Beacons in the Night - A Short Review

This is a wartime memoire of Franklin Lindsay’s time in Yugoslavia. It begins with him parachuting into German-occupied Yugoslavia to a group of partisans. He heads north in Stajerska, a part of Slovenia today but part of the Greater Reich at that time. This means that he was likely one of the first, if not the very first, American intelligence officer to enter Hitler’s Reich. His initial mission was to provide aid to the partisans who would then use the weapons and explosives received to attack German supply lines running through the province. They experienced some success with this until the partisans began to horde the weapons and ammunition in anticipation of the end of the war, when they hoped to make a move to capture and then claim for Yugoslavia parts of Austria and Italy.

Lindsay was often placed in unique situations to know and evaluate important people in Yugoslavia, including Tito. This made his opinion of the situation there highly valuable to the Allies both during and after the war, though his superiors often failed to listen.

One aspect of the book that stuck out to me was the methodical way the communists in Yugoslavia (and this happened all over Eastern Europe after the war) excluded all enemies, real and potential, and created an entirely new government and way of life for the people there. It is frightening, really, how powerless the Western Powers were to prevent decades of abuse and political slavery from descending on the people of Yugoslavia.

I was also amazed at the rigors of life on the run, which Lindsay and his counterparts in the OSS, SOE, and partisans in the mountains of Stajerska often were. The Germans hounded their steps, and many did not make it out alive.