World War Two and the Partisan Struggle 61
without informing his German ally, he attacked Northern Greece with nine
divisions from Albania. Against all expectations, the Greek army reacted vigor-
ously and by mid-November had liberated its territory and had begun to move
into Albania. After a winter truce, in March 1941 the Italians launched a new
offensive, again without success.^57 Prince Paul, regent of Yugoslavia, an Anglo-
phile in his family ties and education, resisted the invitations from Berlin and
Rome to join the Axis for as long as he could. In June 1940, in hopes of finding
support, he even accepted diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, although
in the past the Karadjordjević family had considered it the country of the Anti-
christ. The following November, and then in January 1941, Moscow informed
the Yugoslav government that it had asked Berlin not to extend its military
action into the Balkans. It could do no more.^58
When, in spring 1941, it became clear that Great Britain, the only country
still opposing Germany, was unable to aid Prince Paul, he decided to join the
Axis in order to save Yugoslavia from military occupation. The alliance offered
by Hitler was, in fact, quite favorable, since it did not call on the Belgrade gov-
ernment to participate in the military efforts of the Wehrmacht or permit the
transit of German troops through its territory. Prince Paul’s hopes of sparing
his people the horrors of the war did not last long. Following the example of
Bulgaria, which joined the Axis on 1 March 1941, on 25 March Premier Cvet-
ković and his foreign minister, Cincar Marković, signed a pact at the Belvedere
Palace in Vienna. A fellow traveler who had access to press conferences in
which Cincar Marković had briefed journalists on what to write informed the
Politburo of the CPY about these secret maneuvers. Neither the capitulation of
the government nor the mass revolt that exploded in Belgrade the next day
under the auspices of nationalist circles and the Serb Orthodox Church came
as a surprise.^59 The popular demonstrations, aimed at “saving the honor of
Yugoslavia,” were topped off by a military coup on the night of 26–27 March,
which was staged by a group of aviation officers headed by General Dušan
Simović and inspired by British agents active in Belgrade. Thereafter events
developed quickly: King Petar, only seventeen years old, “took” power as a pup-
pet of the military junta in order to give it the necessary legitimacy, while
Prince Paul and his family were sent into exile.^60
The day after the coup d’état of 27 March 1941, thanks to the good offices of
a Montenegrin aviator, Tito flew from Zagreb to Belgrade in order to follow
the course of events on the spot.^61 (The motor broke down and the plane
almost crashed, which is probably why, thereafter, Tito never liked to fly). Upon
meeting his Belgrade comrades, he observed that the pact between Yugoslavia
and the Axis had failed. “War is inevitable. Our country will be attacked.”^62
In a telegram sent to Moscow, he proposed that the communists organize a