Daily Post - 28.11.1943, Side 3

S ‘J N'DAY ros *
3
Red Star and Clenched Fist!
Rain and darkness made an
ideal cloak. In the hour be-
fore dawn the little vessel
from Italy ran in close to the
rocky Dalmatian coast and
dropped its solitary passenger.
Daniel De Luce, Associated
Press correspondent, climbed
into the wet woods without
a sound, felt his way to the
appointed rendezvous.
Two Partisans appeared: a
hard-faced, unshaven man
with a red star sewn to his
cap and a 16-year-old, lugging
Italian bandolere and car-
bine. Swiftly De Luce was
passed from hand to hand, al-
ways upward, away from the
sea, into the Dinaric Alps.
The Plans. He met officers
whose red bars of rank were
backed with green—the sign
that they were political offi-
cers, charged with developing
popular support. He saw black
robed Catholic priests raise
clenched right fists their heads
in greeting to the Partisans.
He heard businessmen call
the Partisans sincere fighters,
worthly of support. He spent
an afternoon with a Partisan
brigade commander in a red-
roofed, limestone house in a
mountain town, going over
maps, plans, requirements. —
The Partisans made full notes
of all they told him—to for-
ward to Drug (Comrade, pro-
nounced “droog”) Titi,f Mars-
hal qf the Partisans, at his
Bosnian headquarters.
Wrote De Luce: “They urg-
ed quick dispatch of Americ-
an and British troops across
the Adriatic and promised the
people would gladly tear out
their vineyards to make land-
ing strips. . . They argued al-
so for sending grain, beans,
rice and medical . . supplies to
Partisan areas where the po-
pulation is facing hunger and
where the population is facing
hunger and disease. . . ‘But
arms are the most important
of all. We can fight without
food but we cannot fight with
out arms.’ ”
7~
tTito is Josip Broz, or Brozo
vich, 53, Croatian ex-metal
worker, Communist-trained
leader of the People’s Libera-
tion Army, rival organization
to General Draja Mihailovich’s
Chetmiks. Berlin has offered
100,000 gold marks for either
man‘s head.
The Power. De Luce found
the Partisan movement assum-
ing the proportions of military
big business. “Until now
(they) have relied for success
on their own guerilla skill. ..
(But now) there are more
new soldiers than rifles—even
counting the long-barreled old
squirrel shooters of Balkan
War vintage—and there is a
job to finish that only planes
and armored vehicles can do.”
The commander told De
Luce: “There are no barriers
of religion or politics. We em-
brace all patriots who love
and fight for Yugoslavia.” De
Luce learned that 600 of 2,000
Jews released from an intern-
ment camp had joined the Par
tisans; that a considerable
number of priests had become
members.
• The Faith. With the com-
mander and a prist De Luce
stood before the altar of a
Twelve-Century church. Fas-
cinated, he watched the com-
mander make the sign of the
cross with one hand, while
holding his grey cap with its
red star in his other. Outside,
looking over the roofs at a
red, white and blue Croatian
flag with a red star in the
white stripe, the priest said:
“Tired of the Fascist yoke, the
priest and people of our com-
munity began cooerating a year
ago with the Partisans, furn-
ishing them money and food.
We considered it the only thing
to do for the liberation of
Yugoslavs. . . On Sept. 12
two Partisans appeared and
the following night the Itali-
ans evacuated. . . Later (the
Partisans) issued instructions
for a municipal election
all men and women-over 18
would vote . . We’ve had
peace and order in our town
since the first day it became
Partisan.”
In Italy, before he set out,
De Luce was warned by “ex-
iles who still are stoutly de-
voted to General Draja Mihai-
lovich of the danger . . (but)
I’ve found not one scrap of
evidence of Partisan terror.”
Drug Tito, De Luce found,
“has welded his guerillas into
a tightly disciplined and hot-
ly idealistic force that shows
more enthusiastic determinati-
on than any outfit I’ve seen
since I met Major General Vas
sili Novikov’s Caucasus Army.
. . It is a people’s army, and
presumably susceptible to ;
most of the mistakes . . ex- j
civilians usually make. But its j
spirit is amazing and exhilarat
ing. It knows how to shoot
straight.” j
The Chetniks. The day De •
Luce visited the Partisans a
t
Swedish journalist stationed j
in Zurich received a personal '
letter from General Mihailo- l
i
vich, saying his troops were
taking no part in the battles
being waged against the Axis.
“I have told the British and
Americans my army is ready
and will begin to fight when
the first Allied division lands
in Yugoslavia,” the War Min-
ister of the Government in Ex-
ile added.
Last month in Cairo, King
Peter and the rest of the Cab-
inet in Exile waited patient-
ly. Over the radio the 20-year
old claimant to an overturn-
ed throne in Belgrade ad-
dressed his subjects, urged
I them to “obey Mihailovich
and other national leaders of
your resistance to the enemy
and refrain from internal
struggle.” It was a long step
for Peter to mention other
leaders: he still could not
bring himself to call Partisans
by name.
T .rj
ACCIDENT
An elderly Icelandic gentleman
was recently driven down in
Laufásvegur by a car. The man
got so badly injured that he
died shortly after.
COEURS DE MABRE. In
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Deputy
Sheriff Cliff Johnson respond-
ed to a call at 6 a. m., hurried
out to a narrow country ro-
ad, broke it up between a co-
uple of motorists who had been
refusing for twelve hours to
back up for each other.
* * *
DEDUCTION. In Los Ang-
eles, Arnulfo Perez reported
that two men had hustled him
into a black-paneled van, dri-
ven him several blocks, taken
$9 from him, and thrown him
out. Perez added: “I knew
then that it was not a genuine
patrol wagon.”
MiscelIaaeoDs
THE CURRENT SCENE. In
San Francisco, Mrs. Lucille Ri-
quard testified that her hus-
band had punctured 55 cans of
her rationed fruit and vege-
tables. She won a divorce. In
Chicago, Mrs. Nellie Vileta, —
freshly divorced, told the jud-
ge that her husband swiped
her false teeth and used all
the meat coupons for himself.
She got the teeth as alimony.
In Kansas City, Walter Solt,
who had had trouble with the
maid service at his hotel, was
fined $1 for taking his jam-
packed wastebasket down to
the lobby and dumping it out
on clerk’s desk. In San Diego,
OPA investigators found a
landlord charging roomers
$2.50 a week for the privilege
of using the front door. In
Manhattan, department stores
offered a new preparation for
sale — a liquid to take the
shine off the seat of the pants.
# *
NUISANCE. In St. Joseph,
Mo., officers at the county ja-
il were bothered by telephone
calls from somebody who of-
fered, for a suitable reward,
to return their watchdog.
* * *
LOUD AND BASE. In Berk-
eley, Calif., Mrs. Edith Bell
went to court for an injunction
restraining a couple of her
dog and uttering “loud noises
of a base characted.”
* * *
THE STRUGGLE FOR SUR
VIVAL. In Kimball, S.D. Cla-
rence Bely was kicked out of a
barn by a horse, presently tri-
ed to show friends how it hap
pened, was promptly kicked
by the horse again. In Clear-
field, Utah, a farmer who tri-
ed to heat his bath water by
building a fire under the tub
was presently watching his
house and barns burns to the
ground. In Manhatan, the em-
ergency ward of a local hospi-
tal treated the ficial lacerati-
ons of a nearsighted youth who
had caught on eof his pet boa
constrictors trying to escape.
The boy had peered into the
snake’s eyes to see who it was.
* >. *
THE ANSWER. In St. Paul
Mrs. H. J. Buck finally got a
letter from her one time sweet
heart who had vanished. It
read: “I am still looking for a
job,” and was dated Sept. 21,
1911.