come back again or what his fate will be...

...By this time the Communist-instigated campaign ol slander against Mihailovitch was well under way, with the enthusiastic cooperation of prominent liberals in the United States, led by l>ouis Adamie...

...Three days later Churchill personally asked the young king to turn over his government to a committee of three, which should then start negotiations with Tito...

...Personal freedom, freedom from fear, freedom of worship, freedom of speech, liberty of press, freedom of assembly and association will be specially emphasized and guaranteed...

...Therefore...

...King Peter had good reason to count on the intervention of President Roosevelt, for the President had informed himself closely about conditions in Yugoslavia, was absolutely convinced of the loyalty and heroism of General Mihailovitch, arrd not the Teast inclined to support Tito...

...On August IK, 1945, the newspapers announced Dr...

...Willi Ihe help of the British Intelligence Service, he selected Ivan Sulwilrll, a member of the Croat Peasant Patty residing in London, as a good man !" represent the conservative forces in ·? coalition government with Tito...

...These two officers were, therefore, especially instructed to report carefully on the loyalty of Mihailovitch to the Allied cause...

...Since then the Commissar for Economic Affairs has openly announced i he confiscation of 2,000 banks and private enterprises, and ordered the confiscation of 30,000 homesteads belonging 10 Serbian peasants on the ground that these peasants collaborated with the enemy—which means, of course, only that they supported General Mihailovitch in his defense of Yugoslavia against the Germans...

...Peter replied that to abandon his government and people in the midst of war was "too great a responsibility lor me to assume" and asked Churchill to "transmit his view in writing...

...We would be violating the independence of a friendly nation...

...Yugoslavia will have lo wail, then, until we acquire the grown-up guts to demand, without pretext, and without this everlasting diplomatic soft-soap and two-faced Sunday School palaver which deceives no one but ourselves, that Stalin live up to his engagements taken it Yalta...

...This agreement was solemnly ratified and it* enactment guaranteed by the Big Three at Yalta...

...Since then, Subasitch has been repudiated by bis party...

...Just when and where the story of that betrayal began no one knows...

...We cannot agree that the future of Yugoslavia should be decided without us and without the participation of one of the three great Allies, ihe Dn'ted States of America...

...Colonel Seitz himself had manned a machine gun in the victorious engagement Mihailovitch had waged on the vital railroad Sarajem-I'zire against the Germans...

...For Stalin signed a promise to see that the Tito Subasitch agreement, specifically guaranteeing each and every democratic freedom in Yugoslavia, is carried out...

...On their return late in March, 1944, they Rare glowing accounts of his patriotism and the sacrifices he and his army were making for the Allied cause...

...Churchill answered that "all this was not an official conversation, but a friendly suggestion, on which Tito insisted...

...The procedure is simple, short and rapid...

...1 lieg you...

...He also told Dr...

...leader of the democratic parly...

...Max Eastman...

...Among the many lies to whose falsity they could attest, these officers) were particularly indignant that on the radio and in the press in both Hr it ? in and the United Stales battleit^won by Mihailovitch were credited to Tito...

...There are millions of humble homes in Europe—Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia where this fear is the main preoccupation of family life...

...Grol's resignation...

...It is known that en route from Teheran in December l!14.'t Churchill stopped at Cairo and informed King Peter and the Yugoslav Prime Minister, Dr...

...Some people who knew these facts clung to the hope that the Tito-Subasitch government might evolve in the direction of democracy because of the presence in 11 nl Dr...

...Staunch patriot and ally through the darkest pci iod of the war against Germany, General Draja Mihailovitch has been awarded the role of traitor and war criminal—and awarded it by Churchill himself...

...Rrirofu Creor.d lito* Dictatorship Upon receiving these reports, Roosevelt gave immediate and urgent orders for Lend-Lease supplies to go to...

...Seilz and Mansfeld were parachuted to Mihailovitch'a headquarters in July...

...This is the state of affairs in Yugoslavia as described by F. A. Voight, editor of The S'ineteenth Century and After, one of the most reliable observers of political affairs in Europe...

...To his great surprise, he heard a broadcast a few days later over BBC giving a full account of the action and attributing its success to Tito...

...They did nn...

...Churchill failed to state that, so far as Yugoslavia is concerned, he himself bears the responsibility for this condition...

...An average of 15 minutes per accused wes sufficient for questioning, accusation, and defense...

...Because she fought loyally with us against one totalitarian oppressor, we ran not rescue her from the other...

...As in other totalitarian countries, no agreement and no law is binding but the will of the rulers...

...The unpublished history of President Rocsevelt's relation to this question is as follows: In June 1943 Roosevelt sent two expert military observers to the camp of General Mihailovitch...

...Grol had recently written a litter to President Truman di refilling the political situation in Yugoslavia, and stilting that it would be impnssih e to hojd free elections there except under allied supervision...

...The old courts were expensive and slow...

...They s>-offed at the accusations against him, declaring there was not a grain of truth in any of them, and that 'i:, percent of the people in Serbia were on his side...

...At present a family might be gathered around the fireside enjoying the fruits of their toil when suddenly there is s knock at the door and heavily armed policemen appear...

...They spent the next eight months as observers with his staff, touring most of the territory under his control, even tiharing in the battles his forces w aged against the Germans...

...In a speech in the House of Commons on February 12, 1944, he endorsed Tito publicly...

...I * * Cf.i.-rchilf Sponsored Tito Regime GkOL'S letter, had it been published, ¦would have given point to the remarks <f Winston Churchill in the House of Commons August 10, 1945: "We must know where we stand, and we must make clear where we stand in thc...

...All they know is that they had better not inquire...

...It was so short and rapid that 105 alleged collaborationists were sentenced to diath in only three days of hearing, and the sentences carried nut immediately...

...Nor were they tried hy a peoples' court, but by a military court of one of Tito's divisions...

...Churchill in-* sisled again that I replace the government with a new one favorable to Tito, this time with an ultimatum-like request and with the threat that he would accuse General Mihailovitch of collaboration with the Germans and would treat us all accordingly, myself as well as the Royal Government . . ." he wrote on April 17th...

...When challenged lo produce the documents, Churchill replied 1hat they were state secrets...