Mihailovic hinders Rommel

18/06/2021

German poster (1942): a cartoon with the character of General Mihailovic. The written message: “Long Live Serbia!” His followers with the hellish rant of ‘Long Live Serbia’ demolish railroads and bridges, schools and churches, killing county and state officials”.

By Miloslav Samardzic

The first known German broadsheet announcing the executions of Serbs due to railway sabotage is dated June 12, 1942. On that day, the Germans shot three rail workers in Smederevo, claiming they had destroyed the brakes on a train.

US Col. Robert McDowell, the most educated Allied officer in Yugoslavia during the war, says that any true history of WW2 should mention 1942 as the “year of the great Yugoslav, or Serb, counterattack.”

Gen. Mihailovic knew that America would join the war, having heard it from President Roosevelt’s envoy William Donovan during his visit to Belgrade.

Col. McDowell further writes:

“But the General was sure that, if Soviet military or political resistance to Germany were crushed prior to the effective US intervention in Europe, no deployment of Allied military capacity could have stopped the annexation of Eastern Europe and much of Russia into Hitler’s Reich. Regardless of what happened with Hitler, such a German empire would then last at least for a generation.”

”That is why Gen. Mihailovich organized a network of saboteurs not just in Serbia, but in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, to disrupt railway traffic headed for Africa and the Eastern Front. Col. McDowell found out about this in the summer of 1942, not just from the Mediterranean intelligence HQ, but from Jewish organizations involved in smuggling Jews out of occupied Europe ”, said Colonel Dragan Krsmanovic.

Col. McDowell writes: “I checked information received from the Zionists with our other channels, and established it was accurate.”

Col. McDowell writes that Gen. Mihailovich launched the railway operations on his own. We know today that the British first asked for special attention to railroads in July 1942. After that, they made more requests, gave recognition, and made promises.

As recognition, the White House asked King Petar and Gen. Mihailovich to send a message to the American people and the U.S. military, to be broadcast at a specific date on all U.S. radio stations worldwide.

All the American radio stations carried the message from Gen. Mihailovich and King Petar on November 1, 1942.

Here was a poster the Germans put up throughout Serbia in 1942.

“NOTICE
On 10th December 1942, a sergeant of the German armed forces, while on duty at Zlatovo- Petrovac canton, was killed by armed gang of Drazha Mihailovic. On 13th December 1942 the Mihailovic’s gang blew up a bridge, on the railway line Pozarevac – Petrovac and downed the telephone poles. In retaliation,
50 followers of Drazha Mihailovic
were executed on 15th December 1942, including captain 1st class Radovan Stojanovic, born on 19th August 1907 in Cetinje; head of Zagubica canton Dejan Luchic, born on 25th September 1896 in Zluch…
In Belgrade, 17th December 1942 Bader (signed)
Artillery general
Commanding general in Serbia”

It shows a caricature of Gen. Mihailovic under a mined bridge being crossed by a train. Underneath, it says his men are also demolishing schools and churches, which was of course not true.

At the People’s Museum in Nis, historian Aleksandar Dincic also discovered a report from a German counter-sabotage group charged with tracking the most successful Chetnik saboteur unit, codenamed “Group Gordon.”

According to the Germans, “Gordon” performed an incredible 1499 acts of diversion and sabotage. It is the biggest documented tally of any sabotage unit in WW2. And those are just the ones the Germans knew about.

The Germans finally destroyed “Group Gordon” in the summer of 1943. They caught 773 suspected members, and executed 396 after interrogation. 207 of the detained were sent to hard labor, 120 were released for lack of evidence, and 50 were kept for further interrogation. During their missions, 35 members of “Gordon” had died fighting or in demolition-related accidents.

Another U.S. officer at the Chetnik HQ, guerrilla specialist Col. Albert Seitz, writes of Mihailovich:

“I can’t forget his magnificent struggle during the dark days when Rommel almost entered Alexandria… All the Chetnik efforts were devoted to blocking, diverting and destroying the railways in Morava Valley, leading to Salonica and Africa…The nationalists knew that war’s increasing pace demanded they constantly pressure the Germans and Bulgarians, so they would need entire divisions to secure their long communication lines, going south towards Greece and Africa and east through Bulgaria and Romania to southern Russia.”

In October 1942, Serbia is visited first by Heinrich Himmler, then Alexander Loehr. They thought the best way to stop the Chetniks was by executing more civilians. Loehr issues an order on October 28 to summarily execute “not just the armed men we capture, but also everyone we can prove is actively aiding the rebels, so anyone who declares for Mihailovich or is in his service.” Loehr justified his cruelty by the seriousness of the situation:”Everything is at stake in this struggle. There is no middle way. To consider this heroism of a freedom-loving people is inappropriate.”Serbia is soon covered in posters listing the names of executed Mihailovich supporters.

Some 70,000 Serbs were executed or killed in German punishment expeditions. Most of these Serbs were considered Mihailovich supporters.

”We know the Western allies broke all their promises from 1942. In the many books and movies devoted to operations in the Western Desert, not a single one mentions the role of Gen. Mihailovich and his men in winning the Battle for Africa”, said Colonel Dragan Krsmanovic.

German Transport for Africa: Chetniks blew up this transport near Demir Kapiya (present day FYR Macedonia) on December 27th 1942.

The bridge at railroad Belgrade – Thesalloninki near Vranjski Priboy, in Southern Serbia- Chetniks blew up this bridge at night between March 17th and 18th 1943.

According to the report (November 29, 1942) of the German Commander of the Balkans, General Alexander Lohr, the Germans built in Serbia 177 “guard towers” – bunkers near railroads and “other important facilities” and another 64 were under construction. “Zbornik dokumenata” [Collection of Documents], Beograd 1976, volume 12, book 2, pp. 900). Many of them are preserved to the present day as this one in front of a tunnel near Kraljevo in Serbia.

“Whoever comes close to the railroad, will be shot dead” – typical sign near railroads in Serbia during the war.

“ANNOUNCEMENT Members of rebel DRAZHA MIHAILOVIC killed 4 and wounded 2 German members of TOT Organization in Yoshanica, county Zhagubica, on December 14th 1942. In accordance with the proclamation of the Commanding General and Commander of Serbia, in retaliation 250 followers of DRAZHA MIHAILOVIC were executed on December 26th 1942. Among them are the following leaders: Captain Gradimir Brankovic, born on October 14th 1903 in Belgrade, resident of Kladovo, Cirilo Yonchic…. This is the result of the rebellious activity of DRAZHA MIHAILOVIC. Belgrade, December 26th 1942 Commanding General and Commandant of Serbia”