Partisans (published in 1982) - written by Alistair Maclean - the fight against the Germans in Yugoslavia

Alistair MacLean is a Scottish writer who specialized in writing thrillers and crime stories. He was third son of a Scottish minister and joined the Royal Navy during the world war two. He was a senior torpedo operator at the height of his career. He was in the thick of the war theater during the world war and saw action on many fronts especially the arctic north. After retiring he started penning his novels based on the war he saw and many of them became best sellers. MacLean never looked back as a writer until his death in 1987.
Another book about the battles in world war two from the MacLean Stable. Here the author takes the reader to Yugoslavia where the war rages on with its convoluted politics. On one hand the Germans and the Italians are fighting the war with the native Yugoslav's called Partisans ably aided aadn supported by the communist led by general Tito. They are thwarted by one of their own I.e the Chetniks who side with the germans. The allies try to hitch their horse to the Partisans to defeat the Nazi's.



The main lead is Pete Peterson, an Yugoslav royalist who is the typical macLean man with his dour and cynical ways receives coded orders from his German commanders to deliver it to the German resistance deep in Yugoslavia. Just as the Germans even the readers are confused about the name Pete Peterson for an Yugoslav. But MacLean has an humorist explanation for that. It seems that Pete is the son of an Englishman who never went back to england after coming to Yugoslavia. MacLean provided another funny anecdote about a village in Italy populated by Scots who had landed there decades ago for a battle. It seems those villagers had ruddy Scottish faces and a name starting with “Mac” .
Well the fun ends there for this novel. The plot meanders through the boring fist fights and Nazi vs Allies dialogues. Pete is accompanied by two operatives, gEorge the fat and Alex the dour. He gets two radio operatives, part of the Yugoslav Royalist gang, Sarina and Micheal, the pretty fraternal twins. And so they set pace to Yugolavia and meet many characters on the way, the drinking Giacomo, pretty Lorraine, Marija, Major Harrison and of course the villains.
No prizes for guessing that Pete is really a Partisan. But the loyalties of the other participants is always circumspect. They fight the Nazi's and are captured many time. But each time they are released as a group in tact to reach the other side. Contrary to MacLean's earlier books the fighting is pretty tame and easy passage for the heroes. In the end the villains are captured, the traitors are unmasked and the hero loves his pretty operative. As usual the women whine a lot and cry over his shoulder. One gets her husband and the pther falls for Pete. The villains are captured and delivered to the Britishers.
MacLean is said to have reached a low point in his career during the 80's and many books witness his decline and this book is one of those. There is nothing much to offer the reader and I do not recommend it during a holiday. Just pick it up when you just need to fill your gaps in your day with some light reading.