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.

THE GODFATHER

My  colleague from Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation(NRK), Odd Karsten Tveit, has written a provocative book about the famous Norwegian politician and former Secretary-General of United Nations, Trygve Lie. The Norwegian title of the book is: “ Gudfaderen. Trygve Lie- Generalsekretæren som sviktet FN “  (English title: The Godfather. Trygve Lie – The Secretary-General who deserted UN).

Trygve Lie was a Norwegian politician, diplomat, lawyer and  a former foreign minister of the Norwegian government-in – exile in London during the Second World War. He was born in 1896 and died in 1968. Trygve Lie was a leading member of the Norwegian Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet).

The author has not written a biography of Trygve Lie. No. The aim of the book is to highlight the official establishment of the state of Israel and the personal contribution of Trygve Lie in support of the new state of Israel. The Secretary- General of United Nations is appointed to work with political conflicts worldwide besides the administrative work of the organization. Trygve Lie was the first appointed Secretary-General of United Nations ( 1946-1952). The author is an expert in issues about the military and political situation in the Middle East. The main goal of the author is to document the the desert or betrayal of Trygve Lie in connections with the work to set up the new state Israel. The Secretary- General is not in the position to favor any country who is in conflict with other countries. He has to act in a diplomatic way to settle the conflicts to avoid military actions and wars. The facts presented in the book by the author are facts collected and are not representing any personal opinion of the author himself.

Odd Karsten Tveit  made an official presentation of his book at the restaurant, LORRY, in Oslo. Journalists from the main newspapers of Norway, old colleagues from NRK ,journalists from  radio – and television departments from both TV2 and NRK  and his Facebook friends were invited. Critical questions were asked about the main aim of the book and about the content of the book. Odd Kartsen Tveit made a statement that he had no intention of writing a biography of Trygve Lie. He said also that the content of the book is a result of the collections of archival footage from TV, radio , state archives and information given him from private persons while he was writing the book. But he made it quite clear that the content of the book is limited to UN, Trygve Lie the making of the new state of Israel. The conclusion of his studies is that Trygve Lie betrayed UN in favor of one nation only: Israel. He regarded himself as “The Godfather” of Israel.

The official information about the fight between the Arabic countries and Israel are based on lies according to the author.The most aggressive country was Israel- not the Arabic countries. The political aim of the Zionists was to get hold of as much land as possible without any respect of UN statements and critics from different foreign countries. I recall that an old friend of mine while we were in high school disagreed with me when I defended the rights of Israel to attack countries that were preparing war against Israel. We heard very little about the Palestine refugees who had been forced to move from their homes to make a place for people in Israel. Take a look at some of the book I studies from time to time. Trygve Lie is hardly mentioned in the books.

COUNT FOLKE BERNADOTTE  ( 1895-1948)

The killing of the Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte was done by a militant Zionist group Lehi -  not by the Arab countries. He was chosen to be the Unites Nations Security Council mediator in the Arab-Israel conflict of 1947 -1948.To make peace between the Arab countries and Israel was a dangerous work. The Zionist group ,Lehi, did not like the opinions of the duke in the conflicts between the Arab countries and those who worked  for a new state Israel.

 But who was Folke Bernadotte? He was not an ordinary Swedish bureaucrat.No. He was a diplomat, a nobleman, former director of the Swedish Boy Scout Association (Sveriges scoutførbund), former chairman of the Swedish Red Cross and above all: He negotiated the release of about 31.000 prisoners from German concentration camps during the second World War. He had saved about 450 Danish Jews from Theresienstadt camp. He was not an officer or count only.

Conclusion

By reading the book about “The Godfather” you get an impression that the state of Israel is made by active military force, terror and a wish to dominate sites and places supported by USA and countries in Europe like Norway. The former Secretary- General of United Nations, Trygve Lie, was a good man for Israel as long as they needed him. Then another Norwegian was contacted for support of Israel: Haakon Lie. He did a good job for Israel too but he told them to make a change of the official policy of the occupied countries. No change was made.