What Next for Tito?

Marshal Tito's Yugoslav Partisans checked several German offensives and, at some points, again went over to the offensive. Last week they recaptured Jajce, Tito's capital in Western Bosnia.

Teamwork. Close liaison with U.S., British and Russian missions has bolstered Tito's position. Best known of these liaison officers is 32-year-old Brigadier Fitzroy Hew Royle Maclean of the Cameron Highlanders, Conservative M.P., a Scot with a huge mustache and a quiet aptitude for danger, who has been at Tito's headquarters since last spring.

Cooperation with the Allies recently saved thousands of Partisans in the Croatian capital of Zagreb. Tipped off that patriots had sneaked into the city to prepare an attack, the Gestapo ordered a 14-hour, house-to-house search. Soldiers had orders to guard the streets, shoot pedestrians. Tito broadcast an urgent appeal to Allied headquarters in Italy. In immediate reply, Allied bombers flew over Zagreb. The Germans had to sound an alarm. In the confusion, most of the Partisans escaped.

Battle of Boots. The guerrillas have few trucks and armored cars, have to make up the lack with bravery and footwork. In the ice and cold of the Balkan winter they need, first of all, good shoes. That is why, rear Lipovac in Western Bosnia, shoeless Partisans attacked a column of 400 lorries transporting German reinforcements, hit them fast and hard, then withdrew to the snowy mountains. Hundreds of Partisans at last had shoes, taken from Hitler's hated soldiers.

Tremor in Cairo. A pro-Partisan source in Cairo estimated Tito's nominal strength at 236,000 (not all of whom are armed or fighting at any one time). His success, or even his continued survival, was bound to shake the already shaky Yugoslav Government in Exile, further endanger the position of young King Peter in Cairo.

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