Shadows on the Mountain: The Allies, the Resistance, and the Rivalries That Doomed WWII Yugoslavia

Description

An in-depth look at a crucial, little-known World War II episode--the failed Allied policy in Yugoslavia and its ramifications in the Balkans and beyondWinston Churchill called it one of his biggest wartime failures--the shift of British and U.S. support from Yugoslavia's Draza Mihailovic and his royalist resistance movement to Tito and his communist Partisans. This book illuminates the complex reasons behind that failure through the incredible story of what has been called the greatest rescue of Allied airmen from behind enemy lines in World War II history, a rescue executed, incredibly, with minimal official support from the United States and none such support from Great Britain.Recounts an unknown chapter of World War II history and the single largest rescue operation of the warStarting with Serbia's tragedy and triumph in World War II through civil war in Yugoslavia during World War I, focuses on the history of the Balkans, a tragically misunderstood part of the worldSheds new light on the OSS-SOE relationship and manipulations of intelligence that profoundly altered policy decision makingReveals how failed Allied policy set the stage for Yugoslavia's breakup in the 1990sDetails the wartime camaraderie of unlikely warriors who became fast friends, outcasts, and heroes in executing the rescueWritten with the drama of a novel and the insight of serious history, Shadows on the Mountain is essential reading for anyone interested in World War II, European history, and the Balkans.