Evening star., 1943-07-31
lstriun ImbrooIio

Istrion ImbrogIio
The complex difficulties for Italy in
an attempted severance of it's Axis
partnership with Germany are per-
haps most vividly revealed by what
Is happening on its northeastern
border at the head of the Adriatic.
This region, acquired by Italy after
World War One and named by it
Venezla Giulia, was formerly the
Austrian province of Istria, together
with the adjacent Hungarian city of
Fiume.
ltaly's chief aim in getting Istria
was to acquire a defensible land
frontier to the eastward, just as it
claimed and obtained the Austrian
South Tyrol to get a similar border
on the north at the Brenner Pass.
But both those strategic gains were
offset by political complications, be-
cause neither region was predomi-
nantly Italian in population. In
1strla only the narrow coastal strip
and the city of Trieste could in any
real sense be classed as Italian in
blood Or speech. The rugged Carso
Plateau which rises steeply from the
Adriatic shores is almost solidly
Slovene, while the inhabitants of
Fiume are largely Croat. This en-
broiled Italy, from the start with the
highly nationalistic Yugoslav state
which emerged from the First World
War as union of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes, animated by a fixed de-
termination ultimately to unite every
fragment of those kindred peoples.
The presence of some 100000 Slo-
venes and Croats under Italian rule
under any circumstances would
have handicapped Italo Yugoslav
relations. But the problem was
eXacerbated after the triumph of
Mussolini, because the Fascist regime
began a ruthless campaign of Ital-
ianization which infuriated the ma
tionalistic minorities and aroused
the ardent sympathy of their blood
brethren across the borders.
1t was Germany which smashed
Yugoslav resistance in the spring of
1941. The Italians merely mopped
up in the Teutonic wake. MuSSolini
promptly claimed a share in the
spoils and was allowed by Berlin to
nominate an Italian prince for the
new puppet state of Croatia, though
the candidate cannily declined to go
there and sit on so hot a throne.
However, the Germans always kept
the last word, especially in the Slo-
vene country which lies east of Istria
and south of the Austrian border.
This comes in handy now, because it
enables the Germans to take pos
session of Istria and Fiume, which
will give them an almost impreg-
nable defense line to guard the land
approach to the Balkans if Italy
does drop out of the war and sur
render to the Allies. In the First
World War the Italian armies bat
tered vainly against the Carso
Plateau and hardly made a dent on
it until the last days, when they
gained cheap victory over Austro-
Hungarian forces already in dissolu-
ton. To the oppressed Slovenes of
Istria the Germans doubtless will
look like liberators, especially if they
use Croat puppet troops to sweeten
the occupation.
Very likely the same process is i'm
minent in South Tyrol, called by the
Italians Venezia Tridentina. Here,
again, German occupation even to
the old Austrian border may ensure
an almost unbreakable defense line
south of the Brenner Pass and an
easy gateway for sallies into the Pc
Valley, even if we assume that the
Germans will peacefully evacuate
their troops from Italy proper.
Istria and South Tyrol are thus
the twin headaches which presum-
ably afflict General Badoglio in any
effort he may make to ease the Ger
mans out of Italy. They likewise may
be headaches for Allied generals
after Italy has capitulated and plans
are elaborated for attacking the Ger
mans from Italian bases. There are
few stronger natural defense lines in
Europe than those along the Carso
Plateau and in the Tyrolean valleys.