But shepherding Vujnovich’s plan through to approval would be no easy task, and not just because of the convoluted logistics. Relations within the Anglo-American intelligence community had become increasingly characterized by suspicion, a lack of cooperation, and occasional outright antagonism. The British Special Operations Executive controlled the planning and staffing of all Allied covert operations in Yugoslavia , a prerogative they guarded jealously against any OSS attempts to run an independent operation.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in World War II magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

Moreover, by 1943 the British had dropped their initial enthusiastic support of Mihailovich. Only a year earlier, the Chetnik leader had captured the fancy of the Western media: in a 1942 cover story, Time magazine heralded him as “the great symbol of the unknown thousands of supposedly conquered Europeans who still resist Adolf Hitler,” and an overwhelming number of that publication’s readers nominated him for Man of the Year. “In that dark corner of the Balkans…he has kept liberty’s torch flaring in the murderous Nazi night,” read one enthusiastic nomination.

Mihailovich, however, grew increasingly reluctant to call for a general anti-Nazi uprising across Yugoslavia, fearing German reprisals against civilians, and the British government became frustrated by his inaction. A letter from Winston Churchill to Yugoslav prime minister Slobodan Jovanovich warned, “Unless General Mihailovich is prepared to change his policy towards the Italian enemy and towards his Yugoslav compatriots who are resisting the enemy, it may well prove necessary for His Majesty’s Government to revise their present policy of favouring General Mihailovich to the exclusion of the other resistance movements in Yugoslavia.” And after Mihailovich engaged in an ill-advised public rant against the British, that’s exactly what the Allies did, throwing their support behind the Croat leader Josip Broz, also known as Tito.

Tito, former general secretary of the Yugoslav communist party, commanded the Partisan army, a rival force to Mihailovich’s Chetniks. Though he was known to favor a Soviet-style communist future for Yugoslavia, his vigorous opposition to the Axis impressed the Allies, especially in light of intelligence reports alleging Chetnik inaction against, and even collaboration with, the Germans. Chetnik supporters in the OSS, Vujnovich included, suspected that an anti-Mihailovich smear campaign conducted by communist moles and sympathizers in the SOE had unduly influenced the decision to dump the Chetnik leader. But the decision was final: no more aid or comfort would come to Mihailovich from the Allies.

Not surprisingly, the British bitterly opposed Vujnovich’s rescue plan, by now code named Halyard. Determined resistance from both the SOE and the State Department ultimately forced OSS director William “Wild Bill” Donovan to go straight to the top. In a July 1944 meeting with President Roosevelt, the straight-talking Donovan summed up his case for Halyard by saying, “Screw the British! Let’s get our boys out!” FDR agreed, and the British were ordered to cooperate.

Though Halyard had gotten the green light, a telegram from Roosevelt put an end to Vujnovich’s plans to lead the OSS team himself: “Former naval person objects to George Vujnovich going into Mihailovich’s headquarters. Therefore he will not be sent.” “Former naval person” was Winston Churchill (who had been first lord of the Admiralty before he became prime minister); clearly, word of Vujnovich’s pro-Mihailovich leanings had reached Churchill. So Vujnovich chose Lt. George Musulin, a Serb American, to lead the team instead. An experienced Allied liaison agent formerly assigned to Mihailovich, Musulin was the next best thing to Vujnovich himself. Joining Musulin in the field would be Sgt. Mike Rajacich, also Serb American, and radio operator Arthur Jibilian.

The OSS team readied and British planes, pilots, navigators, and jumpmasters procured, the British alerted the Chetniks to a possible agent drop between July 15 and 20—a schedule that went out the window when a string of snafus delayed the Halyard team’s infiltration. The first few insertion attempts were aborted for seemingly routine reasons: the absence of ground signals at the drop zone, bad weather, and heavy antiaircraft fire along the insertion aircraft’s flight path. But Musulin began to suspect sabotage from communist moles in the SOE when, on one insertion attempt, he discovered that the drop coordinates given to the pilot lay in Partisan territory.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to