Partisan

by Christopher Nicole

  ‘He will require you to serve under him.’

  ‘I will accept that. At least for this operation. As I have said, much will depend on how well he leads. Now, I know you have had a tiring few days. Take the rest of today off. I have requested the meeting for noon tomorrow.’

  ‘Tomorrow? But . . . by then Elena will have been in the hands of the Gestapo for four days.’

  Tito nodded. ‘That is regrettable. On the other hand, if they were going to kill her, they would probably have done so within twenty-four hours – in which case we would be too late anyway. If they did not do so, well, then, an extra day or so will not matter. She will still be alive.’

  ‘Because she will still be being tortured.’

  ‘Sadly, that is probably correct. But . . . she is, or was, your fiancée. If she was worthy of that honour, do you not suppose she will be able to withstand torture?’

  ‘Does anyone truly withstand torture?’ Tony asked. ‘Even if they survive?’

  Tito regarded him for several seconds. Then he said, ‘You are tired, and dispirited. I am giving you an order. Go to your tent and rest, with your other woman. And then spruce yourself up. Apply to Captain Dravic, my adjutant, for some clean clothes and a razor. Get rid of that beard. I want you looking your best when we meet Mihailovic.’

  ‘If you think it is a good idea to take me along. I imagine General Mihailovic considers me to be a deserter.’

  ‘You are now a member of my staff, Captain.’

  *

  One of the sentries showed Tony to the tent he had been allocated. On his walk through the camp he was again impressed, by several factors. In addition to the obviously carefully chosen overhanging cliffs which made it difficult to be found by aircraft, such fires as there were were carefully controlled, so that any smoke was confined to wisps which dissipated long before they rose above the level of the surrounding hills. A further indication of Tito’s caution was his decision not to invite Milhailovic into his headquarters – where he would be able to see just what he commanded and how – but to meet some distance away.

  Then the camp itself was clearly a military establishment rather than an accumulation of refugees. The absence of women and children helped to create this impression, and the animals were strictly controlled; the only dogs were those on shepherd duty. The men, if not all uniformed, were all well armed, and appeared to be spending most of their time cleaning their weapons instead of aimlessly sitting around. Some were gathered in groups being lectured by officers; there was no way of knowing whether these were attempts to instil military knowledge and discipline or merely Communist ideology, but they created a strong sense of purpose which had been entirely lacking in his first contacts with the resistance. Of course, Tony understood that he had seen Mihailovic’s people at their worst, in the immediate aftermath of the invasion and their hasty flight, but he wondered if things had improved over the past couple of months.

  Sandrine was already at work making the interior of the tent habitable. ‘Well?’ she asked.

  ‘We are welcome. So long as we obey certain rules.’

  ‘You mean we are not allowed to sleep together?’

  He hugged her. ‘Oh, we may sleep together. But if you so much as wink at another man, you’re out.’

  ‘As if I would do such a thing. What about if he winks at me?’

  ‘He gets his come-uppance. That’s official.’

  ‘And the other rules?’

  ‘Just one. I can only have one of you. So, when Elena is rescued . . .’

  ‘Yes?’ Her tone was watchful.

  ‘I am going to have to sort something out.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘Well . . . like telling her it’s over between us. I didn’t want to have to do that until I could at least reunite her with her family . . .’

  ‘She will be reunited with Svetovar.’

  ‘Thank God for Svetovar. Now, how would you like to get cleaned up?’

  She gave one of her shrieks. ‘A hot bath?’

  ‘Ah . . . I’m not sure that’s on. But we can obtain clean clothing and’ – he stroked his beard – ‘I’m required to shave. I was getting used to the fungus.’

  They went in search of Captain Dravic. The only clothes he had were blouses and shirts and pants, but these came in all sizes, and some were even small enough to fit Sandrine. She was also given a sidecap, which sat neatly on her yellow hair.

  ‘I have never worn pants before,’ she said, walking up and down in front of him. ‘How do I look?’

  ‘Magnificent.’

  Tony was also equipped, and shaved, and then they joined Tito and the officers for lunch. In the strongest contrast to the general air of gloom and despondency that had pervaded Mihailovic’s camp, this was a very jolly affair, and the officers treated Sandrine with the utmost gallantry.

  After the meal they lay in each other’s arms in the privacy of their tent.

  ‘I am happy,’ Sandrine said. ‘I did not think I would ever be happy again. But you are not happy, Tony.’

  ‘I will be.’

  ‘After we have attacked Uzice?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Because you love her still.’

  ‘Oh . . . shit. Do you not think it is possible for a man to love two women at the same time?’

  ‘Of course. I have always wanted to belong to a ménage à trois.’

  ‘But Tito wouldn’t permit it.’

  ‘We shall have to work something out.’ She was silent for a few moments, then she said, ‘I love Elena too, you know.’

  ‘I know,’ he said.

  ‘We should have died with her. At least we would have taken that bastard Bernhard with us.’

  ‘Would you really like to be dead?’

  She nestled against him. ‘No.’ She was silent for a little while, then she asked, ‘Am I coming with you to see Mihailovic?’

  ‘That’s not Tito’s idea.’

  ‘You will leave me here, alone, with all of these men?’

  ‘They are not going to touch you.’

  ‘I hope you are right,’ she remarked. ‘Well . . . hurry back.’

  ‘I shall.’

  She hugged him. ‘Do you trust this man Tito?’

  ‘Right this moment, we don’t have any option other than to trust him. Keep your fingers crossed.’

  *

  Waiting for them in a small grove of trees a few miles from the Partisan camp were Mihailovic, Zardov and Vidmar, and several other officers Tony remembered, but not, he was relieved to discover, Matovic. Yet their greeting was frosty enough.

  ‘That man,’ Mihailovic said, ‘is a deserter.’

  ‘He did that to fight the Ustase,’ Tito pointed out, ‘which is more than any of us have managed to achieve thus far.’

  ‘The Ustase are acting only against Communist elements,’ Vidmar remarked.

  Tito surveyed him with a cool gaze. ‘They are acting against Yugoslavia, Colonel. However, it is time for us all to commence hostilities. I have called this meeting so that we may coordinate our forces to attack Uzice.’

  ‘To do what?’ Mihailovic was aghast.

  ‘One of my people is being held in Uzice,’ Tito explained. ‘But that is not the real reason for the attack. It is an important town, a rail centre, and a German headquarters. If we can carry out a successful raid, it will be an enormous propaganda coup.’

  ‘There is a German garrison in Uzice,’ Zardov pointed out quietly.

  ‘If there was not, there would be no point in attacking it.’

  ‘The idea is madness,’ Mihailovic said. ‘You are asking me to use my men on some kind of suicide assault on a strongly held German position—’

  ‘They would be acting in concert with my men,’ Tito reminded him.

  ‘Your men?’ Mihailovic looked past him. Tito had brought only four aides to the meeting, one of whom was Tony.

  ‘I have nine hundred men at my call,’ Tito said.

  ‘And where are these ni
ne hundred men?’

  ‘Some of them are overlooking you at this minute.’

  The Serbs looked left and right at the surrounding hills.

  ‘Just what do you mean by that?’ Zardov inquired.

  ‘I am a man who takes precautions,’ Tito said. ‘Now, I understand that you command two thousand men, General. Between us we have an army.’

  ‘Which you propose to sacrifice. Do you have any idea of the casualties we would suffer?’

  ‘Casualties are an inescapable concomitant of warfare, General. It must be our business to inflict more serious losses on the Germans, in matériel as well as men.’

  ‘And what about when the Germans retaliate? Have you considered the number of innocent people they will shoot?’

  ‘Those are actions – crimes – for which they will have to answer after we have won the War.’

  ‘And if we do not win the War?’

  ‘That, General Mihailovic, is very close to treason.’

  The two men glared at each other, and Tony was rather glad that they were being overlooked by Tito’s men.

  Then Mihailovic said, ‘As I am commanding general of the Yugoslav forces still in the field, and as such am de facto ruler of Yugoslavia, I will decide, Colonel Broz, what is treason and what is not. I consider your plan to be ill-advised, hare-brained, of no value to our cause, likely to incur unacceptable casualties to our forces, and certain to bring disastrous results to our people. Nor do I see how an attack upon a single town can in any way help the general war against the Nazis.’

  Tito was obviously keeping his temper with considerable difficulty. ‘Even if our attack upon Uzice is unsuccessful, General, if as a result of it the Germans bring one division back from the Russian front to bolster their hold on Yugoslavia, we will have won a signal victory.’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Mihailovic sneered. ‘Now we are at the truth of the matter. The Russian front. You are acting on orders from Moscow. Well, I will tell you this, Colonel Broz: I will not sacrifice a single man of my command to help the Russians. Your friend Stalin has made his own bed by murder and treachery. He must now lie on it.’

  ‘You refuse to commit any of your forces to an attack upon Uzice,’ Tito said, appearing to wish to get his facts completely straight.

  ‘That is correct. What is more, as your commanding officer, I forbid you to undertake such a senseless plan.’

  Tito stood up, and bowed. ‘Then I will bid you good day, General.’

  He led his men away from the trees.

  Tony walked at his shoulder. ‘There’s a put-down. What do we do now?’

  Tito glanced at him. ‘Do you think I would accept orders from a traitor like that? We will carry out the attack on our own.’

  Chapter Ten – Counter-Stroke

  Tony looked at Tito in a mixture of admiration and consternation. ‘You said we did not have enough men to go in on our own.’

  Tito grinned. ‘I have never met an army commander who did not wish for more men. The Germans are saying they have invaded Russia with three million men. Let us suppose they are telling the truth. I will still bet you anything that Rundstedt, or whoever is in overall command, is telling his aides he wishes he had another million.’

  ‘But have we sufficient to do the job?’

  ‘We will have to make sure of it.’

  ‘And when will you mount the assault?’

  ‘Tonight. At least, we will move out tonight to take up our positions.’

  Again Tony glanced at him in amazement.

  ‘This is necessary,’ Tito said. ‘Now that Mihailovic knows that I and my people are in this neighbourhood, he will make every effort to find out where we are. He may even warn the Germans of our presence.’

  ‘You think he is that much of a traitor?’

  ‘Whether one goes down in history as a traitor depends on whether one wins the war. Besides, did he not himself say that he would decide what was treachery and what was not?’

  ‘If you carry out a successful raid on Uzice, will this not cause a split between you?’

  Tito grinned. ‘There already is a split between us, Captain Davis. We have different aims. Mihailovic dreams of a restoration of the status quo ante: the monarch on the throne, Yugoslavia once again ruled by the bureaucrats in Belgrade.’

  ‘And what do you dream of, Colonel?’

  Tito gave a shout of laughter. ‘Not that, to be sure. A restoration of the status quo ante would mean that I and my people would again be outlaws. As to what we would like to see . . . Let us win the War first, eh?’

  *

  The spies had returned from Uzice. They spread a plan of the town and a map of its surrounding area on the table in Tito’s tent. ‘The garrison headquarters is here, the barracks behind. You will see that there is a wall, Colonel, and an iron gate. This is guarded.’

  ‘How many men?’

  ‘Officially, one regiment. But there are absentees, men on leave, sick, and so on. I do not think they muster more than five hundred fit for combat.’

  ‘Panzers?’

  ‘No panzers, sir.’

  ‘What of the Ustase people?’

  ‘There is a Ustase headquarters – here – but as far as we were able to ascertain, it is only occupied by half a dozen people at this time.’

  ‘Pavelic?’

  ‘He is not there.’

  ‘That is a pity. As I said, gentlemen,’ Tito observed, ‘they regard us as beaten. But I assume there are patrols?’

  ‘Only occasional. They are relying upon the local police to keep order in the town.’

  ‘You mean the town’s approaches are not guarded?’ Tony could not believe his ears.

  ‘Not by patrols. But there is an outpost, here’ – the man stabbed the map – ‘on this hillock. It is, you see, half a mile from the town itself. It is manned by a dozen men with two heavy machine-guns. It has a telephone connection to the town.’

  Tito nodded. ‘And the Gestapo headquarters? This is inside the barracks?’

  ‘No, sir. The Gestapo headquarters is here.’ He prodded the street plan. ‘You will see it is two blocks from the barracks. It is a private house which has been taken over.’

  ‘How many personnel?’

  ‘A dozen men and four women. But the house is guarded by men from the garrison.’

  Tony drew a deep breath. ‘And have they any prisoners in the house?’

  ‘Oh yes, sir. Several people have been arrested and taken into the house.’

  ‘And have they been seen again?’

  ‘Three people were hanged in the square, the day before yesterday.’

  Tony felt quite sick. ‘Was any of them a woman?’

  ‘Yes, sir. One was a woman.’

  The sickness grew. ‘A tall, dark-haired woman, very pretty?’

  The man frowned. ‘No, sir. The woman was fair-haired.’

  Tony’s breath came out in a gush of relief. Tito slapped him on the shoulder. ‘We will get her out.’

  ‘Unless she has already been executed in secret.’

  ‘The Gestapo do not execute people in secret,’ Tito said. ‘They do it with the maximum publicity, because they believe that this spreads terror, and that terror breeds obedience. Now here is what we are going to do. Timing is the essence of this operation. We will move out tonight, and reach our positions within five miles of Uzice by dawn tomorrow. We will lie up for the day, and carry out the assault tomorrow night. Our forlorn hope, commanded by you, Captain Maric, will be in position by ten thirty, here.’ He indicated the map. ‘The rest of us will be in position by eleven thirty. At eleven forty-five, Maric, you will cut the telephone line to the outpost. At eleven fifty, Captain Asztalos, you will assault and destroy the outpost on the hill. You will have a hundred men. If it is practical for you to remove the machine-guns, you will do so. If not, you will destroy them.’

  Asztalos nodded.

  ‘At this same time,’ Tito said, ‘I will lead the main body into the town. Once we are in th
e town, you, Captain Fuderer will take your sixty men and destroy the railway station. You will also destroy any trains you find there and tear up as much track as you can. After half an hour you will withdraw. You, Captain Milic, will take your twenty men to assault and destroy the Ustase headquarters. You will take no prisoners. You, Captain Davis, will take your forty men and attack the Gestapo headquarters. You will free and remove any prisoners you find there, and kill all the inmates, without exception. Again, there are to be no prisoners. You will then withdraw. Understood?’

  The officers nodded; Tony swallowed. According to the spies, there were four women on the Gestapo staff. He had never killed a woman in his life. He had never even fired at one. But probably they did not sleep at the headquarters, he reflected, and would be in their own billets or out on the town when the assault took place.

  ‘Very good, gentlemen,’ Tito said. ‘Join your men. Tell them what they have to do, and prepare them to move out. Synchronise. The time is fourteen minutes past six.’

  The officers checked and, where necessary, adjusted their watches.

  ‘Take your maps and street plans,’ Tito said. He had had his printing press run off sufficient copies of each. ‘Move out at eight o’clock. When the operation is completed, we will rendezvous here, but as we must expect German retaliation, we shall then withdraw further into the hills. However, we shall retreat across country, and this is something the Nazis cannot do. It is only their aircraft that concern us. In any event, I shall not see you again until we return here in three days’ time. So I shall wish you good fortune now.’

  He shook hands with each of them in turn.

  *

  ‘Tony!’

  Tony, on his way back to his tent, turned to look at Svetovar Kostic.

  ‘I have been given permission to accompany your force,’ Svetovar said. ‘If you will have me.’

  ‘It will be a pleasure. But . . . you know I am to assault the Gestapo headquarters?’

  ‘That is why I wish to come with you.’

  ‘You understand . . . well . . . what we find there may not be acceptable.’