Chapter 251
“So, would your leaders accept this?” General Vuckovich asked.
Felix was too dumbfounded, but the General mistook that for hesitation of a different kind. “They belonged to two Fighter Squadrons that were down south when war broke out, coincidentally they were flying Hurricanes and 109s, so either way they might be of importance to you. They were being transported north into Germany last month when we attacked the train. We didn't even know they were still alive, let alone in that train, we thought it was a troop train... Luckily the PIAT gunner asigned to destroy that train car missed.”
“And they've been milling about your headquarters ever since?” Felix asked.
Vuckovich nodded. “Yes, we gave them one of the barracks caves.”
The Partisan headquarters was hidden away in the hills and mountains of eastern Croatia about as remote as it got. It was a complex of caves that had in times long past probably been created by an underground river, what still provided them with fresh water. Vuckovich said that they had discovered the system back in 1940 when they had dodged Germans and tried to stay alive, and that there was little chance that anyone would find it, given that the entrance was covered by trees, brushes was a few dozen miles from the next road. Felix had seen aerial photographs of the place and seen the entrance and the surface parts of the camp even when Major Mallory had pointed it out to him. There was only one narrow footpath running along the edge of a cliff so three men and a machine gun could hold a Regiment there for days, never mind that two mortars were sighted on the path at all times.
Still even though there were almost regular flights to and from improvised strips all over central Yugoslavia, bringing out some twenty-five pilots would require a Dakota, and that would be a far cry from sneaking in a couple of Lysanders. Felix was well aware that this was an attempt by the Yugoslavians to get the British to take the Pilots off their hands.
“I can't promise anything, but I will pass it on. You must understand, there is a great risk involved, not only for you and your men but also for British Aircrew. That's not a call I can make on my own, Sir.”
Vuckovich said nothing, and Felix was unable to read the man at this time. After a few moments the Yugoslavian General sighed and placed his arms on his desk, using them to push himself out of his chair.
“Fair enough, Colonel.”
“And Sir, if I may ask: Why aren't they simply recruited into your force as Infantry?”
“Because we can barely arm our existing forces, there's nothing like enough rifles to start with, we are short on machine guns, mortars, ammunition, medical supplies. The only thing we have enough of is recruits, thanks to the Germans.”
Felix didn't reply, he knew what that meant. During the Civil War Communist and Federal Insurgents alike had battled against their enemy behind the lines with the unpleasantness that came with Civil War, so here he did know what the General felt like. The British had to re-equip four exiled Armies in addition to the still expanding British Forces, so fewer weapons than one would like had found their way into Yugoslavia, and that had only started when the Allies had gained a foothold in southern Italy.
“I see, Sir.” he said once he realized that the General expected an answer. “Still, it will be difficult to arrange.”
“Again, fair enough. Now, shall we tour the camp?”
Felix was very, very tempted considering the Stories Major Mallory had told during his layover at 'The Villa' but he had his orders.
“Thank you very much, General.”
Normally SOE procedure was to send a coded message back to report in, but the importance and the sensitivity of this mission had prompted Ian to use his powers as Head of Station and circumvent procedure in this case. He wouldn't set out for the meet until tomorrow anyway, considering that it was several hours worth of riding away for security purposes.
While Felix was shown around in the camp, in an Office in Belgrade some else was still at work. The German occupation authorities had established themselves firmly in and around Belgrade, the presence of a full Division of troops saw to that and had set up their authorities there. The city was under tight lockdown and even though the population was seething with discontent and rebellion nothing happened, the SS troopers on the streets saw to that. However the Waffen SS was too weak to occupy Yugoslavia let alone crush the insurgency, and if the rumours that filtered through to Germany were true, the contribution would get even weaker very soon. The Heer ran things here, the plans to set up a civilian German administration had been quietly scrapped when the train that had been carrying the selected Governor had had an encounter with sixty pounds of Dynamite and the reprisals had triggered violent but futile uprisings in the areas targeted. General der Infantry Hans Maybach was in a difficult position. He wasn't a devout Nazi and because of that and Hitler's personal dislike (no reason given) he had been given this backwater post, and he saw it as such. Wedged in between the 'freeriders' in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria and the Allies, with neither making his job any easier. He knew that the Allies would try to attack towards Vienna and then suddenly all railways would obviously be needed to supply the battlefront, so he had started stockpiling supplies as much as he could the moment the Allies started breaking through the Gustav Line. That this incurred Partisan activity en mass was a side effect that he had to deal with, and the burning villages, dead bodies and the blood that began to drench the countryside was evidence of his efforts. Thus the SS was for once trusting the local Officer, hence why the SS Cavalry Brigade had been readily released to the Wehrmacht by the Reichsführer SS when the OKW had respectfully requested reinforcements after some Heer units had been moved to deal with the Allied offensives south of Rome.
Maybach was pouring over the maps of central Croatia where the positions of the principal German units in the area,
Festungsdivision Stettin, the Croatioan National Guard, officially a Militia in preparation for independence after the war but in reality little more than an armed mob and of course the SS Cavalry Brigade. It were fewer forces than he liked, but he had only fifteen German, two Soviet and six Hungarian and Romanian Divisions with which to hold down a country more than twice the size of Austria down.[1] For comparison in France there were forty-seven German and twenty Soviet Divisions, and they had troubles of their own as it was. So ruling the country with an iron fist was the best.
He either didn't realize or care that this only served to drive more people into the welcoming arms of the Partisans of whatever political group, unlike the relatively benevolent rule in the Low Countries and France[2], and so turning the situation into a self-feeding circle of death and destruction.
This didn't mean that all of the locals were against the occupation, far from it. Many of the Chetnick groups were working with the royalists, but many had been seduced by the promise of an independent state after the war, some Yugoslavs just hated everyone outside their own ethnicity slightly more than the Germans and some just were plain old bandits who took the opportunity to indulge themselves. For this reason the Royalists were so disorganized and hard to catch, they were organized in cells that knew little of each other, and that prevented General Maybach from scoring a second coup like he had when he had managed to crush a network in and around Zagreb back in 41. A good day in his opinion.
The rifts between the local ethnic groups had payed off again, because there were rumours that a group of Royalist leaders was meeting in an abandoned watchtower. Normally this was nothing to get exited about, for all their knowledge the cell leaders were far more replaceable than they might think, what caught his attention was the fact that General Vuckovich was going to be there. He was the grand price that had eluded him so long. The Partisans had a headquarters somewhere in the mountains and all efforts to find it had failed. Taking out Vuckovich meant taking out the central brain of the Partisans, and even if he couldn't be persuaded to give up the location of his headquarters, various spies he had, including a very valuable one that was run through the RSHA that had taken over the functions of the defunct Abwehr. The man had taken a long, long time to infiltrate where he was now and he had only very recently made contact with him, and already he had brought this valuable piece of intel. On the map General Maybach could see that the SS Cavalry Brigade was too far away and in any case they were currently engaged in reprisals for a recent attack on a supply and weapons depot that had been looted clean before being blown up, so that left either the 553. Infanterieregiment, or, much to his disgust the unreliable Croatian National Guard.
He decided on the 553rd, not only because they were Germans but also because they were far better equipped. Uniquely for a fortress Division, this one had a Regiment of Light Tanks attached, and while the French-made H-35 series vehicles were unable to even scratch the paint of the modern English Cromwell and Comet Tanks, they were a valuable asset for all forms of occupation duty.
Tanks of Panzerabteilung 221
He called for his adjutant and quickly fired off orders. The 553rd was to make ready to send a company of Infantry, accompanied by four tanks as far as possible towards the watchtower, where the tanks would stay behind with half the company to seal of the retreat of anyone who might slip through the attack of the others.
Of course the meeting would be guarded by a significant force, but the Partisans rarely went out in bodies of more than half-company strength, everything above that simply left too big a trail that could be followed back to camp. Losses were thus inevitable, but netting the upper echolon of the Partisans in general and that bastard Vuckovich in particular was definitely worth it. Perhaps after this they would finally recall him to Berlin, back home.
He hated this country, the people in it and the fact that they dared to resist both the Reich and the will of the Führer, and he hated how his people were attacked at every corner. Even if he wasn't recalled to Germany, when he left here no one would dare to resist, and if some of those bastards could be bought off with the pretence of independence, then so be it.
[Notes: Why is Maybach Heer and not Waffen SS? Well, I wanted to make sure that the readers know the Regular Army wasn't free of warcrimes like some circles like to believe. To illustrate, neo-conservative circles kicked up a gigantic stink in Germany about ten to fifteen years back when a exhibition about Wehrmacht warcrimes toured the country.]
[1] Size is eyeballed.
[2]Weserübung was cancelled as you know when the RN destroyed the German/Soviet Fleet and Denmark has managed to stay neutral by simply lying low and hoping they don't get noticed.
[3] Yay for screencapture functions in media players!