Evening star., 1943-09-24
Yugos|av GuerriIIas
Reported Battling
Germans in Trieste
Fiume Also Threatened
In Drive Against
Two Italian Ports
Map on PAGE A-20.)

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, Sept. "a. Strong
Yugoslav guerrilla forces were
reported fighting German troops
today in the streets of Trieste
and threatening Fiume in an
apparently co-ordinated drive
against the two, Italian ports at
the northern end of the Adriatic.
The action was part Of a series of
new hareups by partisan armies
against Nazi occupying forces at
scattered points along about 400
miles of the Eastern Adriatic shore,
all conceivably inaugurated with AL
lied approval.
.Yugoslav sources here said Slovene
irregulars struck some Is miles into
Italy from the Yugoslavians border
and penetrated Trieste, with op-
pressed inhabitants of that former,
Italian naval base joining their
ranks to attacksthe Nazi. garrison. '
Heavy Fighting Reported.
These same sources reported other
4Sloyene formations .shad occupied
Idria, Italian mountain town four.
miles east of the Yugoslav border
and. % miles northeast of Trieste,
while farther, to the east in North
western YugosiaVia heavy fighting
was said to be in progress along a
50-mile front between Bistrica (Feis-.
tritz) and Ljubljana.
The British Broadcasting Corp,
quoting a broadcast by the Algiers
radio, said Fiume was being shelled
by partisan artillery set up in Susak,
a mile and half away across the
frontier. t
In a broadcast heard by the Asso-
ciated Press, however, the Budapest
radio quoted a Zagreb dispatch to
the effect that the Germans had
captured Susak.
The Partisans reported engaged
around Trieste and Fiume appar-
emily were operating under COM
mand of the Montenegrin guerrilla
chieftain Josip BroZ, familiarly
known as Tito" but the forces of
Gen. Draja Mihailovich were said
TO be fighting farther south in the
interior.
Guerrilla Armies Cooperating.
News OF the fighting recalled re-
cent Cairo dispatches indicating
that Allied senior officers had gone
to Yugoslavia to attempt to co-ordi-
nate the activities of Tito" and
Gen.. Mihailovich with Allied stra-
tegic plans.
Yugoslavs here, however, said
that while there evidently was some
cooperation between the two guer-
rilla armies, they were not operat-
ing under a Joint command or with
unified plans.
Madrid dispatches quoted italian
and Balkan reports as saying that
not only Fiume but the whole Ger
man grip on the Istrian Peninsula,
which juts into the Northern Adri-
attic between Fiume and Trieste,
was threatened by swift-moving,
well-armed guerrilla bands working
in harmony with other Partisan
forces said to be holding Susak and
part of the Adriatic coast. including
the port OF Split, $50 miles to the
southeast.
Yugoslav authorities here reported
other new fighting in Bosnia and
along the Montenegrin- Albanian
border.
Rail Facilities Destroyed.
Croatian divisions, operating in
wide section of Bosnia around Ban
jaluka, were said to have destroyed
German railway facilities at Nova
Gradiska and Novakapel.
German planes and artillery, ap-
parently striking at one major cen
ter of resistance, virtually destroyed
Novomesto on the Kirk River, 20
miles northeast of Fiume, this infor-
nation said
Near the Montenegrin border IS
miles above the Albanian town of
Durazzo a force of MontenegrinS
was reported to have a large area
| under siege after capturing the coast
town of Ucinj and the summer resort
of Petrovac.
| In that region, the Italian TAU
! rinence' Division. led by It's general,
was said to have gone over to the
Partisan units.
Some estimates here were that war
equipment OF about four Italian
divisions has now fallen into the
hands Of the Partisans.