TITO’S five divisions bore the full brunt of that initial German attack. His men fought like tigers, clinging to every inch of the ground under a murderous hail of bombs and shells. Then, slowly, fighting a rearguard action day and night, they began to retreat south-ward. They carried their wounded with them, knowing that the Germans took no prisoners but murdered every wounded or unwounded Partisan they could lay hands on.
C. L. Sulzberger, New York Times correspondent, points out that aside from Valley Forge, American history has no parallel to this magnificent retreat. And indeed, when the full story of this war is told, this strategic retreat of Marshal Tito may emerge as its most courageous incident.
During the month of February, Tito led his army almost due south through the Bosnian mountains. Day and night, they were bombed by the Germans; day and night, the Partisan rearguard counter-attacked. This was no beaten sheep to be caught and led to the shearing; this was a savage wolf that turned again and again, showing its fangs. The Partisans left a trail of blood in the snow-covered hills, but they also left German dead to mark every mile they travelled.
It was a bad winter. Snow and sleet and snow again—and through it, slogging on, the ragged, savage Partisan Army marched. Their food gave out, and there was no food to be found in this wild land. They boiled bark and chewed it. They killed their pack animals and ate them. And again and again, they turned on the Germans and fought them off.
To Tito and his Partisans, life became a constant unending nightmare. Half starved, they saw visions, smelled non-existent food. Yet their courage did not give way. Following behind them, again and again, the Nazis heard their wild, triumphant song:
“Oj Sloveni, yosh shte zhivi—”
“Oh, Slavs, you still live, you still fight—”
Once again, the Partisans broke the Nazi spirit. This was more than the Nazi supermen could stand; they had to rest, recuperate, wait for re-enforcements. These were not human beings they fought, but madmen! These South-Slavs had no feelings, no sensibilities! Who else but madmen would fight every mile for two hundred miles of hell, when they knew at the beginning that they were defeated?
So the Nazis paused—but not to let the Partisans escape. South of them, in Herzegovina, was an Italian Fascist division. The Nazi commander radioed to them to intercept the Partisan retreat.
One may speculate upon how bitter Marshal Tito’s smile was when he heard about that. This particular Italian division was known as a “Purge Unit.” For months, it had been indulging in the pleasant Fascist sport of murdering civilians. In one case, to prove its toughness to its Gestapo pals, it had wiped out three hundred women and children.
Tito informed his ragged troops that an Italian division was waiting for them. He added that they would take no prisoners. The Partisans attacked, wiping out the Fascist division. Now they had food, warm Italian uniforms, thousands of rifles, machine guns, and artillery. With that, Italian trucks, wagons, supply animals and medical material.
Meanwhile, the Nazi army to the north of the Partisans had rested and increased its strength. Supplies and ammunition were brought up. Col. General Alexander von Loehr flew in from Belgrade, assumed command and almost immediately ordered an attack.
Perhaps he had expected Tito to resume his former tactics and retreat. In that case, he would be brought up by the swollen Neretva River, almost impossible to cross at this time of the year. But instead of retreating, Tito attacked. He launched a terrific artillery barrage with the captured Italian guns. The German attack folded, and for the moment the Nazis were driven back in disorder.
That was the time Tito chose to cross the Neretva River. He had no engineering corps to build a bridge. All the heavy equipment he had captured from the Italians, trucks, tanks, guns, and ammunition would have to be left behind. But he had to cross now, while the Germans were still reeling from the blow he had dealt them.
Everything that could not be carried on a man’s back, Tito destroyed. He had over four thousand wounded; they were carried across on rafts. The unwounded crossed over on rafts or waded and swam through the icy waters.
After crossing the river, Marshal Tito marched his army south, through Herzegovina in the direction of Montenegro. They were desperately short of medical supplies; an epidemic of typhus had struck them. Every day, more and more of the wounded died from blood poisoning. Again their food gave out. They marched through a snow-covered, silent land. Houses were burned-out, empty shells. Villages were deserted. Wolves regarded the spectre-like army, sat back on their haunches and howled. There had been no wolves here for a hundred years. This was the part of Yugoslavia that had been generously left by Hitler to the Italians, and the Fascists had outdone the Germans in savagery. The men looked at the landscape, this face of their native land, set their teeth, and remembered.
Then their scouts discovered an Italian garrison, and when word was brought back, the Partisans smiled. They attacked in the night; an Italian brigade was annihilated, and once more the Partisans had food, fresh ammunition, artillery and trucks.
In 1943, much of the 1942 area remained under Partisan control. As there was no established front in this war of movement, all areas are approximate.
The captured trucks and carts were of inestimable value in transportation of the wounded. It was a point of pride with the Partisans that only forty-five of the original four thousand, five hundred sick and wounded were captured by the enemy despite the hazardous march.
With the captured Italian equipment, Tito led his Partisans south, through Montenegro to a quiet valley near the Albanian frontier. A warm and gentle spring was coming to Yugoslavia. For the moment, the Partisans had some respite. The wounded lay in the fields, in the warm sun, gathering strength. Marshal Tito employed that time to re-equip his troops, to contact the other Partisan armies, and to arrange for future concerted action.