Partisan attack on Poganek. A touching Allied photograph of a Partisan doctor cleaning a German prisoner's wound. Seemingly touching. The picture was published in "Life" magazine on 6 November 1944, in a propaganda report on the Partisan attack on the Litija bridge (near Poganek, on 20 September). It was taken by US correspondent John Phillips, who witnessed the action along with the head of the Anglo-American military mission at the Main Headquarters (of Slovenia), Captain James Goodwin (who was wounded in the leg on this occasion). The photo was published with the following caption: "In Partisan field hospital, a doctor dresses head wounds of a German prisoner. Hospital was set up in a two-room farmhouse. The Partisans wounded were in one room, the Germans in another. The Partisans could not stay overnight here because they knew that the Germans would kill the wounded. The wounded were carried back through the German lines in cart." The report was entitled: "Tito's men – Daring Yugoslav Partisans blow up German-held bridge." In reality, as Phillips testified after the war in his book "Yugoslav Story", there was only one wounded German, an elderly man (a border guard), who ended up in a group of wounded Partisans after the attack, with whom he was put in the same room. (On the way to the improvised hospital, the German stuck close to the Americans, probably thinking that he would be safer with the Western Allies. Boy was he wrong!) Before continuing the retreat from the enemy territory, the Partisans, at US captain's suggestion, killed the prisoner. (The Partisan doctor – Dr Jože Tivadar – initially suggested that the wounded German should be simply left behind, knowing that he would only be an unnecessary burden during the retreat, to which Captain Goodwin replied that he must be killed, since he, allegedly, picked up too much information about them. The doctor agreed.) Also, the Americans actually regarded the Partisans as semi-savages, of which the Partisans were aware. Phillips, for example, described the Partisan doctor in his book as a "civilized-looking man", alluding that the others did not share the same appearance. When Goodwin was wounded, he begged Phillips not to let the Partisans cut his legs off, as if their medics did not know what they were doing. (In the propaganda report, on the other hand, which portrayed the Germans as semi-savages, it was stated that he kept repeating that he did not want to be captured.) The antipathy was mutual; a quote from a political report of the Partisan (XV) division headquarters dated 24 September 1944: "During the advance to Styria, the head of the US mission [Goodwin] and some journalist [Phillips] were present the entire time. This journalist, an American, photographed everything he saw. Neither the division headquarters nor the brigade headquarters knew what kind of authority this man had. One time the journalist found a Partisan catching lice. He put a titovka cap on his head and gestured him to do it faster, as if he was catching lice all over his shirt, while he photographed him. The Partisans did not regard the two Americans with affection at all because of their arrogant attitude."
Text: Ivan Ž.
Photographer: John Phillips.
Date: 20 September 1944.
Location: Golišče (district of Litija), Yugoslavia.
Original caption: unknown.
File source: Time-Life, 746352.
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Napad NOVJ na Poganek. Dirljiva saveznička fotografija partizanskog lekara koji čisti ranu nemačkom zarobljeniku. Naizgled dirljiva. Slika je objavljena u američkom časopisu "Život" (Life) 6. novembra 1944. godine, u propagandnoj reportaži o partizanskom napadu na litijski most (kod Poganeka, 20. septembra). Snimio ju je američki dopisnik Džon Filips, koji je akciji prisustvovao zajedno sa šefom angloameričke vojne misije pri Glavnom štabu (Slovenije), kapetanom Džejmsom Gudvinom (koji je ovom prilikom ranjen u nogu). Fotografija je objavljena uz sledeći natpis: "U partizanskoj poljskoj bolnici, lekar previja rane na glavi nemačkom zarobljeniku. Bolnica je smeštena u dvosobnoj seoskoj kući. Ranjeni partizani su bili u jednoj sobi, a Nemci u drugoj. Partizani ovde nisu mogli prenoćiti jer su znali da bi Nemci pobili ranjenike. Ranjenici su kroz nemačke linije nazad prebačeni zaprežnim kolima." Naslov reportaže je glasio: "Titovi ljudi – Smeli jugoslovenski partizani dižu u vazduh most koji drže Nemci." U stvarnosti, kao što je Filips posle rata svedočio u svojoj knjizi "Jugoslovenska priča" (Yugoslav Story), bio je samo jedan ranjeni Nemac, stariji čovek (graničar), koji se posle napada obreo u grupi ranjenih partizana, s kojima je smešten u istu prostoriju. (Nemac se na putu do improvizovane bolnice sve vreme držao Amerikanaca, verovatno misleći da će pored zapadnih saveznika biti sigurniji. Kako se samo prevario!) Pre nego što su nastavili povlačenje sa neprijateljske teritorije, partizani su, na predlog američkog kapetana, zarobljenika ubili. (Partizanski lekar – dr Jože Tivadar – prvobitno je bio predložio da ranjenog Nemca jednostavno ostave za sobom, znajući da bi im bio samo nepotreban teret pri povlačenju, na šta je kapetan Gudvin odgovorio da on mora biti ubijen, jer je, navodno, saznao previše o njima. Lekar se složio.) Pored toga, Amerikanci su na partizane zapravo gledali kao na poludivljake, čega su partizani bili svesni. Filips, npr, u svojoj knjizi partizanskog lekara opisuje kao "čoveka koji je izgledao civilizovano", aludirajući na to da ostali nisu tako izgledali. Gudvin je po ranjavanju preklinjao Filipsa da ne dozvoli partizanima da mu odseku noge, kao da njihovi bolničari nisu znali šta rade. (U propagandnoj reportaži, s druge strane, u kojoj su Nemci prikazani kao poludivljaci, navedeno je da je ponavljao da ne želi da bude zarobljen.) Antipatije su bile obostrane; citat iz političkog izveštaja štaba partizanske (XV) divizije od 24. septembra 1944. godine: "Prilikom pohoda u Štajersku bio je čitavo vreme prisutan šef američke misije [Gudvin] i neki novinar [Filips]. Ovaj novinar, Amerikanac, snimao je sve što je video. Ni štab divizije ni štab brigade nisu znali kakva ovlaštenja ima ovaj čovek. Dogodio se slučaj da je novinar pronašao partizana koji je tamanio vaške. Stavio mu je titovku na glavu i pokazao da brže radi, kao da tamani vaške po košulji, a on ga je pri tom snimio. Partizani nisu nimalo sa simpatijama gledali ova dva Amerikanca zbog njihovog oholog držanja."
Tekst: Ivan Ž.
Fotograf: Džon Filips.
Datum: 20. septembar 1944.
Mesto: Golišče (srez Litijski), Jugoslavija.
Originalni natpis: nepoznat.
Izvor fajla: Time-Life, 746352.
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