European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse A stars and stripes Magazine september 11, 1994 failure of slovak . Help net enough to overcome nazis 50 years agony Vince Crawley staff writer they called her Maria because her last name Gulo Vicovan was so difficult to remember. She was 23, a school teacher turned rebel partisan who by Christmas Day 1944, had led a Haggard group of american and British military on a two month to Ifemey on foot through the mountains of Slovakia chased by enemy forces during one of the fiercest Winters of the Century. They stopped to celebrate Christmas in a three room hut More than a mile High in the Tara Range of Central Slovakia v numbering fewer than two dozen they were among the final remnants of a failed rebellion called the slovak National uprising that most americans have never heard of. They decorated some Pine branches with bits of paper Sang Christmas carols in four languages and ate a dinner of Black bread and watery soup. They gave thanks that after two months on the run they had made it this far. Most would be dead within a month. Fifty years later Maria now named Maria Liu climbed the Mountain again and said she Wasny to a heroine despite the fact that the . Military awarded her the Bronze Star for saving two americans. A a Why do people join the partisans or Why do people join the military a she said. A a we did no to like the nazis and if we did no to do anything we would have been under them forever. Its not Why 1 did it. It was my country. Its Why these great Young americans went in to help Slovakia with a population of 5 million is not a Large country. And so the victories it celebrates Are Small ones. Slovaks View their world War ii uprising As a Noble failure. About 70,000 poorly armed militia continued on Page 4 a amps Vince Crawley Maria Liu formerly Maria Gulo Vicovan at a rebuilt hut in Volsky Bok Slovakia where americans fell into German hands in december 1944
