The Forgotten 500 (42 page)

Page 123 “individual commanders who were accustomed to working independently” Ford, Kirk, Jr.
OSS and the Yugoslav Resistance 1943
-
1945.
College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press, 1992, p. 6.

Page 124 “Mihailovich took a firm position that he could not expose the people of Yugoslavia to such risk unless the outcome was great enough to justify the inevitable deaths . . .” Ford, Kirk, Jr., p. 7.

Page 125 “chief of the Yugoslav prime minister’s military cabinet and the former Yugoslav military and air attache in Washington” Knezevic, Zivan.
Why the Allies Abandoned the Yugoslav Army of General Mihailovich, with Official Memoranda and Documents,
First Part. Unpublished manuscript donated to the United States Library of Congress, 1945, p. 4.

Page 126 “the deaths of seventy-eight thousand Serbians between the ages of sixteen and fifty” Ibid.

 

Page 127 “many of those joining the Partisan movement had no such dreams” Ford, Kirk, Jr., p. 8.

Page 130 “ ‘grand finale against the Axis’ ” Deakin, F. W.
Embattled Mountain
. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 152.

Page 131 “he announced that for every German soldier killed by Mihailovich, one hundred Serbs would be shot” Martin, p. 34.

Page 131 “In a telegram sent from Mihailovich on March 2, 1943 . . .” Knezevic, First Part: p. 7.

Page 134 “The English are now fighting to the last Serb in Yugoslavia” Knezevic, Second Part: p. 2.

Page 134 “ ‘I appreciate that words spoken in heat may not express a considered judgment. . .’ ” Knezevic, Second Part: p. 5.

Page 135 “ ‘much worse things would be heard than that speech by General Mihailovich,’ he told Churchill” Knezevic, Second Part: p. 6.

Page 135 “ ‘I avoid battle with the Communists in the country and fight only when attacked’ ” Knezevic, Second Part: p. 9.

Page 135 “detailing an ‘operational decision’ concerning Mihailovich” Knezevic, Second Part: p. 10.

Page 136 “ ‘who was killing the most Germans and suggesting means by which we could help to kill more’ ” Ford, Corey, p. 206.

Page 137 “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons!” Churchill, Winston S.
Never Give In: The Best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches.
New York: Hyperion, 2003, p. 289.

Page 138 “Some OSS agents felt that the British were every bit their enemy as the Germans, at least when it came to their intelligence activities” Tompkins, Peter.
Italy Betrayed.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966, p. 253.

Page 139 “the heaviest American soldier to make a successful parachute jump in World War II” Ford, Kirk, Jr., p. 29.

 

Page 139 “could mobilize more than four hundred thousand if he had arms for them” Musulin, George. “Report on the Michailovic’s Cetnik army; suggestions of some Allied support.” Central Intelligence Agency 1944. Reproduced in Declassified Documents Reference System, Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale Group, 2006.

 

Page 139 “ ‘a fairly well-organized army’ ” Interestingly, an American woman was one of Mihailovich’s better-known fighters. Ruth Mitchell, the sister of William (Billy) Mitchell, the outspoken Army Air Forces general who was court-martialed in 1925 for accusing superiors of incompetence in not focusing more on air power. His red-haired, headstrong sister volunteered to serve with Mihailovich, acting as liaison officer of the Chetniks with the British army. She was captured by the Gestapo after several months and spent thirteen months in German prisons. She was finally released in 1942 as a result of pressure from the Swiss government and returned to the United States, where she helped report on German atrocities and torture.

 

Page 141 “virtually all communications in and out of Yugoslavia had to go through British channels” Ford, Kirk, Jr., p. 14. George Vujnovich also confirmed in personal interviews that the British were difficult to work with and sometimes seemed to intentionally interfere with OSS operations.

 

Page 141 “We can’t fight Jerry with bare feet, brave hearts, and Radio London” Ford, Kirk, Jr., p. 31.

 

Page 142 “The documents included transcripts . . .” Brown, Colin, and John Crossland. “How a Soviet Mole United Tito and Churchill.”
The Independent,
June 28, 1997: 1A.

 

Page 143 “that the time should be called the ‘Klugmann period’ ” Martin,
The Web of Disinformation
:
Churchill’s Yugoslav Blunder,
p. 94.

 

Page 144 “ ‘Klugmann was a mole whose great accomplishment . . .’ ” Martin,
The Web of Disinformation
:
Churchill’s Yugoslav Blunder,
p. xix.

Page 144 “ ‘the pure intellectual of the Party’ ” Woodward, E. L.
British Foreign Policy in the Second World War
. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1962, p. 346.

Page 148 “by October 1944 that number would reach forty” O’Donnell, Patrick K.
Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of the Men and Women of WWII’s OSS
. New York: Free Press, 2004, p. 86.

 

Page 149 “ ‘Listen, you bastards! You think I went in and risked my life for almost a year for nothing?’ ” Ford, Kirk, Jr., p. 51.

 

Page 149 “I came to Bari and saw Partisans all over the damn town” Ford, Kirk, Jr., p. 51.

 

Page 150 “Yugoslav refugee girls working as waitresses who made no effort to conceal their pro-Communist politics, even wearing Partisan uniforms around Bari on their off hours.” Martin,
The Web of Disinformation
:
Churchill’s Yugoslav Blunder
, p. 107.

Page 153 “they hadn’t completely vacated the premises by the time the OSS moved in” Ford, Corey, p. 122.

Page 154 “ ‘absolute discretion, sobriety, devotion to duty, languages, and wide experience,’ Ian advised” McLachlan, Donald.
Room 39.
London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson: 1968, p. 233.

Page 154 “ ‘calculatingly reckless’ and trained for ‘aggressive action’ ” Smith, Richard Harris.
OSS: The Secret History of America’s First Central Intelligence Agency
. Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press, 1973, p. 31.

Page 154 “The most important qualification, Donovan declared, was strength of character” Ford, Corey, 1970, p. 134.

Page 155 “A columnist for the
Washington Times
wrote of the new OSS . . .” Brown, Anthony Cave.
The Last Hero: Wild Bill Donovan.
New York: Vintage Books, 1984, p. 301.

Page 156 “and a Catholic missionary who had lived with the Kachin tribesmen in northern Burma” Ford, Corey, p. 135.

Page 157 “ ‘The major part of our intelligence was the result of good old-fashioned intellectual sweat’ ” Ford, Corey, p. 148.

Page 157 “Largely because of the number of upper-class, Ivy League-graduates in the ranks, OSS agents at desks in Washington and in the field around the world tended to share a social idealism, the same unwavering faith in the common man espoused by Donovan.” Smith, p. 26.

 

Page 158 “ ‘I don’t know if he’s on the Communist honor roll, but for the job he’s doing in Italy, he’s on the honor roll of OSS’ ” Ford, Corey, p. 135.

Page 160 “an explosive that looked remarkably like regular flour and could even be used to bake muffins and bread” Lovell, Stanley.
Of Spies and Strategems
. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1963, p. 17.

Page 161 “The Beano activated and exploded when he caught it on the way down” O’Donnell, p. 17.

Page 161 “Of the 831 members of the OSS decorated for gallantry during World War II . . .” Ford, Corey, p. 145.

Page 162 “impale members of the resistance on meat hooks in the public square” Ford, Corey, p. 186.

Page 162 “Biting down on the pill would spill its contents and bring nearly instant death” Roosevelt, Kermit.
The Overseas Targets: War Reports of the OSS.
Vol. I. Washington, DC: Carrollton Press, 1976, p. 159.

Page 163 “the agents risking their lives in the field developed a disdain for the ‘bourbon whiskey colonels’ in Washington and other OSS posts who thought they could tell them how to do their jobs” Smith, p. 6.

Page 163 “ ‘men for the higher echelons of the organization who by background and temperament were unsympathetic with Donovan’s own conception of the necessity of unstinting cooperation with the resistance movements’ ” Goldberg, Arthur. Review of
Sub Rosa: The OSS and American Espionage
.
The Nation
, March 23, 1946, pp. 349-350.

Page 165 “a larger discussion about how Donovan and his subordinates were not happy about losing their presence in the territory controlled by Mihailovich” Donovan, William J. Letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. July 4, 1944. Reproduced in Declassified Documents Reference System, Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale Group, 2006.

Page 166 “ ‘Screw the British! Let’s get our boys out!’ ” This exchange is not officially recorded, but the anecdote was passed down among OSS veterans and participants in Operation Halyard. Both George Vujnovich and Arthur Jibilian report hearing of the exchange during or soon after the rescue. It is possible that the comment is apocryphal, but it is entirely consistent with William Donovan’s personality and conversational style.

Page 169 “ ‘You are requested, therefore, to act on this soonest . . .’ ” Ford, Kirk, Jr., p. 100.

Page 169 “managed to rescue ninety downed airmen over a four-month period” O’Donnell, p. 84.

Page 183 “randomly assigned code name Operation Halyard . . .” The Serbians know the mission as Operation Air Bridge. “Air bridge” was a generic term in the military for connecting distant points through the use of airdrops or frequent flights. The rescue mission is well known in Serbia, much more than in the United States, because the Serbian people are particularly proud of their efforts in aiding American airmen during World War II.

Page 184 “ ‘any military or political commitments on behalf of the United States of America . . .’ ” Ford, Kirk Jr, p. 101.

Page 191 “sending the first message from the downed airmen” Felman, Richard. “Mihailovich and I.” Serbian Democratic Forum, October 1972.

 

Page 192 “Oliver volunteered to work with some other airmen to develop a code” Oliver, p. 5.

Page 195 “ ‘That’s Oliver’s crew and Buckler’s crew!’ ” Martin,
The Web of Disinformation
:
Churchill’s Yugoslav Blunder,
p. 235.

Page 197 “ ‘Take good care that nothing happens to these men.’ ” Martin, David.
Ally Betrayed: The Uncensored Story of Tito and Mihailovich.
New York: Prentice Hall, 1946, p. 292.

Page 205 “ ‘Captain George! Captain George!’ they shouted . . .” Felman, Richard. “Mihailovich and I.” Serbian Democratic Forum, October 1972.

 

Page 207 “Mihailovich often would tease the boys in the group by saying he had heard that one of them was a Partisan . . .” Martin,
Ally Betrayed: The Uncensored Story of Tito and Mihailovich
, p. 283.

Page 208 “In Kraljevo, only thirty miles away, a
Luftwaffe
unit was stationed at an airfield . . .” The downed airmen, Chetniks, and OSS men involved in Operation Halyard sometimes disagreed about why the Germans never attacked the airmen in Pranjane. Some thought the Germans were fully aware of the airmen’s presence but unwilling to launch an all-out battle with the many thousands of Chetnik fighters. Others thought the efforts at secrecy had been a complete success and the Germans never knew they were there, at least not until the rescue flights were well underway.

Page 209 “The minimum distance required for landing a C-47 is seven hundred yards” Casey, H. J. Office of the Chief Engineer, Southwest Pacific Area, United States Army.
Engineer Estimating Data
, June 1, 1945, p. 9. The official manuals of the army during World War II state seven hundred yards as the minimum landing distance for a C-47, but that allows no margin of error. It also does not take into account the risk of trees and other obstructions directly beyond the landing strip, as was the case in Pranjane. The original field at Pranjane has been reported in varying lengths between six hundred and seven hundred yards, but whatever the original size, it was extended by the airmen and villagers.

Page 210 “sixty oxcarts . . .” Ford, Corey, p. 210.

Page 213 “He was playing it safe by assigning only twelve men to each C-47 . . .” Some reports, including Felman’s recollections, indicate that Musulin assigned twenty men per plane, but Musulin’s report of the initial rescues indicate that he selected seventy-two men for six planes. It is likely that he increased the number of men per plane after the first night, once he had more confidence that the C-47s could safely use the improvised landing strip.

Page 217 “The cows waddled up into the field . . .” Martin,
The Web of Disinformation: Churchill’s Yugoslav Blunder,
p. 237.

Page 221 “Then, at exactly ten p.m., they heard the drone of a plane” Ford, Corey, p. 211. Other reports state that the planes arrived at eleven p.m. or midnight, but all state that the planes arrived exactly when they were expected. Musulin’s report after the rescue includes a direct quote saying they arrived at ten p.m.

 

Page 222 “This time he used the lamp to blink a predetermined code word: -. .-.
Nan
” Ford, Corey, p. 211.

Page 227 “The planes were on the ground, and now he had to get back in the air” Some accounts describe the four planes landing one at a time, loading up with airmen, and then taking off before the next plane landed. That was Musulin’s intention, to avoid the planes crowding each other on the small airstrip and possibly colliding, but the C-47 pilots apparently were eager to land and get back up again because they were carrying a minimal fuel load. Musulin’s report indicates that the planes were on the ground together and then took off again.