Page 42 of A Call to Home (Women of the Resistance #3)

Vrsac, Vojvodina

October 1944

Alix gazed out of the window of the villa where Tito and his entourage were staying. The broad main street was lined with substantial buildings, the evidence of a prosperous town with diverse manufacturing industries, set in the rich agricultural landscape west of the Danube. But she was not looking at the scenery. She was watching a seemingly endless column of Russian soldiers marching through the town on their way to the Hungarian border. There was no element of martial splendour in the sight. In their drab olive-grey uniforms, many of them patched and ragged and sometimes supplemented by items taken from conquered Germans, they marched with a dogged purposefulness. They had marched like that all the way from Moscow; further even than that. From Siberia, possibly? And they had rolled the German army up before them like a worn carpet. They had driven the Germans from the Vojvodina and now they were going to do the same in Hungary.

But the Germans were not completely vanquished yet. There were still Russian troops nearby. From the south-west she could hear the rumble of gunfire as the battle for Belgrade continued.

A Russian plane had flown them from Moscow and deposited them here, just behind the line of the Russian advance. Now Tito was waiting for the final victory. He had spent the last days in regular radio contact with the different divisions of what was now generally known as the People’s Army of Liberation, directing operations as they drove closer and closer to the capital.

There was a break in the Russian column and into the space marched the people she was waiting for, in the grey tunics and titovka caps adorned with the red star. A company of Partisans led by Kosta Nad, commander of the Third Corps, was approaching. Alix left the window and went downstairs to the room where Tito was sitting with Milovan Djilas. Bosko and Prlja, the two bodyguards, stood outside the door, cradling their tommy guns.

‘They are here, Marshall.’

‘Good!’ Tito got up and led the way to the front door.

Kosta ran up the steps and embraced Tito. ‘My felicitations, comrade! Victory is ours!’

‘Almost,’ Tito agreed. ‘Come inside where we can talk.’

Kosta was followed by two of his senior aides, then to her great delight Alix saw a familiar face.

‘Nikola! How did you get here?’

He bounded up the steps and hugged her and she made no attempt to resist.

‘I’m so glad to see you! How was Moscow?’

She made a small grimace. ‘Cold, in every sense of the word. Tito and Stalin don’t get on. But answer my question. No, come in first and have something to eat and drink.’

‘I have to see to my men,’ he said. ‘Where can they bivouac?’

‘We were not expecting you and the Escort Battalion,’ Alix said. ‘But there is a yard and an orchard at the back of the house. They can rest there until I have a chance to talk to Tito.’

In the main room Tito and Kosta were in deep conversation, reviewing the current situation in the Vojvodina. Alix busied herself with handing round glasses of slivovitz and plates of bread with local cheese and bunches of grapes. When Nikola came in she took him a glass and a plate.

‘Now tell me how you got here. I assumed you were all still on Vis.’

‘We couldn’t see any point in hanging around there,’ he said. ‘Rankovic and Jovanovic and all the rest of the Supreme Council had got themselves airlifted back to Serbia so there was no one to protect. So I persuaded our navy to ship us across to the coast in their fishing boats and we marched from there until we met up with Kosta and his men. When he said he knew where Tito was and was coming to visit I asked if we could come along. So here we are.’

‘Well, it’s good to see you,’ she said.

‘Looks like we have got here just in time for the big day,’ Nikola said. ‘I’d have hated to miss out on seeing Tito march into Belgrade.’

‘I know,’ Alix said. ‘I can hardly believe that we are that close to victory. Are the Boches really on the run?’

‘Oh yes. They are trying to get out but Kosta’s men have been doing great work on the railways. They derailed a troop train just the other day and took prisoners.’

They were interrupted by Bosko entering the room.

‘There’s a man at the door, says he needs to speak to you,’ he told Tito.

‘What about? Can’t you see I’m busy?’ was the irritable reply.

‘He wouldn’t say. Only that he has information that you might find useful.’

Tito looked round the room. ‘Nikola, you go and talk to him. See what all this is about.’

‘Sir!’ Nikola headed for the door and Alix followed. In the hallway they found a man in late middle age, slightly stooped and wearing glasses, but behind them his eyes were bright and his manner was forthright and confident.

‘I need to see the Marshall. I have vital information for him.’

‘What about?’ Nikola asked.

‘Do you know Belgrade?’

‘Very well.’

‘Then you know the Sava Bridge over the river that connects the city to Zemun.’

‘Yes. What of it?’

‘The Germans are retreating across that bridge. By tomorrow they will have removed all their men and equipment and then they plan to blow up the bridge to prevent the Russians from following.’

‘That makes sense,’ Nikola said.

‘They can be stopped.’ The man leaned forward eagerly. ‘Listen. My name is Miladin Zaric. Nowadays I am a teacher and my house is on the river side, almost below the bridge. But in the last war I served with the army and I got to know a little about explosives. Last night I saw the Germans laying explosive charges on the pillars that support the bridge. If there is someone here who knows about such things, it would be simple to disconnect them after dark tonight. I would do it myself but my eyesight is not good, particularly in low light.’

Nikola laid a hand on the man’s arm. ‘Marshall Tito should hear this. Come with me.’

In the main room Zaric repeated what he had said and Tito and Kosta listened eagerly.

‘This is too good an opportunity to be missed,’ Tito said. ‘Kosta, do you have anyone in your company with the necessary expertise?’

Kosta shook his head regretfully. ‘Sadly, I have to confess I do not.’

‘Then alas…’ Tito began.

‘But you have me,’ Alix interrupted. Ever since she had heard the teacher’s story she had been nerving herself up for this. It was two years since she blew up the railway bridge with Dmitri and Nadia and of late her life had been relatively easy and secure, but she knew this was one last opportunity to make a difference to the ultimate outcome. ‘You know I am used to handling explosives. I can do this.’

‘A woman!’ Kosta and Zaric spoke in unison. ‘It’s too dangerous. Not a job for a woman,’ Kosta went on.

Alix turned to Tito. ‘Sir, you know I can do it. There’s no one else. You must let me try.’

‘And risk losing you, when we are almost there?’ Tito looked at her, undecided.

‘I could go,’ Nikola said. ‘Alix could teach me what I need to know.’

Alix shook her head. ‘Impossible, without equipment to demonstrate on. And you wouldn’t be able to do it, anyway, with your damaged hand. I’m the only one who can do this.’

Tito looked at the teacher. ‘Could you show someone where the charges were put?’

He nodded uneasily. ‘I could do that… but a woman…’

‘Alix knows as much about blowing up bridges as any man in the army,’ Tito said. ‘What security have the Germans put in place? Are there guards?’

‘On the bridge, yes. But the charges can be reached from the riverbank, by someone who can climb. I have not seen any patrols there.’

Tito drew a long breath. ‘Very well. How many do you need to go with you, Alix?’

Alix’s heart was thumping. ‘The fewer the better. The Boches will not find a single woman, perhaps with one man, suspicious. Too many might alert them. It won’t be a difficult job, as long as I can reach the charges.’

‘That should not be difficult,’ the teacher said. ‘The German engineers constructed a rough scaffold next to the third pillar and they have not bothered to remove it – maybe in case they change their minds about blowing the bridge, I don’t know.’

‘Very well,’ Tito said again. ‘I agree.’

‘Then I will go with her,’ Nikola said. ‘At least I can keep watch.’

‘It must be tonight,’ the teacher warned.

‘Then we will leave at once,’ Alix said.

Steve’s diary.

October 19th

We have just heard that the city is about to fall to the

Russians. We shall set off first thing and hope to be there to see the

final surrender. Sadly, we shall have to leave our cook behind. From the

state of him this evening it is clear he will be in no fit state to

travel tomorrow morning.