World War Two and the Partisan Struggle 135
The Liberation of BelgradeIn spite of disagreements over the revolutionary enthusiasm of the liberation
struggle, and in spite of Stalin’s rudeness, “Walter” was honored in Moscow as
no other foreign statesman or commander before. In fact, the Boss invited him
to a meeting of the War Council, where Marshal Ivan D. Cherniakhovskii
presented the offensive plans against Germany. Clearly, Stalin wanted to show
him how powerful he was, but also how much he trusted him.^443
Regarding the monarchy and the introduction of socialism in Yugoslavia,
Stalin continued to preach caution, although he suggested that the king would
not last long: “You need not restore him forever. Take him back temporarily;
then you can stick a knife into his back at the suitable moment.”^444 Tito, who
in the past—to appease Churchill—had told Maclean he would be ready to
accept Petar II as a pilot in his air force—which was training on a British base
in Middle East—was momentarily piqued by this advice. He already saw him-
self as obliged to find a modus vivendi with the king. However, Stalin readily
agreed to his request regarding Russian intervention in Serbia where the Red
Army would enter as allies and not liberators. Their presence was, in any case,
urgent in view of Hitler’s order of 8 August 1944 that the Wehrmacht retreat
from Greece and the Balkans through Serbia.^445 The agreement between Tito
and Stalin, which also planned for an attack on Hungary from the south and
was presented as a Yugoslav concession to the Soviets, was signed on 28 Septem-
ber and enforced immediately. As Tito wrote later, it was formulated in such a
way as to let the Westerners know how they had to behave if they needed
Yugoslav territory for their military operations. The agreement stated that the
National Liberation Committees should continue to exist in the areas occupied
by the Red Army, preserving control over the territory for the Partisan author-
ities. This decision was of great political value, with Moscow recognizing the
administrative structure created by AVNOJ as a legitimate and sovereign inter-
locutor. “Now,” Rodoljub Čolaković, the leading Bosnian Communist, wrote
in his diary, “no Allied Army will be able to come to our country without the
previous permission of the National Committee, if it wishes to continue being
an ally.”^446
In order to coordinate the operation in which Bulgarian troops were also to
take part at Stalin’s request, on 5 October Tito returned to Craiova, where he
remained until mid-month, while the Red Army was quickly advancing through
Vojvodina in the direction of Belgrade. Some forty to fifty thousand Partisans
were also moving in the same direction. In a bold move, Tito had thrown them
into the jaws of the German forces so that they would fight side-by-side with
the Russians and prevent their contact with the Chetniks, who were eager to