Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-01-02
G or YUcOsLAvIA

TRAGEDY OF YUCOSLAVIA
a,low vine f . 5nterys avtS ntb ae cent sah in t the r1 MINNEAPOLIS ag cs& star,JG n1rna
Who spent seven months with the Partsans in Yugoslavia.
After 10 months of foreign service, during which he spent seven
months behind the enemy lines with Tito's Partlsans in northern Yugo-
lavia, paratrooper Capt John A. Blatnik, state senator from Chisholm,
Capt, Blatniks first assignment was to work with the Yugoslav
7artisans in setting up an escape system by which American airmen
who had baled out over Yugoslavia were picked up by Parisans and
rendly peasants and brought safely to secret landing fields where they
we're evacuated by planes and flown to their bases in Italy.
Later the captain was head of a military intelligence unit following
movements, and activities of the enemy and reporting them to Allied
Capt Blatnik and his men vel brefed at their headquarters o
chat in case of capture they would be treated as regular prisoners
After the Americans got into Yugoslavia they learned that on
direct orders from Berlin the Germans would treat all such Allied per-
sonnet captured behind enemy lines as espionage agents, which meant
the death sentence if captured.
Usually outnumbered and poorly equipped, the Partisans con-
rnuany and relentlessy waged their amazing guerilla war against
1t was obvious said Capt. Blatnik, that the partisans knew not
they were fighting for, 'SAN SS'"'' '' clearly UNDERSTOOD WA
Although considerable arms and supplies were flown in bv the
Allies during the last year of the war, for the first three years of war
are in Yugoslavia the Partisans had to rely entirely o captured enemy
In addition to the Nazi and Fascist systematic program of mass
determination Of Yugoslavs, the Nazi technique of divide and conquer
brought about an intercine warfare that a CHASTITY and tragic" the
captain said.
The people We're divided into about a dozen different parties o.
movements. Many of the groups fought against each other occasionally.
but all CT them fought against the Partsans at all times. The Partsans
were the only ones who consistently fought the German invader.
killed during the four years of war If W in America lost in n dd by
same ratio, we would have had 100000 dead"
The captain worked with Russian and British officers who were
also WIN te PartSanS. He mad a interesting six weeks working with
Maj. Randolph Churchill, son of the British wartime prime minister.
March and April of this year found is in a rather though spot"
or in plain American our goose a cooked We we're in slovenia, the
northern part of Yugoslavia, completely surrounded.
Coming toward is from the south were the enemy and Yugoslav
gushing troops being pushed northward by the regular Yugosav Parti-
sal army. crowding is from the northeast yer the Germans retreat
ing from Hungary and under heavy Russian pressure. Just west of is
the Germanst were pouring. in from their retaet from northern Italy.
The route through northern Yugoslavia was the enemys main
rowed down by the Russian drive into Vienna. We were really in the
middle of one big traffic jam, and for a while it looked as though this
were it.
Toward the end of April we finally broke through the enemy
lines south of us and joined up with the regular Partisan army. We
marched on u with them and got into Trieste in Italy IS the war
The captain said he got his biggest thrill in picking up American
armen who had been shot down over Yugoaavia O. who had baHed out
from crippled bombers.
Capt. Blatnik visited slovenia in northern Yugoslavia with his
In January of this year, I was in the village where my father W a
aunts, but as al enemy garrison was only six miles away, 1 didn't dare
reveal my identity to m relatives for fear they would become victims
Of enemy repnsals Two days later the enemy we're in the ame village
and it took five days for the PartSans to drive them back"
Capt Blatnik Joined his wife, the former Beth Arnold of 2a4o
Humboldt avenue S. and their baby boy at her home in Minneapolis.
They spend December and the holidays with the Captains parents,
Mr. n Mrs, Blatnik, sr, in Chisholm
Blatnik earned his paratroop rating at a British Royal Air Force
air medal and the bronze star medal with oak leaf cluster.
Cedric Adams wrote in his column in the same newspaper:
This story comes from Capt. John A. Blank, pararooper who
spent months with Ttos Parttsans behind the lines in Yugoslava.
lie writes: The spirit and morale of the Parisans were nothing short
of phenomenal They had nom of the things a regular army provides
its soldiers. No regular issue of clothes, o food, arms, ammmHions,
m nooHaI are, $50 shows toiled articles, insurance, mail I told the
partisans how our soldiers, too, were going through hell on the battle
mem CT The bitter, bloody anphbous landings u men were making
on the islands in the Pacific. I told them of the mud in mountainous
italy. After | had finished, a young Partisan spoke UP:
they are brave men, but l think there's a difference. For
you Americans this war is a fight; to US it is a struggle Then l re-
nemoered how not long before this l was with a Partisan patrol
making a night crossing Of a n enemy-held valley with its wel-guarded
road and railway. L noticed a barefoot, ragged member of u patrol
He I had n o rifle, n granada, n o weapon of any kind. asked him
why lie a travelling with u.s. He replied, I come along so when one of
our comrades falls, | pick up his rifle and ammunition and go on. The
rifle must go on
Il think 1 begin to understand what the Partisan meant-for II a
light f0r them-a struggle. Then I thought of Valley Forge"
NOT Impossible