AN OLD AND FORGOTTEN HISTORICAL MOVIE: THE BATTLE OF SUTJESKA- MISSING FACTS, FICTION AND REALITY

THE AIM

Historical movies dealing with both fiction and reality about events reported in books and papers have paid my attentions for some years. Recently I bought an interesting book about movies made in Hollywood.  The aim of the book is to reveal what was the facts about the events described in the movies and what was fiction only. The title of the book is: “ Hollywood historier. Virkelighetens Hollywood. De sanne historiene bak storfilmene.”  (Eng.title: The stories of Hollywood. The true story of Hollywood and the true story of the great movies).

THE BATTLE OF SUTJESKA or THE FIFTH OFFENSIVE   

 

The research work to be done was to view the film again and again making notes of different actors, events, use of aircrafts and making a description of the content. The story of the film is the story of the famous battle of Sutjeska in Yugoslavia during the Second World War. The Yugoslav Partisans are chaired by Marshal Josip Broz Tito. The Axis are chaired by General Alexander Løhr (1885-1947) and General Rudolf Luters.

The role of General Alexander Løhr is played by Anton Diffring and General Rudolf Luters is played  by Gunter Meisner. Josip Broz Titio is played by Richard Burton.

BACKGROUNG HISTORY

In 1941 Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis. King Peter II went in exile to England where he sat up a government. In Yugoslavia the resistance against the Axis was organized by the royalist Draza Mihailovic and also by groups supported by the communist party of Yugoslavia. Josip Broz Tito was the commander of the communist resistance movement. He was a professional communist revolutionary who had taken part in the Spanish Civil War. Winston S. Churchill was an anti communist all his life but he evaluated the standard of the military forces with reference to the fighting ability of the soldiers. Therefore he decided to support Marshal Tito in his fight in Yugoslavia.

OPERATION TYPICAL

Special Operative Executive(SOE)

The movie is dealing with the British military operation called “ Operation Typical “. The operation was launched in may 1943. The British General Headquarters in the Middle East was responsible for the support to the Partisans. The movie does not give you a correct description of the British military support to Tito. In the movie only four British soldiers are parachuted. The names of the soldiers are not correct either. The official report of the mission makes it clear that six soldiers are parachuted- not only four. The mission is important because it is the first British assigned to Yugoslav Partisans HQ and to Marshal Tito. The British soldiers were departed on May 27, 1943 from Derna in Libya and arrived at Crno Jezero in Montenegro . The names of the soldiers were: Col. William Deakin, Capt. William F. Stuart, Sgt. Walter Wroughton , Sgt. Peretz ‘ Rose’ Rosenberg, Canadian- Yugoslav Ivan (John) Starcevic and Sgt. John Campbell.

The names of the British soldiers in the movie are:

-Captain Stewart, Captain Dicken, Sgt. Throten and Sgt. Roys.

What happened to the British soldiers? Captain William F. Stuart was killed and Captain William Deakin was wounded after a German air attack. Marshal Tito was also wounded the same day when German aircrafts attacked the Partisans.

BRITISH MILITARY MISSIONS IN YUGOSLAVIA

The SOE launched about 22 military missions to Yugoslavia during the war. Even Randolph Churchill -the son of Winston S. Churchill- took part in the fighting in Yugoslavia. Apart from three missions most of the missions were launched by airborne. Submarines were used only three times.

THE BATTLE OF SUTSJESKA

The content of the movie is the dramatic fighting between the Partisans and the Axis. The German generals wanted to destroy the Partisans once and for all. The fighting is described in a very realist way. We believe in the story. The policy of the German generals was the killing of Partisans, all people who supported the resistance movement- children, men, women – all should be killed.The Axis rallied about 127.000 troops for the offensive including German, Italian, Independent  State of Croatia  and Bulgarian soldiers. About 300 airplanes were used. The Yugoslav National Libration Army had about 22.148 soldiers in 16 brigades. The offensive lasted from May 15 to June 16, 1943.

The German offensive was a failure. The Axis did not an end to the fight of the Partisans. The guerrilla fighting went on till the end of the war.

THE GERMAN AIRCRAFTS USED N THE MOVIE

The Partisans are attacked by German aircrafts many times. The aircrafts which are dropping bombs on the camps of the Partisans are not correct German aircrafts.The aircraft used is named, SOKO 522. The aircraft was made in Yugoslavia in 1955. A military trainer and light attack aircraft which has been used in different movies .The aircrafts used for observation and to transport of officers are correct German aircrafts. The name of the aircraft is FIESELER Fi 156 STORCH. A German liason aircraft.

THE DESCRIPTION OF MARSHAL TITO

Richard Burton is playing the role of Marshal Tito. We do not get much information about Tito during the battle. No information of his political background, education, family, or his private life. No.

CONCULSION

The film gives you a description of the fighting in a true way. We believe in the story. A closer picture of Tito is missing and also a closer picture of the German generals who chaired the battle is missing. About 2537 pro-Partisan civilians were executed by the Axis. The Partisans lost about 7543 soldiers in the battle. The total casualities of Axis were about 913 killed, 2467 wounded and 2132 missing .The Serbian National Library in Belgrade was also destroyed during the fight against the Partisans.

Photo from the movie: Actor Gunter Meisner(1926 - 1994) as General Rudolf Luters.