Yugoslav Patriots

Northern Advocate, 3 October 1944, Page 4

Yugoslav Patriots

An appeal to the people of New Zea land to support the Victory Loan was made in a broadcast by SCcond-Lirutenant J. Denvir. of the Second N.Z.E.F.. who, after escaping from the Germans twice, fought with Marshal Tito's Partisan Army in Yugoslavia for more than two years and rose to command a brigade of Parti sans.

The speaker, who is back in New Zealand, described the hardships under which Marshal Tito’s band of patriots have been fighting, with scant clothing, food and medical supplies, and of the loyal way in which the people of the villages helped the army in spite of the fate which they knew awaited them if they were caught by the enemy. “These villagers had no money for war loans, but they were true patriots, said Second-Lieutenant Denvir. “They still remained loyal to their country when it was occupied by the enemy. They risked death or internment to help us, and many times I have seen the smoking ruins of villages burned by the enemy because they had helped us. “What they gave us in the way of food and other supplies is the equivalent of what you have subscribed to keep the New Zealand Division fighting with plenty of weapons and ammunition. If they can give their lives, we, who have not known the horrors of enemy occupation, at least can give our money to the Allied cause.