72 World War Two and the Partisan Struggle
sent the Comintern a telegram, asking that “Valdes” (Kopinič’s codename) be
removed from his post, since the Kerestinec catastrophe was his fault. But in
spite of the harshness of this denunciation—one of the most severe he ever
wrote—“Grandpa” decided otherwise, stating that Kopinič should continue his
mission.^117
The communist call for resistance initially found greater response in Mon-
tenegro, where Milovan Djilas had been sent with the recommendation to be
prudent. “The Italians are still strong and well-organized. They will crush you.
Start with small operations,” Tito ordered.^118 As it turned out, the Italians were
not well organized and on 13 July 1941 their lax regime made the eruption of a
general uprising possible, fostered by the wounded pride of the people and by
their traditional pro-Russian leanings. In the course of a few days the entire
country, aside from the major cities, was liberated with a facility that surprised
even the communists, which suggested that the hour of revolution had struck.
Djilas, the former “Wahhabist,” intoxicated with success, also began to attack
not only the foreign foes, but also the local “class enemies,” thus fatally weak-
ening the uprising.^119 The Italians reacted by laying waste to the countryside,
with the help of Albanian and Muslim troops, and by mid-August had already
regained control. Even worse for the communists was that the Montenegrins,
frightened by the red terror (later euphemistically called “leftist errors”), turned
their backs on them and began joining the Chetniks. Convinced that, in the
second phase of the revolution, the “kulaks” (members of the peasant class who
were better off ) and their sons would betray them, Djilas and his comrades
began shooting them, publishing a bulletin with the names of those killed with
the addendum: “it continues.”^120 Because of these excesses, on 22 October Tito
decided to recall Djilas from Montenegro, accusing him of having badly orga-
nized the revolt. Djilas was not particularly worried, although he was nearly
condemned to death, as were many others. Since he was a member of the lead-
ership, he did not suffer any consequences. On the contrary, Tito entrusted him
with the direction of Borba, the party’s central publication which, after being
banned in 1929, was once more being issued.^121
After the attack on the Soviet Union, the Germans recalled their best troops
from the Balkans. Only second-rate units remained in dismembered Yugosla-
via. These units were necessary to keep control of the communication lines
between Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade, and Thessaloniki, which were essential in
providing provisions for the Wehrmacht forces in Greece and North Africa.
Their main task was to garrison the roads, the railways, the mines, and the larg-
est industrial centers, paying little attention to the rest of the territory. In order
to strengthen their grip over Serbia, the Germans immediately sought out and