Lepa Radić: Yugoslavia's 17-Year-Old Resistance Fighter

Wabash, Indiana. We've named this episode After the Hunt for the Red October, because it's like that, but instead of a Soviet submarine, the search is on for a powerful sleeper agent known to the U.S. government only as Dorothy. The year is 1981, and her network of associates has infiltrated the U.S. military to the extent that the Department of Defense has concerns over national security, both at home and abroad.

TIMELINE
1939: Beginning with Poland in 1939, the Germans moved quickly and decisively in a series of lightning-fast invasions.
1940: When the French government capitulated in June of 1940, for example, many French soldiers and citizens refused to give up.
1941: When Germany invaded Yugoslavia in early April 1941, a familiar thing happened.
1942: In 1942, the Nazis executed a partisan commander named Stefan Filipovic by hanging.
1944: By 1944, two years later, the Yugoslavian resistance had grown to include 650,000 men and women organized into 52 separate divisions.
1945: By 1945, that number had risen to 800,000, and many refused to be captured.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of Wabash is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 45 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

If you liked this: Episode 180 (Hagerstown, Indiana)

Hometown History explores forgotten stories from small-town America. The overlooked events, hidden triumphs, and buried tragedies that shaped the country we live in. New episodes every Tuesday. Find every episode at mythsandmalice.com/hometown-history

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