It was believed that they were under communist leadership, with various theories about the identity of Tito ranging from an acronym, rotating post and even "a young woman of startling beauty and great force of character".
Churchill responded: "So long as the whole Western civilization was threatened by the Nazi menace, we could not afford to let our attention be diverted from the immediate issue by considerations of long-term policy.
[11] On 17 September 1943,[12] the parachuted group and their cargo landed near Mrkonjić Grad and were met by Vladimir Velebit (36) and Slavko Rodić (25), who helped them move onto Jajce to meet Tito (51).
[13][14] Maclean, who had been to Soviet Union long after the revolution, now saw real-life partisans for the first time: "They were mostly very young, with high Slav cheek-bones and red stars stitched to their caps and wearing a strange assortment of civilian clothes and captured enemy uniform and equipment.
He then introduced Father Vlado (40), a Serbian Orthodox priest, who had left chetniks to join the partisans and who in addition to the usual red star, wore a gold cross as his cap badge.
At a suggestion that the king might return to join the partisans, Tito replied that he could come as a soldier and not as a reigning sovereign, as the question of the future form of government would be settled after the war was over.
He found Tito having energy, determination and intelligence as well as sense of humour who was ready to give his views on any subject that crops up: "Here, at last, was a communist who did not need to refer everything to the 'competent authorities', to look up the Party line at every step... there was that unexpected independence of mind, that odd lack of servility..."[18] Maclean's next task was to meet up with the three British officers who had already been posted with the partisans for some time and collate their feedback.
Finally, Bill Deakin (30), who arrived to Tito's HQ as part of the Operation Typical at the height of the German Fifth Offensive, and "able to give us a better idea than anyone of what the partisans were worth".
Olga, "tall and well-built, in her black breeches and boots, with a pistol hanging at her belt", was especially useful to the British mission as she was one of the rare people who spoke fluent English as she attended a finishing school in London before the war.
[23] Finally, Maclean had stated that the Allies were getting little or no return militarily from the arms they had dropped to the Chetniks, and that they were used against the partisans, who were fighting the Germans, and were impeding rather than furthering the war effort.
[25][26][27][28] In Bugojno, by now largely in ruins, Maclean noticed a group of Domobran POWs, who were "miserable troops...took the first opportunity of deserting or let themselves be taken prisoner" and whom "partisans regarded with good-natured toleration".
[30] After being unable to establish wireless contact with Cairo HQ at Kupres, they were driven by a shot-down Italian pilot who delivered them in a captured motor-bus to Livno at night.
One was to Air Vice-Marshall Coningham asking for an aerial attack on German troop concentrations at Mostar, Metković and Pelješac and their invasion barges at the mouth of the Neretva.
[36] Large British delegation including the Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, the Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Alexander Cadogan and others were there on their way back from Moscow in preparation for the Tehran Conference.
[42][43] As the improvised airfield at Glamoč was unlikely to remain in partisan hands for much longer, the operation was given a higher priority, and Maclean was able to fly over in a troop-carrying Dakota escorted by half a dozen Lightning fighters on 3 December 1943.
[47] Maclean once more raised the concern about partisans' commitment to the Soviet Union once the fighting had finished when Churchill asked: "'Do you intend, to make Yugoslavia your home after the war?'
[50] Maclean's team flew to Italy and crossed the Adriatic in a motor-torpedo-boat passing by two British Navy Hunt Class destroyers, and realising the higher attention that the area was now receiving.
[52] On 31 December 1943 at a New Year's Eve party in nearby Molfetta, Randolph and Maclean met with brothers Jack and Tom Churchill (no relation), young Commando officers who offered to help and station their unit on Vis subject to approval by high command.
Maclean witnessed Tito's reaction, opening the seal and unfolding the heavy paper with the address of 10 Downing Street and the PM's signature at the bottom, enclosed with a signed photograph.
He saw Tito smile and try to translate the wording, and understand the complimentary references to the partisan fight and promises of Allied assistance as well as advice on future mutual correspondence via Maclean.
Tito, the underground fighter perpetually in conflict with the established order, realised that he and his movement were finally recognised as an ally and were in direct and formal communication with the Prime Minister of a Great Power.
This included Major Doctor Lindsay Rogers RAMC (NZ) who led his own Mission and organised improvised hospitals throughout the Partisan controlled territory, insisting on standards of hygiene, medical discipline and the isolation and treatment of the many typhus cases.
[60] Due to constant heavy snow, the Partisans were unable to keep clear a sufficiently large runway for an aircraft to land and take-off, and the Soviets did not want to be parachuted.
Velebit was pleased with being able to put his point of view to Mr Churchill personally and had made other useful contacts within the Establishment and the Press, hoping to keep Tito and the Partisan movement before the mind of the public.
Finally, he met some of the British Liaison Officers (BLOs) who were attached to General Mihailović HQ, including the one at Chequers presided by the Prime Minister:[64] "We found there was little or no disagreement between us as to the facts.
It was common ground that the Četniks, though in the main well disposed towards Great Britain, were militarily less effective than the Partisans and that some of Mihailović's subordinates had undoubtedly reached accommodations with the enemy.
"Shortly after this meeting, Maclean received a call from Buckingham Palace stating that King George VI wished to see him to get "a first-hand account of the Yugoslav situation".
Shortly afterwards he was invited to Naples to meet with the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean General Maitland Wilson and the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Their three-jeep expedition included two BLOs - Vivian Street and Freddie Cole and two Americans - Colonel Ellery Huntington, the Commander of the US Military Mission to the Partisans and Charles Thayer, his second-in-command and a friend of Maclean from the prewar Moscow days.
Maclean resumed his diplomatic and military activities from the old British Embassy building and assisted in the information flow between the Foreign Office, Tito, King Peter II and others during the negotiations.