S.O.E. in Yugoslavia and the Balkans
When Yugoslavia was invaded by the Germans in April 1941, many Canadians who had been born in Yugoslavia, or whose parents had been born there, volunteered to go in as secret agents to assist in the country's liberation from the Nazis. To find people of Yugoslav background who spoke Serbo-Croatian, S.O.E. actively recruited among Yugoslav emigrants in Canada.
Most of the Yugoslav-Canadians recruited for intelligence work were hard-working tradesmen and labourers in their thirties and forties. They were predominantly members of the Communist Part of Canada or of left-wing unions. An estimated 20 Yugoslav-Canadians went into Yugoslavia with S.O.E. and two with M.I.9.
In Yugoslavia there were two rival guerrilla parties within the Resistance movement: a right-wing group called the Chetniks led by Draza Mihailovic and a communist Partisan group led by Tito. The Allies eventually supported Tito's Partisan group which, despite its communist nature, proved to be more reliable and determined in their resistance to the Germans.
The first Yugoslav-Canadians to parachute into western Croatia in Yugoslavia were Paul Pavlic, who had been a shipyard worker in Vancouver, Peter Erdeljac, a stone mason and Alexandre Simic who was an Anglo-Serb. Their mission was to establish a communications link between Tito and British headquarters in Cairo. Pavlic and Erdeljac knew the area well from their childhood and, by visiting the local Partisan headquarters, quickly set up the required radio link between Tito and the Allies.
The determination of this group of agents is well illustrated by the service of another Yugoslav-Canadian, Nikola Kombol, who returned three times to Yugoslavia in the service of S.O.E. He was 43 years old and working as a lumberjack in Vancouver when he volunteered for service with S.O.E. He parachuted into Yugoslavia on July 3, 1943 and worked as an interpreter for several British liaison missions. The extremely harsh conditions of living with the Partisans undermined Kombol's health so badly that he had to be evacuated to a military hospital in Cairo. Despite this, he returned twice with S.O.E. and finally, chose to remain in his homeland after the war ended.
Another Canadian who spent almost a year with the Partisans was not himself a Yugoslav-Canadian. Major William Jones was a seasoned First World War veteran and a native of Nova Scotia. Jones was dropped into Yugoslavia in May 1943. While the exact nature of Jones' duties in Yugoslavia are not clear, he is known to have worked closely with the Partisans all over Yugoslavia in fighting the Germans. He gained a reputation as one of the most enthusiastic and ardent supporters of the Partisan's cause.
A small group of Hungarian-Canadians and several Romanian- and Bulgar-Canadians also served in S.O.E. missions in their countries of origin. Missions to both Romania and Bulgaria, however, were not as fruitful as those to other countries.
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/secondwar/courage/yugbal