The Secret War in the Balkans
A WWII Memoir
by
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In 1945, shortly after VJ Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower described the C-47 as one of the pieces of equipment most responsible for victory in WWII. In 1944, on July 28, one of the 28TH Squadron’s crews, headed by First Lieutenant Harold Donohue, gave a demonstration of what Ike meant. Six aircraft were briefed to take off at intervals and land at a strip in northern Croatia, code-name Piccadilly Lights 106. One of our most challenging landing areas, it was a 1,300-ft. strip running, as most did, northwest to southeast, with a 500-foot hill at the southeast end and a much larger one to the northwest. (Donohue had already experienced several exciting missions, including one in which a German night-fighter had shot up his tail section over a DZ but had been unable to make a second pass and bring him down.) As Donohue approached his target, he saw gunfire to the east of the strip and what appeared to be a burning aircraft to the west. He decided to land anyway. Pulling up over the lower hill at the south end of the strip, he flared out, dumped full flaps, and managed to get down and brake to a stop. His aircraft was quickly unloaded while the British liaison officer explained what was happening. First, the Germans were closing in; as soon as Donohue took off the Partisans would abandon the airstrip and head for the hills. Second, none of the other five aircraft had landed, and there was a group of orphans that the Partisans couldn’t take with them. Would Donohue evacuate them? "Yes, of course.” Slowly, silently, children began to emerge from the shadows. Some were dressed only in night clothes, many were barefoot, others too young or too weak to walk. Donohue, the father of a two-year-old, picked up a little girl about the same age and carried her to the plane and, the last to board, saw his cargo compartment literally filled with children. Afraid to count his passengers and feeling a little like Noah, he taxied carefully to the extreme northwest end of the strip and turned southeast, locked the brakes, dumped half flaps, and pushed the throttle forward until the tail came well up off the ground. Releasing the brakes and going to full throttle, he managed to pull the aircraft off the ground just as it passed the last landing light and, somehow, cleared the hill. The DC-3, the civilian prototype of the C-47, carried a maximum of 21 passengers and a crew of 3. When Donohue landed his C-47 at Bari, 66 children, 3 nurses, and 6 crew members debarked. The following night, 14 of our aircraft evacuated an additional 585 passengers from Yugoslavia. The 15 aircraft averaged 43 passengers and a crew of 6.
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About the Book
World War II was the most important event of the twentieth century. Sixty three nations took part, engaging more than 100 million soldiers, sailors, and airmen. All of the major campaigns of that war have been thoroughly covered in print and film with one exception, the secret war in the Balkans. While raids by bombers and fighter attacks were routinely reported by both military and civilian news media, the nocturnal activities of the 60th Troop Carrier Group supplying the Balkan guerrillas remained “Top Secret.” Beginning in March 1944, the 60th carried 7,000 tons of weapons and equipment to secret drop and landing zones in Axis-held territory in the Balkans. With this equipment, the guerrillas tied down half a million Axis troops prior to the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944. What if the 60th Troop Carrier Group or the guerrillas had not done their job? Adolf Hitler would have been able to move eight or ten divisions to western France prior to D-Day. No on can say with certainty, but this writer’s judgment is that the landings may well have failed. At the very least, the war would have been much longer and much more destructive. The importance of the Balkan supply drops to Allied victory in Europe has never been adequately recognized. The Secret War in the Balkans provides this heretofore missing chapter in the story of World War II.
About the Author
Richard H. Kraemer has had two careers. His first was as an officer in the U. S. Army Air Forces and U. S. Air Force from 1942 to 1962. He completed almost three full combat tours in North Africa and Europe in World War II, and flew 41 missions of a 50-mission tour in Korea before the armistice was signed in 1953. In all, he logged 1,600 hours flying time in the combat zones, possibly a record for American airmen. Upon retirement, he entered the doctoral program in political science at the University of Texas. Three years later, he was granted an Assistant Professorship in his own department. He was the lead author of 24 books on American and Texas government and politics. The latter were the standard in the field for 30 years. More important to him, he was the recipient of two major teaching awards and nominated for four others. He continued teaching part time until his 90th birthday.