Comments by "Colonel K" (@Paladin1873) on "Poljana and Odžak: The Last Battles in Europe in World War II" video.
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In a book I read about the OSS in WWII there is a section describing their operations in Yugoslavia. One interesting aspect of it was the different strategic goals of the US and the British at that time. British operatives were adamant that supplies only go to the Chetnik forces, while American operatives were willing to support anyone who would fight the Axis. The British desired a postwar Europe devoid of communist governments, while the Americans simply wanted to end the war as quickly as possible, the future cost be damned. The result was the Partisans had a better relationship with the OSS than they did with British SOE. This was well illustrated by an incident where the OSS had to intervene to free some SOE men captured by Partisan elements. Eventually, the British, for more immediate pragmatic reasons, did start supplying the Partisans. One would think the Partisans would have been more appreciative of the USA's efforts in all of this, but Tito, ever the deft political operator, simply told his people that the supplies marked "US" were actually an abbreviation for USSR, their true socialist friend and supporter against the decadent forces of capitalism and fascism. Postwar, Tito proved equally adept at keeping the country "united" for the sake of maintaining Yugoslavian independence from Stalin (the only east bloc nation to do this). In the end it may all have been for naught because ancient rivalries reared their ugly heads once Tito died, and the long anticipated civil wars erupted again, resulting in the nation-states of Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo (sort of). Forged on the anvil of post-WWI politics, the nation of Yugoslavia is no more. Does anyone really morn the passing of the country that gave us the Yugo? I think not.
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