UKTV - Secret War (2011) Part 13 The Aristocrat and the Balkan Communist

“The secret agents who set Europe ablaze”

Just when you thought you knew everything about WWII, Secret War uncovers more incredible stories that exist under the radar. As bombs were dropped from planes, missiles were launched and tanks were deployed all over the world, another kind of war was being waged by the Allies a secret war – a war of espionage. This secret war involved countless acts of espionage, courage, ruthlessness, double dealing and betrayal. It featured secret agents risking everything, working undercover on the continent to turn the tide against the Nazis, never knowing who, at any time, they could trust. Some became double agents playing both sides for the thrill of the danger, others did it just to stay alive. Always these extraordinary characters lived their lives on the edge. Secret War tells their amazing stories. Less than a year after World War II began, Hitler’s armies occupied much of mainland Europe—and the island nation of Great Britain stood alone. Rather than wait for the expected German invasion, Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided to hit back at the Nazis any way he could. In the summer of 1940, he set up a secret new organization called the Special Operations Executive, or SOE, and gave it a simple mission “set Europe ablaze.” SECRET WAR goes inside Churchill's secret army, to a dangerous world of agents, double agents, and even triple agents. In 13 episodes, it tells the story of SOE agents and other clandestine warriors who went behind enemy lines to conduct intelligence-gathering, sabotage, and assassination. Sometimes the operations were spectacularly successful, at other times inexplicably inept. But together, the efforts of these intrepid men and women helped save thousands of lives, liberate Europe, and turn the tide of World War II.

Part 13 The Aristocrat and the Balkan Communist

Fitzroy MacLean was handpicked by Winston Churchill to parachute into Yugoslavia and unite with Tito's Partisans against the Germans. On Churchill's orders, an SOE agent parachuted into German-occupied Yugoslavia in 1943 to cut a deal with communist partisans who had an agenda far beyond defeating the Nazis. The prime minister realized the dangers of cooperating with the communists even as Britain provided a home for Yugoslavia's royalist government in exile. Only time would tell if it was worth the risk. This is the story of a wartime gamble that paid off. How a Scottish aristocrat befriended a ruthless communist and formed the unlikeliest of coalitions. When Hitler invaded Yugoslavia in 1941 it was a country ripe for takeover. It contained radically different people, divided by race, religion, culture, heritage and language. Some like the Croats welcomed their German conquerors. Others, like the Serbs, loyal to their king, would have much to fear. Thousands fled, but some men had no intention of running away. One of them was Draza Mihailovic. Another was Josep Broz who preferred to be called Tito. Tito recruited a guerilla force known as the Partisans. Mihailovic also raised an army called the Cetniks to fight the Germans so that the king could one day reclaim his country.

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