Evening star., 1939-11-15
Yugos|avia, Trying
To Stay Out Of War,
Sees Italy as Key
Balkan Nation Delays
Neutrality Commitment
Bloc Until Duce Speaks
By RICHARD MOWRER,

3VAo
Chicago Daily News Foreign Correspondent.
BELGRADE, Nov. 15.-Yugoslavia
wants to stay out of the war. On
its national monument to the Yugo-
slav unknown soldier, which stands
atop Mount Avala overlooking Bel
grade, two dates are engraved:
1912-1918. Serbia's great war start
ed in 1912 with the Balkan wars
and today Yugoslavia is quite con-
tent with its war memorial just as
1t is now and has no desire to add
any more dates to it.
If Yugoslavia should be drawn
into conflict, it would stand to gain
nothing and to lose much. The
Serbians remember vividly the
devastation of the last war, when
the armies of the Central Powers
temporarily drove them out of most
of Serbia to Greece and Albania.
The prevalent feeling among Ser
bians today is that with the great
powers at war the chances of the
small states eventually being en-
quilted in the whirlpool are great.
The longer the war lasts the greater
the chances of being drawn in,
and the longer the small states can
stay out of the war the better the
chances of emerging more or less in
tact.
Self Preservation.
So Yugoslavian diplomacy is de-
voted to finding ways and means
of remaining neutral-at least for
as long time as possible. Ger
many is too close to Yugoslavia for
the people here to view the war
with any other idea in mind than
self-preservation. Idealism does not.
enter into it at all.
A certain amount of cautions in
terest prevails here in the whispered
but intangible project for the forma-
ton of neutral Balkan bloc. The
Idea of neutrality is fine, as far as
the YugoSlavS are concerned, but
they are reluctant to use the word
bloc in this connection for fear of
arousing the Germans. The Yugo-
slavs are quite willing to cooperate
with anybody about neutrality, but
they are unwilling to assume re-
sponsibility for the idea. Passive
neutrality Is the byword
One reason the Yugoslavs refrain
from committing themselves to the
project of a neutrality bloc is the
vagueness surrounding Italys inten-
tions. Until it is sure just where
Italy stands in the matter, Yugo-
slavia is lying low and not saying
anything.
A sort of national uneasiness about
Germny exists here. 1t is the fear
that ultimately Germany will strike
into the Balkans. Such an eventu-
ality is not expected before spring,
however.
Italy Is Key.
1t is thought that so long as
1taly's position remains vague, Ger
many will hesitate to do anything
which would threaten the Adriatic
and thus bring Italy into the war
on the side of the allies. Once the
oC1 Aiol1S d1C SOAlF1llCCu tildt 4Gdly
is likely soon to side with the allies,
then they may strike first by sud-
denly attacking Yugoslavia.
For the present, Germany's eco
nomic setup here and in the Balkans
Is considered sufficient to keep
Fuehrer Adolf Hitler satisfied for
a while. But if the war drags on,
nothing happens on the western
front and the drain on Germany's
supplies continues steadily, Hitler
may attempt to seize the rich ter
ritory to the southeast. This is
what the Yugoslavs are worrying
about. So they are feverishly arm
Ing as fast as their limited re-
sources allow. They are buying
arms from anybody who will sell.
YugoSlavia is selling it's mineral
wealth to any one who can pay in
armaments or foreign exchange.
Germany is paying for its Yugoslav
imports of copper, zinc and lead
with planes and Czech arms. Arms
are arriving here from Italy. Yugo-
slavia is turning even to Spain to
buy tanks left over from the Span
ish war.
In the meantime, Yugoslavia Is
hoping that it will not have to use
all of those things and chip some
new dates in the gray rock of the
Avala Monument.
ku