i z l o g b l o g a

BRITISH SUPPORT

The land-based commander of the British units as none other than Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Churchill, son of Sir Winston Churchill. He was quite the man, going off to battle with his bagpipes, Claymore sword, or sometimes his bow and arrows, and was lovingly known as "Mad Jack". On March 5, 1944, Winston Churchill’s second son Brigadier Tom Churchill, arrived on Vis with the 2nd Special Service Brigade to take over command of the island.

With all of the warring factions laying waste to other armed groups, armies, towns, bridges, roads, facilities and battlements, the civilians of Yugoslavia were in constant danger. In order to try to protect the civilians, the British set up an evacuation plan. The only civilians to remain on Vis were supposed to be the elderly and those responsible for their welfare. Men of the ages between 15-50 were part of the Partisan mandatory conscription program. The evacuation plan was explained to the people as a relocation to southern Italy. In reality the refugee were transported by small boats to Bari, then to Lecce, near Brindisii, then a month or two later to Taranto, Italy. After a gathering period, the refugees were loaded on troop transports for convoying to Alexandria, Egypt. The convoys would consist of 3-4 troop transports, a hospital ship with wounded British soldiers, and half a dozen warships. Some of these refugees recall landing at Alexandria at night and being transferred to cattle cars and arriving at the camps 10-15 miles north of the city of Suez the next morning.

Many people from the surrounding islands and the mainland would make their way to Vis, in the dark of night to avoid German patrols, hoping to get away from the battles and carnage. Over 35,000 Yugoslavian refugees were evacuated under this system.

The camps were laid out with military precision. Apparently they had been some type of camp for military personal. They had communal water facilities and toilets and a school for the children. Near the camp was a British airfield. One day, during some British military exercise, an errant bomb was dropped near the school, killing at least one young girl from Komiza, Ina Ivcevic, age 8. This child and others who died in the camps were buried in unmarked graves near the camp. The refugees would remain here until well after the war. In September of 1945 they would start to be transported back to Yugoslavia in small groups to try to reclaim their lives.

Sterling Hayden, the movie actor, was an officer during the War, attached to the U.S. OSS group. He was very involved in running supplies through the German blockades in the Adriatic and successfully assisted in moving refugees from Vis to Bari. His home port of Monopoli thirty miles south of Bari was staffed with over 400 Yugoslavian Partisans, of which 50 were girls. Interestingly enough, he used a cover name of John Hamilton.

The British continued to reinforce their garrison on Vis, the Americans sent 30 American Ranger troops to Vis to help and assist with raids on the neighboring islands. The plan was to make the Germans think that Vis had a very large contingent of troops on the island, and that this would deter the German plans for an invasion. There were almost constant air raids during the daylight hours by both sides. Several German bombs landed on Komiza and killed several people. One bomb landed on the fish factory and the whole town stunk for several weeks.

The Germans did not recognize the Partisans as an army subject to the Geneva Convention, and as such treated the captured Partisans as criminals and would shoot them on the spot. They would also retaliate against civilian villagers whom they suspected of aiding the Partisan guerillas. On occasions they would machine gun down entire villages of civilians, including women and children. Many Partisans had seen these atrocities in their own mainland home villages. German prisoners were subject to swift and sometimes delayed retribution by the Partisans. At some later point in time Winston Churchill sent word off to Tito that the handling of German prisoners of war should be more in line with the Geneva Convention, so as to prevent the German high command from hearing about this and then exacting revenge on the prisoners of war in the German camps. The Partisans setup Prisoner of War camps on Bisevo and well as Sveti Andrea.

On February 20, 1944 the British landed the Number 43 Royal Marine Commandos in Komiza. This brought the British forces up to 1,000 men, hardly enough to stand off a German invasion. The Partisans also were landing reinforcements from the mainland. This build up of troops on Vis was to eventually increase the population of the Island up to an estimated 14,000 people.

Things began to get more involved on Vis. The British sent some doctors to Vis to set up field hospitals to treat the British wounded. These doctors would also treat Partisan wounded who could not be treated by their own doctors. Not only were there war wounded, but civilian casualties also had to be treated. The Partisans were glad to see these medical people arriving and setting up their hospitals. Eventually the Partisan lost their distrust of them and would go to great lengths to assist them. The major grammar school in Komiza was set up as a hospital to handle Partisan and well as civilian casualties. One story relates of the need for an x-ray machine. Of course none was to be had on Vis, and there was a great need for one. The British asked around and finally the Partisans said "Don’t worry." Within a week or so the Partisans delivered an X-ray machine and necessary supplies to the British doctors. When the doctors inquired, they found out that the Partisans had made a commando type raid to Split and captured the x-ray machine and x-ray film from the Germans.

Many of the land mines that the Partisans captured from the neighboring islands came to rest in Vis and were setup as mine fields. A major problem was that the Partisans did not make maps of these minefields and this would result in many Partisan and civilian casualties. After the war was over, it was great sport for the young boys of Komiza and Vis to find these old landmines, disarm them and make their own fireworks !!!!

The British had great plans for Vis. The Islands location would make it a great place to build an emergency airfield for planes returning from bombing raids in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Hungary to southern Italy. Once this had been accomplished and the Partisans became more trusting, it would be easier for the British to enlarge the airfield and use it as a base for further air activity over Yugoslavia. Eventually the field would be used for reconnaissance flights and as a fighter plane base. Over 1200 brave allied airmen were able to land on this field, in emergencies, some wounded, some not, rather than land in the middle of the Adriatic Sea. One brave pilot was a Chinese American reconnaissance flyer, who even though slightly injured had his plane repaired on Vis. When he went to take off in the repaired aircraft with important reconnaissance films he crashed and eventually died in the British hospital on Vis.




PARTISANS


The life of a Partisan soldier was not easy. About five percent of the forces were staunch Communists, the balance would use whatever means or political flag they could to rid the country of the Fascists. Almost 30 percent of the Partisan were female, some as young as 15 years of age. There were strict chastity laws and violators (of either sex) were subject to summary execution. Young female partisans suffering from malnutrition and the harsh living conditions, suffered also from amenorrhea, with the result that many of them believed that after the war was over they would not be able to have children.

Initially the Partisans main method of securing arms was to take them away from the enemy after, of course, killing him. Uniforms were a ragtag of British, American, Italian or even parts of German clothing. Boots were a high priority item and were in short supply. One Partisan of note would be an un-named 14 year old boy who was elected a Three Star Captain by the members of his unit, based solely on his military abilities. He had been wounded eleven times in battles on the mainland, and his twelfth wound, on Brac, earned him a trip to a real hospital in Italy. Weapons of any kind were near and dear to a Partisan soldier. As an example, one young man was brought into the British operating room on Vis, and they tried to prepare him for surgery. They could get his clothes off of him but they could not convince him to part with his rifle. They proceeded to operate on him with his rifle clutched firmly in his arms.

Once the population of the island reached the magic 14,000 level, an old problem came up: drinking water. Vis had enough water, centered mostly in and around Komiza, for its own normal peacetime population. There is a major spring by Saint Mary’s church at the north end of town. South of town there are several springs at the beach beyond the fish canneries, but not a great volume. Further south about one mile, at the "Pizdica," is a major water source, it is not accessible except by boat. The British engineers drilled several wells to secure more water for the island, but they had to use small boats to bring fresh water from Italy to Vis until they could get things sorted out. Once they had drilled a successful well they could use this water for drinking purposes, but is was somewhat brackish. Even with these new limited supplies, water would still be rationed. After the war this "Pizdica" spring would be capped and fresh water would be piped into a municipal water system for the entire island.
http://www.komiza.com/story3.htm#SURRENDER



Sir Fitzroy Maclean, osobni izaslanik Winstona Churchilla pri partizanima i zapovjednik britanske vojne misije pri Vrhovnom štabu. Njegov uzbudljiv život nadahnuo je Iana Fleminga u stvaranju lika Jamesa Bonda.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzroy_Maclean


http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=560

Nagradno pitanje: Ako su Tom i Jack Churchill bili braća, jesu li oni Winstonu bili nećaci ili sinovi?


I šećer za kraj: The Ugly Americans Go Fishing :
http://www.pahh.com/oss/straight04.html

He taught me how (oh, He taught me how)
To wash (to wash, to wash)
Fight and pray (to fight and pray)
Fight and pray
And he taught me how to live rejoicing
yes, He did (and live rejoicing)
Oh yeah, every, every day (every, every day)
(oh yeah) Every day!

Odgovara američka antropologinja Helen Fisher, žena koja zna sve o romantičnoj ljubavi, napaljivanju i o tome čemu zapravo služi taj famozni orgazam...





Što bi, dakle, bila zadaća ženskog orgazma?
Mislim da je ta neodredljivost ženskog orgazma upravo velika prednost, naravno ženama. Posve logično, žene preferiraju muškarce s kojima mogu doživjeti orgazam. Dakle, može se reći da je on neka vrsta alatke s kojom žene mjere posvećenost svog partnera. Muškarac koji ima strpljenja ponavljati orgazme ima puno veće šanse da će i ostati u vezi s tom ženom. Ona, s druge strane, zna da će on biti i dugoročno brižniji partner i otac, nego muškarac koji joj ne može podariti orgazam i koji je nestrpljiv i egoističan.

Helen Fisher - američka antropolginja koja se bavi ispitivanjem romantične ljubavi i djelovanjem iste na naše živce i trbuh. Napisala je knjigu 'Why we love?'

Dakle, nije istina da muškarac koji se trudi da i njegova žena doživi orgazam ne zadovoljava tako samo svoj ego?
Nipošto! Orgazam stoji u centru naše seksualne i partnerske veze. Za vrijeme doživljavanja orgazma tijelo luči oksitocin i vazopresin, a upravo su ti hormoni zaslužni za osjećaj vezanosti između majke i novorođenčeta. Kod ponekih životinja ti su hormoni odgovorni i za monogamiju. Da ne spominjem da i ostali hormoni koji se luče prilikom orgazma (serotonin, dopamin ili norepinefin) izazivaju osjećaj sreće i opuštanja. Na kraju može ispasti da se parovi koji žele ostati prijatelji nakon afere beznadno zaljube.

Zar ne bi za jednog muškarca bilo najbolje da se posveti svom orgazmu i bezobzirno traži stalno nove partnerice?
Možda muškarci i nisu navikli vezati seks nužno s ljubavlju, no isto tako je istinit i podatak da se brzi seks sa što većim brojem partnerica kod naših predaka i nije isplatio. Imali ste tako promiskuitetnog muškarca koji je stvarao puno djece, no njihove šanse za preživljavanje su bile prilično reducirane. Upravo su oni osjećaji vezanosti o kojima sam malo prije govorila, a koji nastaju prilikom orgazma, presudni prilikom održavanja trudnoće, a kasnije i odgajanja djece.

Helen Fisher (Klik)

...i sačuvati živu glavu