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The Russian eonditions of peace willi Kumania, ho we v er, are much less severe Mian tliosc willi Fin* land.
It is expeeted that l)r. Suhnsic, llie new 1'rime Minister, w ho has so lar 1’aileil to form a governinent in London (beenuso no Scrbinn Minister win be found tu serve with him if (jenerał Mihailovitch is dropped) will attempt to eonie ro some understanding witli Tito and Mihailovitch. The suggestion that Alihailocitch shonld place himsell' under Mu* connnand of Tito is boing opposed bccausc, i! it were aceepted. ii would only intensify the already strained situation in Yugosln via. Yugoslav politieians have marle it quite elear that-to disenrd Mihailovitch altogether is to eoinpletely disre-gnrd the feelings and wishes of a largo mnjority of the Yugo slav people. They «lo not ihsist in retaining Mihailoviteb in the goyerntnentj but they deuiand tluil Mihailoviteh be ofticially reeog-nised as a national Leader, who did not reaeh his prosont position by nny royal or goeernnionf doeroo. but by his own work and tlić will of the people. Au effort to bring abouy łi^ rceoiieilLftiori on these łeriuiP wuńld lian* a fair oh mice of sitc.cess. I.f, howevcr, Mihailo-viteh is dropped and Tito is reeognised as supremę leader in Yygoshma, the prospects of re-eoneiliation will hardly exist.
There is opposition in Bułgaria against Bagrinnoy^ pro-(»erman goverument.. The situation Ima be-eonie very eritical. Sąbotagi* is in-ereasing throughout the country. On June 2nd a railway bridge over the Arda river in Thrace was blowu np, and the following day the Bnlgnriau Bceret wiroless Station clnimed that traffie was paralysml in many parta of the country. About one thousand Bulgarinn sohiiers with pro-Russian sympathies have also (icserte.rl in Macedonia and Serbia to joiń Titn’s forees. Tó-day there nre between 5,000 to 0.000 part>.-.sans. Other officers and mefi hure deseited to join Mihaiłovrt;eh.
The majority ol' the Bulgarian army (with the excep1.ion of a few high officers trained in Germany) are pro-Russiau. The mass of the peasants are also pro-Kiissian. but. they do not want. Gommunism. l.ately many senior officers have bcen * * ‘ purged ” for their nnti-f ierman sentiments.
Further clevelopments are Likely to occur in the Bulgarinn Black
Sen ports o i Yarna a ml Burgas, where the Ku ss i ans wisli to estab-lish Conaulątes. These ports are now eoinpletely under (ierman contro!, a Ud (Ierman military preparat łon s an* boing coutiiiued in Bułgaria. In Yarna, where a (ierman air-bo.se has bcen e.stab-lishod, (ierman submarines and speed-boats are now nrriving from t.onsianza.
The Germans are fully aware that in the event of an Allied
In the eoursc of last week a number of reports were puhlished regarding the (ierman bid to cap-ture Tito and his staff. In one paper it was at fi rat. reported that ?ivc (Ierman diviaioii8 were en-gaged in this action, and that Kommel liimsolf was cónducting the operations. Later, however. the at.tack seerns to have becn roduced to its proper dimonsions. and it was stated that sonie Minusami air-borne German soldiors were dropped “on the MorshaTs FI.Q. cnve. lmilt in a vnsl grotto m*av Drvar. ” .
Lot ns Jinalyse logieally the situation. Aft er a lóngtimc w< are at last. told of the exact loeation ol Tito \s biding place. He took re.fuge, npparenMy together with y.irions Allied missions and a num-bor of war correspoudents, in a mountnin fastnesś hidden in an uimpproachahlc cave (even plioto-graphs were published testifying to this), tlms cutting hiniself off from the rest ol: the world. The village of Dcvar bas hardly any eomirninieatinus evcn with the plncos noar by, not 1:o spoak óf the rest o i' the “ liberał ed” country. And evcu so Tito and bis sta fi* do not live in the village itself but are pcrched on the peak of a rock like an eagle’s nest.
The loeation of Tito’s hiding-place and the nninher of Herman forc.es used to capturo his H.Q. suggest a largo number of interest ing eonclusidiia concerning the orgaiiisntion. strength, and tact ics of the Marshal, and even a nnnrber of (piestions should be asked. For instanco, why did the Conimnnder-in-Hbief of a largo foree of 250.000 fighting men (some reportssuggest even a larger number) chooso a spot which c.onld be appVoachcd only by cl i mb ing with tlie assis-tanee of ropes. or by dropping from the air? By swooping on his
Saturctey, Jtine 10, 1944
landing in the Bulkans, Bułgaria is indispensable to tltem. That is the reason wliy they are tighten-ing their control of tlie country łlitherto. the-Bułgarian arniy has heen used as an oc.cupatiou corps, and has tnken lit tle part in active warfarc*. If diplonuitic relations were. in faet, broken off between Bułgaria and Russia, it would be interest ing to see the reaction or the Bnlgarian people who are inainly composed of pro-Knssian and anti-Coniinunistic* peasants.
Headquarter8, the intention of the (iormans undonbtedly was to either capturo Tito dead or alive, or clse disperse his central organi-zation. Apparently they succeeded only in doing the latter, cap tu r-ing sonie of iiis Staff, inoluding Mirce British wat* CffrrespoudentS. The (iermans themselvc8 elaim that they killed 2,000 partisans, together with 20 British and American officers, and took 2,000 paitisans prisoners. Tito hiinsclf. with Major Randolph Ohuieliill mauagcd to “lose" tliemselves ii: tlie taoiintains iii the generał con-fu.śion of the attaek. Memhers of Allied uiiasions, \ve nre told smolling the attaek, left tlie ll.Q two or tlirce days bofore, If tlmy knew oi' the attaek woli in ndvntu*c why did not Tito. himself, leaie in time. or. at least, Major Kandolpli Churchill and the three British correspondcnts?
Reports or tliis adventuro also State that about onc-half of tlie (iermans who dcscended wen killed in the lighting. The rest apparently rejoinod their units, but they were not takeu baek in acroplancs but returned bv land. This meams that a smali unit of some 500 (Iermans could walk un molestod thfough ‘liberated" territory bąck to tlie amin German foree. This rather suggesls to us that Tito’s he.-ubpiaiters were not situated in any free territory, Init were rather a ‘‘hide-out'' in (oiemy-ocrupied terrilory. 1 f not where was Tito’s anny to defońd his heaclquarters? It is true that air-borne troops could swoop down on any headquaiters, but without mucli eliancc of doing serious danmge, and even escaping later through enemy lines. In this case, the object of the attaek was dest.roycd, and the attackers wulked bacie to their base.