With Tito in the Hills

...Shortly before the Allies were to take the offensive in the Mediterranean, Captain FWD Deakin and five other Englishmen parachuted deep into the rocky region of Montenegro "It was desirable," Deakin writes, "to co-ordinate our joint efforts and in particular to enlist Partisan support in attacking the enemy lines of communication running through Yugoslav territory " What he really means to say is that the Allies thought it was time they found out what really was going on m the Balkan tinderbox, and who this man Tito was...

...Deakin tells how his arrival in the mountains stirred an overdue sense of pride and, for the first time, hopes of victory in the guerrilla army One Croat leader said to him, "At last we [have] received what had been long awaited a great moral recognition of our struggle " A brutal struggle it was, too The Germans made it plain just how rough they intended to be when they ordered that "no man capable of bearing arms must leave the circle alive " A subsequent order added "The whole population in the divisional area capable of bearing arms are to be regarded as Communists, and treated as such Those in possession of weapons are to be shot all houses inhabited by Communists are to be destroyed ". The hill fighting, the hit-and-run, the ambush, the rapid occupation and then retreat from a town??these produced a new set of rules for combat with a merciless enemy on one's own soil Some might call such tactics barbaric, but as Deakin, a gentleman's captain himself, puts it "The very nature of Partisan fighting reduces the antagonists to the primitive elements of human behavior, beyond the range of formal conventions of military discipline or rules of war The instincts of the hunter and the hunted are bared, creating a tense and instinctive climate of human relations which in turn reflects on the general conduct of guerrilla war itself, and the strategy of its repression ". From the beginning the Germans were determined to crush the morale of the rebels by exterminating the wounded and the sick Thus the Partisans had to modify their defense and attack plans to allow for the care and transport of the injured Indeed, the extensive and complicated network of operative medical units in caves and deep within mountain valleys virtually dictated their movements...

...With Tito in the Hills The Embattled Mountain By FWD Deakin Oxford 284 pp $9 50 Reviewed by Richard Galligan Contnbutoi, "East Europe," "Piogiessive" Though written by an Englishman, The Embattled Mountain is about the Yugoslav Partisan army's struggle against the Nazis and the Serbian-nationalist Chetniks In large part, it is also about the battle the Partisans had to fight to convince the Allies??especially Britain??that they were the country's true freedom fighters...

...In a confidential letter published years after that victory had been achieved, Tito revealed the extent of his misgivings "We have proof," he wrote, "that British policy aims at sabotaging and compromising the struggle for national liberation For a while he felt that the Britishled Allied landing at the War's end would be staged to portray the British as 'liberators' to save the country from chaos " He concluded "In public, the alliance between the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States must continue to be stressed, and the latter two Powers are to be depicted as our allies But their agents and pawns inside our country must be opposed, just as we oppose the henchmen of the invaders and the enemies of the people who are out to crush our struggle for national liberation ". This was by far the lowest point in Tito's relations with the British Gradually, thanks to Deakm's reports of the fighting and his favorable estimates of Tito's leadership capacities, British thinking changed in favor of the Partisans When Deakm's special mission was over, Churchill's personal representative came to replace him, a gesture signifying semiofficial recognition of the Yugoslav National Liberation Army as a military ally, formal recognition came two months later, at the Teheran Conference The Embattled Mountain is not always lucid, the author jumps back and forth m time, often without indicating whether he is talking about an incident in 1943 or one in 1941 But what the book lacks in linear development it more than makes up m conveying the lugged camaraderie of the hill fighteis and the military sophistication of Tito and his commanders Communication among the Partisan bands was amazingly effective, for example, and Tito's ability to organize and control a coherent counterforce to the Nazis while having to contend with the Chetniks and Ustasa was equally staggering The citizen army included many Yugoslavs whose villages had been destroyed and families lost These men and women, writes Deakin, "weie fighting to return to their homes, which would be reconstructed in a new and better world than they had known ".Representing the underprivileged and the neglected of prewar society, they gave the Partisan movement its basic strength, "a new kinship and a special indefinable morale" Deakin provides us with an outsider's inside look at this legendary conglomeration of ragged heroes, showing us some of the sparks that ignite the special blend of crude energy found m the hearts of guerrillas fighting m an occupied land...

...What made matters even more difficult was the Allied reluctance to support the Partisans Despite overwhelming evidence that Chetnik officers??led by Draza Mihailovic??were collaborating with the Nazis, the British command in the Middle East and the politicians back in London continued to think of Mihailovic's troops as the only reliable Yugoslav fighters against the common enemy Tito, of course, bitterly resented this, and even began to suspect that Deakm's mission had been sent to undermine the chances for a Partisan victory...

...Between late May and late September of 1943, Deakin and his British group ate, slept and fought beside the Partisans as they tried to escape the Nazi ring drawing tighter around their command force on Mt Durmi-tor, two of them were killed During his stay, Deakin talked for hours with Tito, Vladimir Dedijer, Milovan Djilas, Edvard Kardelj, and Alexander Rankovic??those who would be directing the country in years to come????and gained an unusual insight into the Partisan mentality Now, relying on diaries, personal interviews and letters, as well as on published materials, he has written an "impressionistic prelude" to what he hints will be a larger and more detailed study on the subject in the future...