World War Two and the Partisan Struggle 129
initiative, organizational skill and courage, managed to create from nothing a
strong army.”^416
Tito came to the meeting, organized by the British in southern Italy, with
the intention of blandishing him, hiding the revolutionary core of his move-
ment as much as possible. It is interesting to note that Tito paid a great deal of
attention to details, asking his generals on the peninsula to remove the red
stripes from their trousers since they were too subversive a color. Despite this,
he was not received by the “Allies” with much regard. While a cottage had been
prepared for him, the members of his suite were put up in improvised quarters
with a shed roof and separated one from the other by metal nets that resembled
animal cages. General “Jumbo” Wilson, with his ruddy butcher-like face,
treated his Yugoslav colleague with boorish arrogance. His attention wandered
during their conversations, and he treated Tito as a subaltern and not as com-
mander in chief of an Allied army. Tito managed to stay calm, reacting from
time to time with a sardonic smile.^417 As Vlatko Velebit recalled, it was not only
the Westerners who were responsible for this awkward atmosphere but also
“our lack of trust, sometimes unjustified, our wildness and scarce education, not
to mention our ignorance of social graces.”^418
The trip to Italy gave Tito the chance to meet Western personalities of
the highest level for the first time, which was gratifying for him, although
he was ill at ease. This is confirmed by an episode narrated by Robert Murphy,
an American diplomat who became acquainted with Tito on his arrival in
Caserta and immediately invited him to his villa for dinner. The marshal came
in his heavy uniform, with bodyguards and with his interpreter, Olga Ninčić,
daughter of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Kings Alexander and
Petar II. The evening was hot and humid. Murphy proposed they take off their
jackets, since the meeting was totally informal. “Is das erlaubt?” (“It is permit-
ted?”) asked Tito sheepishly, but was obviously happy to follow the example of
his host.^419
After talks with Wilson, Tito met General Harold Alexander, commander
of the Allied forces in Italy, at Lake Bolsena. Alexander informed him that, if
they occupied Trieste, the British would continue their offensive to Central
Europe through Yugoslav territory. “We tried to oppose the arrival of their army
in Yugoslavia,” Kardelj recounted, “but Alexander insisted, stressing that he had
to continue advancing toward Austria... and that he needed the Ljubljana-
Maribor, Fiume-Zagreb corridor.... Following our discussions with Alexander,
we concluded that the English wanted Slovenia and Croatia for themselves,
and were ready to cede Bosnia and Serbia to the Russians.”^420
With these unpleasant considerations in mind, Tito decided, on 7 and 8
August, to take a tour of recently liberated Rome. His refusal to accept the