104 World War Two and the Partisan Struggle
On account of their ideological blindness, the Partisan leaders interpreted this
not as a sign of bureaucratic sloppiness, but as sabotage by the “perfidious
Albion.”^293 In any case, the aid that the Western Allies began parachuting in
was of decisive psychological importance for their struggle, which began to be
important on an international level and integrated into the strategic planning
of the Anglo-American Supreme Staff for the Mediterranean. Tito and his
comrades were not able to fully appreciate this fact, however, infatuated as they
were by the Soviet Union and its Red Army, which they considered a model for
their own. In 1941, they had begun introducing military ranks in their units, but
now they started to respect them rigorously, offering salaries for the officers and
developing an increasingly heavy administrative body, which widened the gap
between the graduates and the simple soldiers.^294
Five days after the landing in Sicily, on 15 July 1943, Tito convened a meeting
of the Supreme Staff and the CC CPY in order to discuss the situation both
in Italy and on the Eastern Front, where the Red Army was now on the offen-
sive. Subsequent to his proposal, it was decided to move most of the troops into
the Italian occupied areas so as to take all possible advantage of their imminent
collapse, as well as to resist an eventual Anglo-American landing on the Dalma-
tian coast.^295 In August, the Partisans triumphantly entered Jajce, the medieval
capital of Bosnia, where there was a Bogomil catacomb built by the Bosnian
heretical sect before the Ottoman conquest, which could be used by the Supreme
Staff as a bomb shelter in case of an attack by air. They were very proud of their
victory, since this was the first time they had conquered a city of any impor-
tance for more than a few days. “Meanwhile,” as Gojko Nikoliš wrote, “from
the small coffee-houses, the old Muslim world observed us with oriental indif-
ference, as if they were saying: here all possible forces and hordes have passed,
but we, through the centuries, remain in the same spot.”^296
On 8 September 1943, Tito was informed by radio that Italy had capitulated.
In Jajce, there was great enthusiasm and arms of all kinds were fired in celebra-
tion. While Tito shared in their joy, he was also indignant that the Allies had
not informed him in advance about the signing of the armistice with the Ital-
ians, which would have enabled him to take full advantage of the new situation.
In any case, his troops profited greatly from the Italian collapse. Over the fol-
lowing two weeks, they disarmed thirteen divisions, acquiring enough weapons
for eighty thousand men, as well as military equipment and provisions.^297 For
several days before the arrival of the Germans, they occupied the greater part
of the territory previously held by the Italians. In the meantime, more and more
promising news was coming from the Eastern Front. After the Red Army won
the titanic Battle of Kursk in July, which was the largest tank battle in history,
the Soviet offensive to the West became an avalanche. By mid-October, the