Први Титов сусрет са Стаљином
Tito’s First Meeting With Stalin

Author(s): Nikola B. Popović
Subject(s): Diplomatic history, Military history, Political history, International relations/trade, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949)
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: NOP of Yugoslavia; Soviet Union; allies; help; weapons; combat operations;
Summary/Abstract: Tito met Stalin for the first time in Moscow between September 21 and 27 1944. Tito himself said about it: „That was the first time in my life that I met Stalin and talked to him. Until then I only saw him from distance, such as at the 7th Congress of the Commintern. This time I had several meetings with him, a couple of them in his office in the Kremlin. He also invited me twice to his private house to dinner.” Judging by this statement, Tito was shown great courtesy. Tito’s idea was to meet Stalin in private. It is possible he talked about that with general Kornjejev, chief of the Soviet military mission with the Supreme Staff of the People’s Liberation Army and Partisan Units of Yugoslavia. Tito informed Stalin about the aim of this conversation in his letter of July 5, 1944. Thus, in the beginning he states that the British were doing their best to strengthen the position of the King and the Chetniks and to weaken the People’s Liberation Army, so that for that reason one couldn’t count on their (British) allied help. Right after that he wrote: „We’ll need your utmost help to solve the problem of Serbia which is very important for us, since the final success and the creation of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia depends on that.” The letter was ended with the following words: „There are many important matters I would like to discuss with you in person.” Stalin accepted the proposal as well as the topic of the talks. It was political, military and material aid of USSR to the People’s Liberation Movement in Yugoslavia. All Tito’s pleas for aid met with favourable response. Everything that happened between USSR, the People’s Liberation Movement of Yugoslavia and the Royal Yugoslav Government from September 28 onwards was the consequence of Tito’s conversation with Stalin. The direct consequence of talks between Tito and Stalin was the TASS statement of September 28 about the agreement of the „Soviet Command” and the People’s Committee of Liberation of Yugoslavia. With this statement the Soviet government de facto recognized People’s Committee of Liberation of Yugoslavia as the Yugoslav government. This act had great consequences for the development of the People’s Liberation Movement in Yugoslavia. At the same time, the advance of the Red Army into Serbia (Kruševac, Čačak, Belgrade) in October 1944 was the fruit of Tito’s agreement with Stalin. The material aid of USSR for the People’s Liberation Movement in Yugoslavia which followed and lasted until the end of the war had also been agreed upon in Moscow. If Tito asked for „large aid” from Stalin, he got it and sealed it during his talks with him between September 21 and 27, 1944.

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