Hitlers Europe 1083

the flatlands of Holland, western Belgium, Moravia, and northern France,
areas in which it was difficult to hide and where there were heavy concen­
trations of German troops, and many collaborators as well. Wherever
possible, the Allies dropped supplies to resistance groups. But only in Yugo­
slavia and, to some extent, France, did the resistance movements help bring
about Germany’s defeat.
In Yugoslavia, the tenacious Croatian Communist Josip Broz (1892­
1980), who became known by his code name of Tito, formed the first army
of partisans able to engage the Germans effectively in combat. Tito had
served in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I and was badly
wounded and captured. Returning in 1920 to newly independent Yugo­
slavia, he became an active trade unionist and in 1923 joined the Yugoslav
Communist Party. Tito spent six years in prison for his political activities.
In 1937 he was named general secretary of the Communist Party.
Tito’s partisans fought courageously against the collaborationist Yugoslav
puppet states. The Croatian minister of education voiced the opinion that a
third of the Serbs should be forced to convert, a third expelled from Croa­
tia, and a third killed. Croatian forces killed 300,000 Serbs. The Cyrillic
alphabet used by Serbs became illegal. When asked if he did not fear the
punishment of God for what he had done, a fascist (Ustasa) guard retorted,

Marshal Tito (Josip Broz), pictured on the right, Communist head of the Yugoslav

Resistance, with his wartime staff in the mountains of Yugoslavia, 1944.