1084 Ch. 26 • World War II“Don’t talk to me about that.... For my past, present and future deeds I
shall burn in hell, but at least I shall burn for Croatia.” At the same time,
members of the conservative Serb resistance (Chetniks), who remained
loyal to the Yugoslav king, killed thousands of Croats and other non-Serbs.
Tito insisted on cooperation between Serb and Croat resisters, and main
tained contacts with non-Communist groups. Protected by the rugged moun
tains of Croatia, Tito commanded 20,000 men by 1943. Despite being
hounded by German, Italian, and Bulgarian troops, and both Croatian fas
cists and Serb Chetniks, he managed to carve out entire zones under his
control. Late in the war, the British government ended support for the
Chetniks and began to supply Tito’s forces with heavy equipment. Yugoslav
partisans tied up entire Italian and German divisions. Tito established local
Communist committees to serve as governing authorities in each region
liberated.
On June 18, 1940, General Charles de Gaulle, broadcasting from Lon
don, called on the French people to resist German rule. The next month,
Churchill established an agency in London to provide material assistance
to resistance groups. Churchill grudgingly respected de Gaulle for his
uncompromising will to oppose the Nazis and the Vichy collaborators, but
he also detested him personally. The same room could not hold the two
domineering personalities. Roosevelt believed the towering Frenchman
dangerously ambitious, a potential thorn in the Allied side. In December
1941, de Gaulle surprised the Allies by sending a small force to capture the
French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of Newfound
land, which were controlled by Vichy France.
Roosevelt believed that there was nothing to be gained from recognizing
de Gaulle’s London-based “Free French” movement as the legitimate French
government. The U.S. government hoped that Vichy might be convinced to
try to keep French North Africa out of German hands. The British and
U.S. governments worried that recognizing de Gaulle’s movement might
alienate many people in France. In the meantime, Vichy propaganda repeat
edly reminded the public that the British navy had sunk French ships in
July 1940, with a huge loss of life.
Several resistance movements in France were united only by a hatred of
Nazi occupation and Vichy collaboration. Communists, despite not offi
cially turning against Vichy until Germany attacked the Soviet Union in
June 1941, formed a well-organized and effective resistance force, building
on pre-war organizational networks. Jean Moulin (1899-1943), a former
departmental prefect during the Third Republic, led de Gaulle’s Free
French resistance in France. Moulin managed early in May 1943 to unify
the resistance groups within the National Council of Resistance. He was
betrayed by a collaborator and died under torture in July 1943 without
revealing the names of others in the resistance network.
Resistance spread when the Germans in 1943 began to force France to
provide workers for factories in Germany. Many of those refusing to go to