A Bitter Winter: The Yugoslav War (1946-1949)
Even as the gunfire fell silent from the end of the war in Europe, another war began in the Balkans. In Yugoslavia, tensions threatened to split the nation apart. Josip Broz Tito's Communists faced off against Draza Mihailovic's Chetniks. Added in to the mix were troops from the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union, as well as more organized militias such as the remnants of the Croatian Ustase and the Slovene National Guard. This simmering pot brewed for nearly two years after the war, while the Allies and Soviets stared each other down across the Danube and elsewhere in Europe. Finally, the tension broke in May of 1946.
The Communist Partisans launched a surprise offensive southwards, towards Prijedor and Uzice. Caught off guard, the fairly unpopular Chetniks were pushed back. Meanwhile, the British were also surprised, the few garrison troops left in Yugoslavia now surrounded by unfriendly Communist troops. The Communists ignored the Allied troops, instead pushing the Chetniks and the small Royalist troops back towards the Adriatic. In Belgrade, Tito proclaimed the founding of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia. Coupled with the surrounding of Allied troops in a few small garrisoned cities, the British and American governments became increasingly concerned about the conflict in Yugoslavia. However, neither government was prepared to intervene without public support at home.
Just before the Communists drove the newly formed United Front (an uneasy alliance between the Chetniks, Royalists, and several ethnic militias) into the sea, the United Front managed to pull of a near miraculous recovery, setting up a defensive perimeter in Macedonia, Montenegro, and Dalmatia. The mountains of central Croatia and Slovenia provided excellent defesive terrain, and the Communist advance was halted. However, with the Soviets discreetly aiding the Partisans, and the United Front barely holding on, the war became a stalemate that lasted through the fall and winter of 1946.
This stalemate would continue through 1947 and into 1948, with neither side gaining large amounts of territory, but the United Front slowly lost ground in tiny increments, with heavy casualties for both sides. Finally, the Communist Partisans committed a grave error that would nearly cost them the war.
In the city of Pecs, a small Canadian and British garrison had been stationed to help maintain peace in Yugoslavia after the main troop pullouts in 1945 and 1946. Cut off by the Communists' Summer Offensive in 1946, the garrison maintained cordial if strained relations with their new Communist neighbors. However, on March 18, 1948, the local Partisan commander, a minor officer in Tito's official army, marched in with approximately 800 troops, demanding the British surrender the town and leave. The British commander, a young lieutenant who had fought in Italy and the Balkans during the war, refused. Angered, the Communists again demanded the town be surrendered, this time with weapons drawn and at the ready. What happened next is open to speculation, as reports vary and the British commander was killed in the ensuing firefight. What is known is that by the day's end, 83 British and 112 Partisans lay dead in and around the town, and distress signals were sent on the British radios.
The public reaction in Britain was every bit as horrified and angered as could be expected; that in the United States actually almost rivaled that in London, due to a not-insignificant playing up of the events by the newspapers. Both the Prime Minister and the President went into immediate talks with their advisers and each other. In the end, the United Nations Security Council was involved. The Council, with the Soviet member absent in protest of the American refusal to partition Tokyo, voted unanimously to intervene in the Yugoslavian conflict.
In mid-May, the first British and American troops began offloading in Trieste and Dubronovik. They immediately moved to the front, now just 40 miles north of Podgorica and 30 miles east of Rijeka. The presence of Allied troops cheered the frayed nerves of the increasingly divided United Front. Bickering between the numerous factions had crippled any unified leadership or coordination of war efforts. Now, the Allies and the United Front pushed forward, throwing the Communists backward towards the Danube. Surprise offensives by the Allies towards Uzice and Zagreb flanked large numbers of Communist troops, facilitating the Allied advance through unforgiving terrain.
As the Allied troops entered Bosnia and southern Serbia, the deep fractured between the factions of the United Front once again came to the forefront, as each group fought for their own vision of Yugoslavia. Various ethnic groups vied for autonomy, and the now fractured government forces debated the future of Yugoslavia; all could agree on one certainty: the ineffective monarchy was finished; King Peter was told, very bluntly, to leave the country immediately. Almost simultaneously, the Communists began pushing back, with the front now stretching from Osjek to Priboj to Ivangrad and Pecs.
Then, the Allied offensive halted. The Americans and British halted their advance, forcing their erstwhile allies to do the same, much to the 'United' Front's confusion. The reason for the halt came from the east; the Soviet Union threatened to intervene in the war if the Allies continued into Belgrade. Now, the Americans and British quickly began negotiations, not wanting to risk a major land war in Europe.
The peace negotiations dragged on for months. Eventually, the ceasefire line was agreed upon as the border between the nations which were quickly becoming known as 'East Yugoslavia' and 'West Yugoslavia'. Finally, in March of 1949, the Armistice of Sarajevo was finalized; the terms established both East and West Yugoslavia, as well as a newly independent Macedonia under Allied influence. The East became the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, while the West was reorganized into the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Both nations would remain enemies to the present day, one becoming a fairly wealthy Western-aligned federation, the other a poorer Communist dictatorship. The conflict remains a pivotal one, establishing the United Nations as a formidable organization prepared to intervene in the name of world peace.
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Okay, here's the Yugoslav War. Its meant to be TTL's equivalent of the Korean War, and it was a bit of a doosie to research. I know this update isn't as well written as the past ones, and I'm sorry if it seems a bit short. The next updates will be better, and should be up shortly. On a side note, here's a short mini-update on the fates of a few characters in the TL.
Amelia Earhart- After completing her circumnavigation of the world in 1937, Earhart's fame soared to greater heights. However, her great flight around the world was her last public action for several years. She flew for airshows and spoke at aviation events until 1942. After the Japanese attacks against the United States and the European Allies, Earhart approached President Roosevelt with an unusual proposition: she requested a fighter to battle the Japanese. Initially rebuffed, Earhart persisted; eventually, Roosevelt agreed, warming up to the potential propaganda benefits of a female pilot. Earhart entered service with the Army Air Force in China, as a member of the Flying Tigers unit under the command of Major General Chennault. She flew missions against the Japanese for the rest of the war, evading attempts by the Japanese to down her or take her prisoner. By the end of the war, Earhart has racked up nearly 20 confirmed kills, America's first female fighter ace.
Isoroku Yamamoto- Japan's most brilliant and astute admiral of the war, Yamamoto was a vocal critic of Japan's war against the United States. However, he carried out his duty to the best of his ability. leading the Imperial Navy on its greatest attacks of the war, most notably their critical defeat at Midway. Despite these military setbacks, Yamamoto managed to regroup the Japanese Navy each time and spur them on for the next battle. After the surrender of Japan, Yamamoto was tried for war crimes at the Tokyo Trials. Despite the hatred for Yamamoto among the Allies, he had won a grudging respect among their leadership both for his obvious talent and his efforts to moderate the fanaticism in the Japanese military. Due to this respect, as well as a lack of evidence for Yamamoto's compliance in war crimes, Yamamoto escaped the noose. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and lived out the rest of his life in his home in Nagaoka, near Niigata.
Aimo Aaltonen- a rather prominent Finnish communist, Aaltonen was set up as the General Secretary of the Finnish People's Republic after the end of the war. Despite his relative unpopularity, he gained legitimacy among the populace by instituting land reforms. He would continue in his role as General Secretary well into the 1950s, even after the death of Josef Stalin.
Dwight D. Eisenhower- the general oversaw the American occupation of Bavaria, until the Federal Republic of Bavaria was organized. He then retired from military service, and accepted the presidency of Columbia University in New York City. After serving as Columbia's president into 1952, he returned to military service as the first Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied armies in Europe; his command included troops from Britain, the US, Canada, North Germany, the Netherlands, and Bavaria. He oversaw the expansion of the Alliance to include the Czech Republic, Albania, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He retired from the military for the second and final time in 1960, dying at his home in Abilene, Kansas in 1969.
Akira Kurosawa- After filming The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, Kurosawa traveled to Nagasaki in late summer of 1945-just in time to meet the second atomic bomb. He was killed in the initial blast, his charred body identified days later by a former coworker.
Anne Frank- Frank and her family were rescued from Bergen-Belsen in 1944 by American troops under General Patton. Placed in a displaced persons camp, Anne and her family made plans to emigrate to the United States. In 1946, the Frank family managed to secure passage to New York. After settling in the city, Frank's father managed to get his daughter's diary published in 1948. Once her diary hit the presses, Anne became a celebrity practically overnight. She became a spokesperson for Holocaust survivors, and thanks to her efforts, donations for Holocaust charities and memorials surged. Her story struck a chord in the American conscience, and played a major role in swinging popular support against the nascent 'Denial' movement.