Toward Understanding

Toward Understanding?

Civil war in Yugoslavia's craggy hills, a weeks-long Cabinet crisis in the London Government in Exile were the fruits of Occupied Yugoslavia's heroic struggle against the Axis. General Draja Mihailovich, the Serb hero, stood accused of treason after bitter, bloody battles against the Partisans who opposed his dream of a Greater Serbia (TIME, Nov. 10, 1941 et seq).

Last week the Chicago Daily News's Bern correspondent reported that Mihailovich had resigned from his post (War Minister) in the Yugoslav Government. In denying this story, the Government in Exile confirmed a hitherto unofficial report that negotiations to end Yugoslavia's tragic schism were under way. Said the official statement: "The tendency at present is toward greater understanding." Mihailovich has been in contact with some of the minor Partisan groups. But the main Partisan force, headed by ex-Lawyer Ivan Ribar (TIME, Feb. 8), was still aloof, and the chances of real unity were therefore small. The men of Ribar have the potent support of the Soviet Government, which has taken a strong hand in Yugoslav affairs in order to bolster its influence in the Balkans and because the Partisans are battling Axis troops. Twice (once last August, again in January) Moscow has supplied the Government in Exile with specific allegations that Mihailovich was collaborating with the Axis. To date, these charges have been neither proved nor disproved.

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