World War Two and the Partisan Struggle 123
son Randolph and General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s personal envoy, Robert
Crawford. He decided to pass the night in the grotto above the valley, intend-
ing to celebrate his birthday with Kardelj, who had recently returned from
Slovenia, Zdenka, his secretary and lover, and other comrades of both sexes.
This was where he was surprised at dawn by the German attack.^380
Planes filled the sky of Drvar between six and seven in the morning. There
were Dorniers, Stukas, biplanes and, for the first time, fighter planes. They
bombed the town of Drvar for half an hour, after which transport planes came
in low over the valley, nearly touching the rooftops and the trees. They dropped
parachutists while gliders full of German soldiers, each with a photo of Tito
in their pockets, landed in dizzying parabolas on the fields and meadows.^381
At first the situation did not seem to be particularly alarming, since the
Partisans were used to German bombing, but when, after the initial attack,
parachutists and gliders landed near the cave where Tito and his comrades
were hiding, it became serious. The first parachutists were killed, but others
kept coming. Assault Group Panther, consisting of one hundred men, began
advancing toward the local cemetery, convinced that the Supreme Staff was in
the vicinity.^382
When they discovered their blunder and realized that the main defense was
around the cave, they started to machine-gun Tito’s shelter, trapping the mar-
shal and those with him. From the very beginning, Tito’s comrades had advised
him to leave while there was still time. Visibly shaken, he asked whether the
parachutists had also occupied the mountain plateau above the valley. Since no
one knew for certain, he refused to move, stressing that he had no intention
of exposing himself to the German machine guns: “I don’t want to fall into
their hands!”^383 To make matters worse, Zdenka revealed their position with
her hysterical cries, tempting some of the comrades, Ranković among them,
to shoot her on the spot. Tito’s new bloodhound, Tiger, also kept barking,
and more than once his master was about to silence him permanently, but could
not bring himself to pull the trigger.^384 In this tense situation the only one
who kept calm was Ranković. He decided to leave the cave with Žujović and
Arso Jovanović and organize a defense. Under fire, he reached the escort bat-
talion and sent a courier to the officers school, ordering its cadets to fight. “We
have no arms,” was the answer, “but we shall do everything we can. We will take
the arms from the enemy.”^385
The only way out of the cave was along the slope of the mountain, which
was dangerously exposed to the attackers. Ranković climbed to the top with-
out knowing what he would find there. He was lucky as it was not yet occupied
by the Germans. In the meantime, the situation in the cave and in the cottage