Tito and His Comrades

The Young Broz 9

nationalists, Tito said to Savka Dabčević-Kučar, the president of the League
of the Communists of Croatia: “You suspect that I have no national feelings,
that I do not feel that I am a Croat, since as a young worker I traveled the world
and, in keeping with proletarian internationalism, I lost my patriotic conscious-
ness. Yes, I am an internationalist, as every communist should be. But I am also
a Croat!”^14

The First World War

When the First World War broke out at the end of July 1914, Tito was sent
to the Serbian front, where he served in August and September in the ranks
of the Twenty-Fifth Infantry Regiment. He tried to hide this chapter of his life
in order not to provoke negative feelings in Serbia. Soon he was dispatched to
the Russian front in the Carpathian Mountains. Before this transfer, however,
he spent a few nights behind bars at the fortress of Petervaradin, near Novi Sad
(today in Serbia), charged with participating in anti-war propaganda. He con-
sidered these charges to have been a mistake made by overzealous military
authorities.^15 In fact, at this early stage of the war, he does not seem to have har-
bored any pacifist sentiments. During the heavy fighting against the Russians
in Eastern Galicia, where Broz was transferred in February 1915, he distin-
guished himself through bravery as the leader of a patrol and was recommended
for decoration. The official description of the event is as follows: “The night of
17 and 18 March 1915, at the head of an infantry patrol [of four soldiers], he
attacked an enemy group near old Krzwotuly, took eleven Russians prisoner
and brought them to our quarters. This petty officer, who volunteers for every
dangerous mission... has wrought disarray in the enemy ranks on several occa-
sions.”^16 These actions earned Broz a substantial bonus, since his commanders
paid five krone for every gun taken in battle.^17 However, before he could collect
his “little silver medal for valor,” he was seriously wounded during an Easter
Sunday clash against the so-called Wild Division of Circassian soldiers, who
were renowned for their cruelty. The fight took place near the town of Okno, in
the Bukovina region. Tito and his comrades first engaged a group of Russians
who attacked them with greater numbers. Tito decided that his men should
surrender, and he told them not to shoot. Then suddenly, a clutch of Circassians
emerged behind them. “We did not even notice when they appeared, jumping
our position,” he recalled. He lifted his hands but, despite this, a Circassian
attacked him with a two-meter lance. Instinctively, Tito defended himself, and
he parried the lance with his bayonet. The fight was on. Tito, an excellent
swordsman, could have killed him, but he did not want to. Just at the moment
another Circassian, riding a huge dappled horse, struck him in his back, under
the right armpit, with a lance. “I turned around and saw the wild grimace of