World War Two and the Partisan Struggle 125
The German plan was evident: a combined airborne and ground assault
would capture the commander in chief and then destroy the greater part of the
Partisan army in the surrounding mountains. What they succeeded in getting,
though, was Tito’s jeep and his new marshal uniform, which was exhibited as
a trophy at the arsenal in Vienna, where the young Broz had started his military
service in Franz Josef ’s Imperial Army. The building was eventually bombed
and the uniform perished in the flames.^392 They also took Randolph Churchill’s
and Vladimir Nazor’s diaries, but that was all.^393 Hitler was furious when in-
formed that Tito had not been captured. “It seems that the Führer is very angry
and cries treason,” Glaise von Horstenau wrote in his notes.^394
Although they had escaped from Drvar, the members of the Supreme Staff
were not yet safe. They made their way toward the Šar Mountains, where they
met the members of the Allied missions. Since they had not been surrounded
by the Germans, it was easier for them to withdraw to the plateau above the
valley. The situation remained critical, for four enemy columns were heading
toward Tito’s refuge from different points. During the night, the Germans
occupied the entire area, leaving only one path open by which the fugitives
could escape the tanks of the Wehrmacht. The Russians lost their tempers,
in part because one of them had been wounded and, in the resulting quarrel,
General Korneev cursed Ranković, telling him that he would be held person-
ally responsible if anything happened to the Soviet general and his mission.^395
He then demanded that he and his men be evacuated by one of the Soviet
aircrafts at Bari. Ranković immediately embraced this idea and proposed that
Tito go with the Russians to Italy. At first Tito would have nothing to do with
this suggestion, but eventually gave in under pressure and agreed to have a call
for help put through via the British radio station.^396
What happened then, according to the Russian version of the events, is
indicative of the lack of confidence they had in their Western allies. Aleksander
S. Shornikov, the Soviet pilot and a famous champion who was to come to the
aid of Tito and his companions, was informed by the British commander of
the air base in Bari that a dispatch, allegedly sent by the Soviet mission, fixed
the appointment for the night of 4–5 June. Korneev had previously told Shorn-
ikov via radio that it was supposed to be the night of 3–4 June on the field of
Kupres, nearly a hundred kilometers from Drvar.^397
Shornikov said nothing but simply informed the British commander, who
was fluent in Russian as he was the son of a diplomat who had been attached
to the British Embassy in Moscow, that he wanted to do a reconnaissance
flight the night of 3–4 June. When permission for takeoff was granted, he left
immediately and landed that same evening at the field of Kupres. This was just