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| • Last fall Mihailovich kept as many as seven Nazi divisions chasing him through his Sumadija mountains. • Mihailovich’s swarming raiders have preserved an island of Freedom’ (see map. p.23) which for a time was 20,000 square miles in area, with a population of 4,000,000. • Mihailovich’s annihilation of Axis detachments, bombing of roads and bridges, breaking of communications and stealing of ammunition have been so widespread that the Nazis had to declare a new state of war in the ‘conquered’ territory. • Last October the Nazis even asked for peace. When Mihailovich refused, they priced his head at $1,000,000. • When the Nazis desperately needed troops in Russia, they tried to leave Mihailovich to the forces of their Axis partners and stooges. But Italian and Bulgarian soldiers could not deal with him, and the Nazis went back. Only last week the Russians announced that a Nazi division had arrived at Kharkov fresh from Yugoslavia—where it had certainly not been stationed for a rest. • Mihailovich’s example has kept all Yugoslavia in a wild anti-Axis
ferment. The Axis has resorted to executing untold thousands, but the
revolt continues. Last month the Nazis said they had seized
Mihailovich’s wife, two sons and daughter, threatened to execute all
relatives of Mihailovich’s army and 16,000 hostages if the General did
not surrender within five days. He did not!.
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"General Dragoljub Mihailovich distinguished himself in an outstanding
manner as Commander-in-Chief of the Yugoslav Army Forces and later as
Minister of War by organizing and leading important resistance forces
against the enemy which occupied Yugoslavia, from December 1941 to
December 1944. Through the undaunted efforts of his troops, many United
States airmen were rescued and returned safely to friendly control.
General Mihailovich and his forces, although lacking adequate supplies,
and fighting under extreme hardships, contributed materially to the
Allied cause, and were instrumental in obtaining a final Allied victory."
-- President Harry S. Truman, March 29, 1948
The cover of Time Magazine, May 25, 1942.
Their article began: “He clasps the crag with crooked hands...he
watches from his mountain walls, and like a thunderbolt he falls.”
These words, written of an eagle, today are a far better fit for one of
the most amazing commanders of World War II. He is Yugoslavia’s Draja
Mihailovich. Ever since Adolf Hitler vaingloriously announced a year
ago that he had conquered Yugoslavia, Draja Mihailovich and his 150,000
guerrillas in the mountains southwest of Belgrade have flung the lie in
Hitler’s teeth. It has been probably the greatest guerrilla operation
in history.