Partisan by James Caffin

Author:James Caffin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-02-13T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XI

SPRING REINFORCEMENTS

IN APRIL DENVIR’S BATTALION, which Merko commanded, moved south to a new camp near Ribnica, in the Velika Gora district. The snow was beginning to soften under the first showers of spring rain, trees that had been brown and bare were turning to pale green, and down in the valley the sound of the circular saw in the sawmill seemed to take on a busier note. One morning Denvir came from his hut and blinked when he saw a column of more than 600 men winding up the valley. The sentry was quite unconcerned, and Denvir realised that reinforcements had arrived at last. Leading them were Merko and Premosh.

Premosh was now an old friend, and he told Denvir that these reinforcements marked the beginning of united Partisan warfare in Yugoslavia. All the men had already seen action. They were to be divided into parties and sent to different areas, where they would collect more reinforcements. Each force would establish an area of free territory and hold it, thus compelling the enemy to divide his forces to deal with each area. Group headquarters in each area would be responsible to headquarters for the whole of Slovenia, and later the Partisan battalions would be expanded into brigades, and then divisions.

As Premosh explained the Partisans’ plans in his precise English Denvir realised that the impossible had been achieved, and an army had been built up almost entirely with captured enemy equipment. The little band of 150 men that he had joined in January had grown to several thousand. Rifles, machine-guns, uniforms, boots, blankets, food, and ammunition—nearly all had come from the Italians. The new army had not forgotten those who had fought and died in the early days, and battalions had been named in their honour.

Premosh asked Denvir to go with him to headquarters for Slovenia, but a quiet life did not appeal to the New Zealander. Instead he chose to go north with Vondick, who now commanded the Ljubo Sercer Battalion. This battalion, named after the first Slovenian patriot to be executed by the enemy, was to operate in the Notransk district, where Cargill and Denvir had roamed together before the Australian’s death.

The concentration of Partisan forces had not passed unobserved by the Italians, and a three-engined bomber came over the camp on reconnaissance the day that Denvir’s new battalion was ready to move north. When the bomber had left Merko ordered fires to be built everywhere ready for lighting, and the Partisans moved to another hill position. One man was assigned to light each fire, and Denvir and Janez rigged up two heavy Fiat machine-guns for anti-aircraft defence.

At midday six bombers came over, and the fires were lit. They were an irresistible target to the Italians, who came in one by one in showy fashion, dropped their bombs, and then machine-gunned the area where the fires were sending up great clouds of smoke. As the last bomber dropped its load and roared over the Partisan position at 300 feet Denvir gave the order to fire.

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