#1 cetnici;protiv koga su se stvarno borili
Posted: 22/10/2007 00:02
From The Times
October 20, 2007
President Stjepan Mesic of Croatia, a faraway grave and the debt of honour from 60 years ago
Magnus Linklater
Stjepan Mesic was just nine years old when he stood and watched as five battered Partisan tanks lumbered out of the free Croatian town of Nasice in a desperate attempt to hold off the next German attack.
He remembers counting them out, and he remembers counting them as they limped back in. „Not many returned,” he says. But the battle was won, and later the war, securing a liberated Yugoslavia, and, eventually, an independent Croatia.
Yesterday President Mesic of Croatia, now 73, travelled to to pay tribute to a man who he believes was crucial to securing that victory. On a windswept autumn afternoon, with the glittering blue waters of Loch Fyne behind him, he bent to lay flowers on the grave of Sir Fitzroy Maclean, wartime hero and Winston Churchill’s envoy to the Partisans’ leader, Marshal Tito.
The journey that took the President from the dusty streets of Nasice to the green hills of Strachur is a dramatic one; and, as with any story of Balkan intrigue, rich in irony. Maclean, who was dropped by parachute into the mountains of Bosnia in 1943, had been given the mission of determining which side the allies should back in their campaign to drive out the occupying German army.
Until that point the natural choice had been the Četnik guerrillas, commanded by a former officer of the Royal Yugoslav army, Colonel Draža Mihajlović.
Maclean, however, was far more impressed by the fierce and independent Partisans under their Communist leader, Tito. Churchill agreed with Maclean’s analysis, telling him: „What interests us is, which of them is doing most harm to the Germans.”
It remains one of the most controversial decisions of the Second World War, but today Mr Mesic is convinced that Maclean was right. „It was the only possible and the right decision,” he said. „At that time in London there was discussion about which side to back, and which was strongest against Fascism. If there was any doubt, it was Fitzroy who disposed of that.
And in the final battles that was of the utmost importance for the partisan troops. ”Mihajlović was on the side of the occupying force. His Četniks were guarding the railway between Belgrade and Athens, making it, for the Germans, the safest railway in Europe. The only real fighting against the Fascists were Tito’s partisans.„
It is a remarkable endorsement. For, two decades later, Mr Mesic would find himself in prison for his fierce opposition to Tito’s communist regime. ”I got accused by Tito of attempting to restore capitalism,„ he says mildly.
Has that not tainted his view of Yugoslavia’s strong man? ”No,„ he said. ”I try to put things in historical perspective. My entire family was involved in the partisan movement. Eleven members of my family were killed. Tito created a state that emerged from the war on the antifascist side.
„I look at the positive and negative sides of Tito’s rule. He couldn’t have governed Yugoslavia on the European model of democracy, because it had never existed.
”And it was only by force, and by Tito’s charisma that these states were held together. So when Tito left the scene cohesion disappeared. Had it not been for him we would not have had modern Croatia.„
He paused briefly. ”He was a hero of Croatia — and so was Sir Fitzroy.„
What, then, would Tito have thought of Mr Mesic’s elevation to the Presidency? Mr Mesic smiled: ”I think it would have seemed inconceivable to Tito that his place would be taken by someone who had served his time in prison. But then, I am just as surprised.
„If anyone had asked me which was more probable: that I would be president of Croatia or president of Mozambique, I would have said Mozambique. But here I am.”
Price of success
— The first Yugoslavian resistance movement was formed 20 days after the German invasion on April 6, 1941
— It was called The AntiImperialist Front and consisted of the Communist Party of Slovenia, the Christian Socialists, Slovenian Sokol and other small groups
— The Chetniks, officially Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, was a resistance movement led by Draža Mihailovic
— In 1942, Time magazine ran an article on the Chetniks and heralded them as the sole defenders of freedom in Nazi-occupied Europe
— After the war, escaped Chetniks formed nationalist clubs in the West, where they continued to support the Chetnik ideology, wyich was illegal in Communist Yugoslavia
— The Partisans were a rival Yugoslavian resistance movement to the Chetniks and were under the command of Marshal Tito By 1945, they numbered over 800,000
— On August 10, 1941 the Partisans established the Miners Republic in a Yugoslav mountain village - it lasted 42 days
— Tito and Mihailovic had a bounty of 100,000 Reichsmarks offered by Germans for their heads
Source:Times database
* Have your say
Draža mihajlović was no freedom nor anti nazi fighter... in whole ww2 there was no major battle between chetniks and german forces that im aware of... correct me if im wrong... only battles chetniks engaged in were against tito's guerrilas and civil croat and muslim population... they were also pretty efficient against the former...
inferno, sydney, australia
Draža Mihailovic was a butcher of Croats and collaborator of Nazis.
English did not care about that they trusted him as they trusted Slobodan Milosevc (1992).
Even this reporting is probably intentionally confusing regarding D.Mihaljevic rolle in 2WW.
_________________________________________________________
„only battles chetniks engaged in were against tito's guerrilas and civil croat and muslim population...”
--------------------------------------
Heroj koji me poslao u zatvor...
Mesićev intervju za Times: 'Tito je bio hrvatski heroj'
Tijekom svog posjeta Sjevernoj Irskoj i Škotskoj, predsjednik Mesić posjetio je i grob Sir Fitzroya Macleana, jednog od heroja 2. svjetskog rata. On je naime Churchillu sugerirao kako Velika Britanija treba podržati stranu partizana predvođenih Titom, a ne četnički pokret Draže Mihajlovića. Tijekom posjeta, novinar Timesa razgovarao je s Mesićem o njegovoj antifašističkoj prošlosti te prošlim događajima na ovim prostorima. Mesić je Tita opisao kao heroja bez kojeg ne bi mogla nastati moderna hrvatska država, no također je dodao kako Tito ne bi mogao shvatiti da je danas predsjednik države netko koga je on poslao u zatvor. Iscrpnije... Permalink
October 20, 2007
President Stjepan Mesic of Croatia, a faraway grave and the debt of honour from 60 years ago
Magnus Linklater
Stjepan Mesic was just nine years old when he stood and watched as five battered Partisan tanks lumbered out of the free Croatian town of Nasice in a desperate attempt to hold off the next German attack.
He remembers counting them out, and he remembers counting them as they limped back in. „Not many returned,” he says. But the battle was won, and later the war, securing a liberated Yugoslavia, and, eventually, an independent Croatia.
Yesterday President Mesic of Croatia, now 73, travelled to to pay tribute to a man who he believes was crucial to securing that victory. On a windswept autumn afternoon, with the glittering blue waters of Loch Fyne behind him, he bent to lay flowers on the grave of Sir Fitzroy Maclean, wartime hero and Winston Churchill’s envoy to the Partisans’ leader, Marshal Tito.
The journey that took the President from the dusty streets of Nasice to the green hills of Strachur is a dramatic one; and, as with any story of Balkan intrigue, rich in irony. Maclean, who was dropped by parachute into the mountains of Bosnia in 1943, had been given the mission of determining which side the allies should back in their campaign to drive out the occupying German army.
Until that point the natural choice had been the Četnik guerrillas, commanded by a former officer of the Royal Yugoslav army, Colonel Draža Mihajlović.
Maclean, however, was far more impressed by the fierce and independent Partisans under their Communist leader, Tito. Churchill agreed with Maclean’s analysis, telling him: „What interests us is, which of them is doing most harm to the Germans.”
It remains one of the most controversial decisions of the Second World War, but today Mr Mesic is convinced that Maclean was right. „It was the only possible and the right decision,” he said. „At that time in London there was discussion about which side to back, and which was strongest against Fascism. If there was any doubt, it was Fitzroy who disposed of that.
And in the final battles that was of the utmost importance for the partisan troops. ”Mihajlović was on the side of the occupying force. His Četniks were guarding the railway between Belgrade and Athens, making it, for the Germans, the safest railway in Europe. The only real fighting against the Fascists were Tito’s partisans.„
It is a remarkable endorsement. For, two decades later, Mr Mesic would find himself in prison for his fierce opposition to Tito’s communist regime. ”I got accused by Tito of attempting to restore capitalism,„ he says mildly.
Has that not tainted his view of Yugoslavia’s strong man? ”No,„ he said. ”I try to put things in historical perspective. My entire family was involved in the partisan movement. Eleven members of my family were killed. Tito created a state that emerged from the war on the antifascist side.
„I look at the positive and negative sides of Tito’s rule. He couldn’t have governed Yugoslavia on the European model of democracy, because it had never existed.
”And it was only by force, and by Tito’s charisma that these states were held together. So when Tito left the scene cohesion disappeared. Had it not been for him we would not have had modern Croatia.„
He paused briefly. ”He was a hero of Croatia — and so was Sir Fitzroy.„
What, then, would Tito have thought of Mr Mesic’s elevation to the Presidency? Mr Mesic smiled: ”I think it would have seemed inconceivable to Tito that his place would be taken by someone who had served his time in prison. But then, I am just as surprised.
„If anyone had asked me which was more probable: that I would be president of Croatia or president of Mozambique, I would have said Mozambique. But here I am.”
Price of success
— The first Yugoslavian resistance movement was formed 20 days after the German invasion on April 6, 1941
— It was called The AntiImperialist Front and consisted of the Communist Party of Slovenia, the Christian Socialists, Slovenian Sokol and other small groups
— The Chetniks, officially Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, was a resistance movement led by Draža Mihailovic
— In 1942, Time magazine ran an article on the Chetniks and heralded them as the sole defenders of freedom in Nazi-occupied Europe
— After the war, escaped Chetniks formed nationalist clubs in the West, where they continued to support the Chetnik ideology, wyich was illegal in Communist Yugoslavia
— The Partisans were a rival Yugoslavian resistance movement to the Chetniks and were under the command of Marshal Tito By 1945, they numbered over 800,000
— On August 10, 1941 the Partisans established the Miners Republic in a Yugoslav mountain village - it lasted 42 days
— Tito and Mihailovic had a bounty of 100,000 Reichsmarks offered by Germans for their heads
Source:Times database
* Have your say
Draža mihajlović was no freedom nor anti nazi fighter... in whole ww2 there was no major battle between chetniks and german forces that im aware of... correct me if im wrong... only battles chetniks engaged in were against tito's guerrilas and civil croat and muslim population... they were also pretty efficient against the former...
inferno, sydney, australia
Draža Mihailovic was a butcher of Croats and collaborator of Nazis.
English did not care about that they trusted him as they trusted Slobodan Milosevc (1992).
Even this reporting is probably intentionally confusing regarding D.Mihaljevic rolle in 2WW.
_________________________________________________________
„only battles chetniks engaged in were against tito's guerrilas and civil croat and muslim population...”
--------------------------------------
Heroj koji me poslao u zatvor...
Mesićev intervju za Times: 'Tito je bio hrvatski heroj'
Tijekom svog posjeta Sjevernoj Irskoj i Škotskoj, predsjednik Mesić posjetio je i grob Sir Fitzroya Macleana, jednog od heroja 2. svjetskog rata. On je naime Churchillu sugerirao kako Velika Britanija treba podržati stranu partizana predvođenih Titom, a ne četnički pokret Draže Mihajlovića. Tijekom posjeta, novinar Timesa razgovarao je s Mesićem o njegovoj antifašističkoj prošlosti te prošlim događajima na ovim prostorima. Mesić je Tita opisao kao heroja bez kojeg ne bi mogla nastati moderna hrvatska država, no također je dodao kako Tito ne bi mogao shvatiti da je danas predsjednik države netko koga je on poslao u zatvor. Iscrpnije... Permalink
...podrumas 
