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But whether Prince Paul knew about it and yielded in advance, or whether he was told of a fait accompli, only the conspirators knew. There must have been a dramatic scene in the White Palace sometime during the early morning. Later in the day it was reported that Prince Paul had been arrested at Vinkovici, near the Hungarian frontier. Still later he was reported in Greece, either a hostage or a hideaway. What was important was that Paul was gone. At dawn King Peter issued his proclamation:
Serbs, Croats, Slovenes!
In this moment so grave for our people I have decided to take the royal power into my hands. . . . The Regents have resigned. . . . I have charged General Simovitch with the formation of a new Government. . . . The Army and Navy are at my orders. . . .
The People. Soon after daybreak Correspondent Brock got a telephone call through to the British Legation. "Who's here?" said a jubilant voice. "Bloody well everybody. We're having champagne. Come on." But Ray Brock had more to do that morning. In the streets he was caught up in what he described as "the most moving and heartfelt demonstration of pure joy and thanksgiving that this correspondent has ever seen. . . .
"All around now the far and near echo of more voices grew and swelled until it seemed to beat solidly against the fronts of the big buildings in the long diagonal Terazia. From the two main avenues and from every side street the masses of people poured in and converged, separated and converged again until the huge diagonal held 6,000, later 10,000, 40,000 shouting, singing Serbian men and women.
"Huge Greek and American flags were held high overhead. There was a crash and the sound of splintering glass in the Spomenik off the Terazia as the crowds smashed the windows of the German Travel Bureau. Through double rings of Army guards upon the Terazia they pressed forward until there was another louder crash and the windows of the Italian Travel Bureau fell in splinters. . . .
"The voices that rose in song as the stars came out diminished in strength, hollower and deeper. Perhaps there were fewer students and children and more of the elders who had reflected during the day upon what Serbia and all Yugoslavia must face in the coming days. At any rate, the fighting chorus that rose from the vast crowds tonight, 'Sprenite, Sprenite, Chetnice,' sounded to some listeners as if it were no less a battle cry than a benediction."
The Problem. While the people sang, General Simovitch worked. Whether Yugoslavia could continue to exist as one nation was in doubt, and that was a risk the tall, grave-eyed General took when he staged his coup. To be Foreign Minister of his Government he picked an elder statesman who had been 17 years out of politics, 65-year-old Momtchilo Nintchitch.
To be Second Vice Premier he chose the "intellectual conscience," Slobodan Jovanovitch. The post of First Vice Premier he saved for the Croat leader, Vladimir Matchek.