The Wilmington morning star., 1946-08-24
Trieste

authenticity of the story sn me
are in something o: a ouaNd, we
ourselves as to just what it prova,
Just to avoid possible embar.
ments, we will omit national da asS'
nations. The story concerns S'S,s'
military attaches of two Wes ne
Powers, then stationed in p.,
grade. 1t seems that the st4. psl'
fof country x was quite new ' VIII
full of zeal, One day aIong am. aaa
the 18th or 18th of June. a ge e"ga'
man of Yugoslavian speech hN', ,l,
furtive manner sought him o,t 'lp
an obscure place and Offered u,
sell him a secret document ~ 70
posedly high value. He bon .gp'
locked his door, and excitedjv S m,
rolled his purchase. @'
1t turned out to be a set ot Nil:
tary operation plans for = s,,n. .-l,
at'ack on trieste by the Yugo.
slav Army. D-Day was mentioTas
as Sunday, June Is. With nndo,
standable speed, the new attack,
rushed the plans out of YugosIsris
to his superiors. Whereupon arti'a
was promptly piled on action Tsa
armies of x, Y. and z were aIor,
ed. Air squadrons were shifted IN,
maximum bearing on Trieste N.
United States Cruiser Fargo W..
ordered there. And enough Of Al
this was limited 10 the press Of +ba
Western countries to act as a warn,
ing to the Yugoslavs that force
would be met by force.
When Sunday, June Is. psssss
without the Yugoslav descent oa
Trieste, countries Y and Z I'm,
time out TO check with their mill,
tary attaches in Belgrade. Ono =,
them received a reply somatbj1,
like this:
"Oh, that old thing. The Yum.
slav %undercover boys have bee,
trying to sell me that al ever,
price rom 50 cents to a THOUSAND
dollars for the last two months
I wouldn't touch it,"
When this was passed around
among the top strategists, tAev
were left wondering just what kind
of a ride they had been taken for.
anyway.
1t did not, however, persuade
them to take heir guard down
They were inclined 10 figure it OUT
this way. The Yugoslavs wanted
Trieste, and continued 10 want IL
They knew by May that they were
not going to get it with the bless
ings of the Western Powers. That
being the case, Marshal Tito's staff
perhaps figured that nothing would
be lost and just possibly something
might be gained by trying a little
blackmail.
At any rate, it is a matter Of
record that a number o. divisions
of the Yugoslav Army were con.
centrated in the Trieste area.
Some reports went as high as 30
divisions. More conservative est
mates were around u TO Is, At
any rate, the Yugoslavs brought
many more troops to bear On
Trieste than the British, French.
and Americans could muster in
that area.
Just to make matters Worse The
British had been finally forced 10
demobilize the Polish Corps II
Italy at about that time. That was
a heavy loss, since the Poles were
then in much greater strength th3.
at any time during the war. Their
formations had been filed out with
large numbers of Poles gathered
UP in Germany-many Of them out
of the German Army-and spoil
ing for a fight with anyone on The
Russian side O. the political fence
But London was under heavy
pressure to demobilize them and
appears 10 have decided that Il
there was going 10 be trouble with
the Yugoslavs it would be BAD
enough without letting the anti
Russian Poles in on it. That ToJo
make it look too much like an all
European affair. rather than Just
a matter between the Occupying
Powers in Italy and the Yugosla"
So, and with some misglVIH
in the combined Joint Chiefs o.
Staff, the Poles were hauled o'
of the potential order of battle iE
Trieste.
Perhaps, Of course, the famous
battle plan was the work OF s0o'
anti-Tito troublemaker. But m'
date June is conceded win 'S
peak build-up of Yugoslav tT0op
in the area. The impress'o0 IS ~.
behind from the incident that .s
Yugoslavs figured that it nllsa
be worth their while to test u.
the will of the Western Po%eIsJ
hold Trieste. Perhaps they nsun.
that enough of a show OF "le'
would induce British and A,D','
can troops to pack up ard pun ~.
Il that was the purpose III le'+';.
at least for the time beng. 0O'
leaves a puzzle. Was the Jlns e
plan a deliberate YugoslaT pau
or was it only the work 81 w..
anti-Tito troublemaker?-Ch4N"'
Science Monitor.