Letter: A Nato farce

Sir: James Dalrymple (War in the Balkans, 11 May) comments: "After the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, seven elite panzer divisions of the Wehrmacht were pinned down for months and finally forced to retreat - due to the heroism of a few thousand men, largely Serbian, who fought with great skill and honour."

When did this happen? The only people to pin down German panzer divisions in 1941 were the Russians in the Battle for Moscow. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia collapsed in about three weeks after the German-Italian invasion in April 1941.

Later on, Tito's partisans did pin down quite a few German infantry and security divisions, but only after Tito and his Communists had won a civil- war with Mihailovic's royalists in 1942-43. By that time, the vast bulk of the German army was bogged down in Russia and was unable to crush the Yugoslav partisans.

Apart from that, I enjoy Mr Dalrymple's articles, which I find to be well informed.

REG DANFORD-CORDINGLEY

Shrewsbury