Keywords:
AMG, Aurisina, Barcola, Basovizza, BETFOR, Bora, Carso, Duino, Foibe, FTT, Gorica, Gorizia, Gradisca, Grignano, iL Corso, Karst, Lazaretto, Malchina, Miramare, Monrupino, Montebello, Muggia, Opicina, Piazza Goldoni, Piazza Unita, Pola, Prosecco, Pula, Riva Tre Novembre, Rupinpiccolo, Rupingrande, Sagrado, Sales, Samatorza, San Pelagio, Santa Croce, Sgonico, Sistiana, Slivia, Tergeste, Trebiciano, Trieste, Trst, TRUST, TS, Via Carducci, Viale XX Settembre.
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Located on the eastern coast of the Adriatic towards it's northern end, the city of Trieste,
together with it's hinterland, the Istrian Peninsular, has been a bone of contention for
centuries.
This contention has continued into modern times.
Immediately following the cessation of European hostilities in 1945, there was a race
between combined Allied forces travelling via Padua (Padova) and
Venice (Venezia) round the head of the Adriatic to try and prevent annexation of the
Trieste region by communist Jugoslav troops determined to extend Tito's sphere of
influence and thus that of the USSR also.
It is commonly alleged among the Italian community that during "The Forty Days" (I quaranta giorni) that Tito's forces controlled the city, many old scores, both personal, political and racial, were
settled by many hundreds, if not thousands, of local citizens being hurled, sometimes
with hands and feet tethered, into one or other of the "foibe", very deep, steep sided fissures in the "Carso" (Karst),
the vast extent of limestone rock just inland of, and high above, the coastal plain.
On the 5th March 1946, Winston Churchill, in an address to Westminster College,
Fulton, Missouri, made his famous "Sinews of War" speech including the following
words:-
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an Iron Curtain has come down
over Europe ".
He went on to say, "....... the future of Italy hangs in the balance".
A very uneasy truce, interspersed with live ammunition skirmishes, endured until 16th September 1947
when the United Nations , at the Paris Peace Conference, proclaimed the "Free
Territory of Trieste" (FTT).
The FTT was divided into Zone A comprising the northern end including the city itself
together with the surrounding villages, administered by an Allied Military Government
(AMG) and Zone B, the southern part including the city of Pula (Pola) and the remainder
of the Istrian Peninsular, administered by Jugoslavia.
The AMG in Zone A was protected by two separate contingents of Allied servicemen,
5,000 Americans in TRUST (TRieste United States Troops) and 5,000 British in
BETFOR (British Element Trieste FORce), each comprising crack infantry battalions
complete with separate American and British command support units (Signals,
Engineers, Military Police, etc)
In 1954, the FTT was disbanded, Zone A being handed over to Italy and Zone B was
incorporated into Jugoslavia.
This web-site has been set up for the benefit of service veterans of the FTT, no matter
whether they served with AMG, TRUST or BETFOR, so that they may share
reminiscences with old colleagues, before they get too old !
How to join us
We have set up a Trieste Mailing List to which you can subscribe by
sending an e-mail to < TRIESTE-L-request@military.rootsweb.com >
containing the single word "subscribe" (but without the quotation
marks) in
both the subject box and the body of the text.
Thereafter all messages posted to the List will be copied to you
until such time as you "unsubscribe".
Once you are subscribed, you may also post messages yourself by sending an e-mail to
< TRIESTE-L@military.rootsweb.com >.
Alternatively, if you are a casual visitor, you may wish to use our Guest Book
below.
Either way, If you served in Trieste with AMG, TRUST or BETFOR - or have an interest there -
You are more than welcome to join us to reminisce about those
times when the Bora blew ! and the vino was rosso ! Benvenuto !