78 World War Two and the Partisan Struggle
The two leaders met once again, the night of 26–27 October 1941, in the vil-
lage of Brajići, on Suvobor Mountain, in order to hammer out an agreement
based on thirteen points formulated by Tito. After spending the night in the
same cottage, they reached a decision to help each other, but this treaty wasn’t
worth the paper it was written on. Tito refused Mihailović’s request to extend his
control over Užice, whereas Mihailović rejected the most important points of the
proposed program: the creation of a common general staff and common supply-
ing of Partisans and Chetniks, the establishment of a provisional government in
the liberated territories, and the introduction of voluntary conscription.^152 Only
two days later one of Mihailović’s representatives met with some officers of the
Wehrmacht and asked for weapons in order to fight the communist danger.^153
A few days later, between 1 and 2 November 1941, a series of skirmishes
between Chetniks and Partisans flared up near Užice and other localities under
their control. This was the beginning of the civil war in Serbia, and in other ter-
ritories where the two movements coexisted.^154 In his memoirs, Djilas affirms
that he and his comrades were glad that hostilities had broken out. It resolved
the question of how to deal with resistance forces considered class enemies by
the communists.^155 Tito and his comrades, who were waiting for the start of
hostilities, were sure that Mihailović had ordered the attacks on Hudson’s sug-
gestion. In other words, they believed the British were behind it. After a short
stay in Užice, where Hudson arrived with Djilas from Montenegro, he went with
two Serb officers, members of his mission, straight to the Chetnik headquarters
in Ravna Gora. His radio-telegrapher, Veljko Dragišević, decided to stay with
the Partisans, however, and paid dearly for this decision. He was suspected of
being a British spy and shot, probably on the orders of Ranković or Tito. This
shows how firm was their assumption—based on an ideological point of view—
that the British were and would remain hostile to the Partisans. “I am sure,”
wrote Vladimir Dedijer in his diary, “that we have been attacked on the orders
of the English and of the Yugoslav government (in exile). The bourgeoisie was
not interested in freeing the people and, therefore, started the class struggle,
this between the Serb bourgeoisie and proletarian forces. The Serb bourgeoisie,
the most voracious of all, was the first to begin. One part of it bet on the Ger-
man horse, the other on the English. But both were united against us.”^156
Since the alliance with the Soviets and the British required that they be
treated with some regard, the Partisans did not attempt to annihilate the Chet-
niks, even when they surrounded Mihailović’s headquarters.^157 The colonel
hastened to affirm that the insurrectionary forces should not fight each other,
declaring he was ready to accept a bilateral commission charged with verifying
who was responsible for the recent incidents. For his part, as a sign of good will
Tito released about a hundred Chetnik officers who had been taken prisoner.^158