196 The Postwar Period
on 1 February 1944. In January of the following year, he accompanied Andrija
Hebrang to Moscow, where he took part in important political and military
discussions. But it was then that his psychological limits became evident. At a
dinner with Stalin he lost control of his nerves when the Boss, as usual, began
saying that the Bulgarian troops were better than the Yugoslav ones. This upset
Jovanović so much that he began to shout hysterically, making hostile gestures
toward the host. That same night, two colonels of the NKVD came to his
residence, where they subjected him to an intense interrogation, accusing him
of bad behavior in Stalin’s presence. Allegedly, this was when they forced him
to accept a collaboration with the NKVD.^244
Because of this incident, Jovanović had to step down from his post as chief
of staff in favor of Koča Popović, and was sent to the Voroshilov Academy in
Moscow for a specialized course. There he became even more entangled in the
NKVD’s net because of a love affair with the daughter of a Soviet general
( Jovanović was married and the puritanism of the war years was still current
in the party). The affair was brought to the attention of the Yugoslav secret
services. When he returned from Moscow, he was put before a board of enquiry.
The former chief of staff considered this an affront and withdrew into himself.
At a reception given by Tito for the top brass, he behaved like a “wet hen,” to
use the marshal’s words.^245 Although he was still seen in the inner circle, it was
clear that the Yugoslav leaders no longer trusted him completely. He was given
a relatively modest post as director of the military academy, which disappointed
him and hurt his pride. At the time of Žujović’s and Hebrang’s arrest, rumors
linking his name to the two were circulating, but they stopped when Jovanović
seemed to side with Tito after the Bucharest resolution. Like all army colonels
and generals, he participated as a delegate in the Fifth Congress. This was his
first public appearance after his return from the Soviet Union. Although he did
not play a significant role, the assembly elected him to the commission entrusted
with formulating the new program of the CPY.^246
His failed attempt to flee, which ended with his death (if the official ver-
sion is to be believed) provoked enormous clamor and curiosity. Rumors circu-
lated that the adventure of the unfortunate general and his companions was
part of a precise political plan orchestrated by Andrei Ja. Vyshinskii, a Soviet
high diplomat, and Ana Pauker, the foreign minister of Romania, to under-
mine the stability of the Belgrade government. According to these supposi-
tions, they had come to Belgrade not just to take part in the international
Danube Conference, organized there in August 1948, but also to arrange the
flight of various Yugoslav personalities to Romania. Once in Bucharest, they
were to create a government in exile which, when recognized by the Soviet
Union and by the satellites, would have all the necessary authority to incite the