Miss Dior
Diorama
Les Deux Parfums
de Christian Dior
-the drift of fragrance.
AVAILABLE AT ALL GOOD STORES
SWISS ASIATIC CO.,
Sule Agents:
Caxton House, Duddell St.
LTD.,
Tel. 25902.
THE CHINA MAIL, ̈ MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1953.
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL'S WAR MEMOIRS
"TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY ” – CHAPTER 32
"
INCREASING FRICTION OVER TRIESTE
ed a draft message for our am- bossadors to deliver to Belgrade.
around Trieste sharpened. Prime
Field - Marshal Alexander
informed the Minister on May 1. 1945, that he expected the Eighth Army to reach Trieste within the next 24 hours. Tito's regular forces had, he said, occupied most of Istria and were fighting in Trieste.
If he himselff were order- ed to occupy the whole of Venezia Giulia, this would mean "a fight
the with
Yugoslav Army, which will have at least the moral
Rus backing of the
He sians."
added a warning of the feeling of British forces if asked. to fight an Ally,
A-MAN HING CHEONG T
Exclusive Custom-tailor
with
Half a century of
Experience
and !!
Craftsmanship
Complete range
of choice
English Woollens
for Your Selection
54 QUEEN'S ROAD CENTRAL TELEPHONE 23336
ITO'S troops had in fact entered Trieste on April 30 in the hope not only of securing the city and the surrounding area, but also of obtaining the surrender of the German garrison of 7,000 men with all its equip- ment. It was not until the afternoon of the following day that the Yugoslav forces made contact with the advance-guard of the 2nd New Zealand Division west of Monfalcone.
just
of
made
It
He suggested informing Stalin of our plans in accordance with the Yalta agreement and con- cluded as follows; "If we stand frm on this issue, as we are we can hope doing on Poland, to avoid a host of other similar encroachments.”
of
the Yugoslav businers should out around 50-50 Russian and British Influence, în fact it is at present more ike 90-10, and even in that poor 10 we have been sub- fected to violent pressure by Marshal Tito. So violent was this pressure that the United
States
be assured that when I no
Meanwhile the local situation President thought that a heavy
work At demonstration might bring Tilo longer requiro, Trieste, as a
have base for my forces in Aus-
Alexander would first
to his senses, but if hostilities trla he will be allowed to
been content it Tito had put began he doubted if they could incorporate it in his New
his fighting and administrative be treated as frontier incidents. Yugoslavia,
troops under Allied command, He accordingly sent me the The
sentence
at any rate in the areas where text of appropriate instructions we were operating, though for Alexander and Elsenhower, Alexander's message
course we would rather they but he ended his telegram with cry for me to make our
**T must a revealing sentence: political vlow clear.
withdrew completely. But Yugo Unless you can make I need not say how relieved I slay posts and sentries were re not have any avoidable inter-
this invaluable stricting our movements. Their ference n satisfactory working
with the redeployment ar- was to receive
to the with Tito
com- behaviour, both in Austria and of American rangement
forces the support from my new argument must be taken up panion.
Venezia Giulia, mode a bad im Pacific," by the Governments.
to President pression on the Allied
President troops, Prime There is
Brl- and 12 May, 45 both United States
21 May 45 Truman
I am in entire agreement every word tish.
with the message you are you say, and will work with
issuing 10 Alexander and Elsenhower.... I think thero
"
our making
110
any
with him about
Istria,
от
Prime Minister
of
Truman
I agree with
all my strength
you proposc.
any part of the
•New prewar Itay,
Ytiposiapia. That destiny of
for
and make lim
19
com-
this part of the world is re- table, the peace
should certainly
re of this.. In order to avold leading
or the Yugoslav manders into any templation, It would be wise to have solld mass of
troops in this arca, with a great superiority of modern weapons and fre- quent demonstrations of the Air Force as far as possible hurling your ad- without
in the direction of vance Vienna, which I am sure you
with all are pressing
pos- sible speed.
I suppose you have clear- ed the approaches to Triesto so that you can soon have
forces naval some strong there. Strength is safety and
picace...
on
on the line
tho
situation is handled Armly UR men were obliged to look
Is
en without power to intervene dis- before our strength
at actions which offended their persed Europe may be saved
blood-bath. sense of justice, and felt that from another
wrong- Otherwise the whole fruits of they were condoning
doing. "As
a result," cabled our victory may be cast away, Alexander, "feeling and none of the purposes of Yugoslavia is now strong, and is World Organisation to prevent getting stronger. It is now cer
Lerritorial
and aggression
at
Minister
is a very good chance that, if our deployment is formidable, a solution may be reached
Our without fighting.
Arm attitude in this matter will, I
our
belleve, be of value in against
discussions with Stalin, It seems to me that the need for at the Triple Meeting curliest moment is very great.
On May 19 I replied to the President.
future wars will be attained. tain that any solution by which I trust that a standstill we shared an area with Yugo- order can be given on the slay troops or Partisans or per- mitted Yugoslav administration of the American to function would not work." movements armies and Air Forces from Europe to the Fur East], at raic for a few weeks.
not mind I hope you will We will also conform in our
with you, if demobilisation. Even
my putting to this
for the need great respect, standstill order should be-
it would como known
some further consideration of do
the words "a war with the nothing but good,
Yugoslava,"
any
and
a
"altack us." I do
A war
answer
our
Gen. Morgan, Alexander's Chief of Staff, eventually agreed with the Yugoslav upon a Hoe of demarcation around Trieste.
ter
TT was not until a month had passed of increasing friction that It seems probable
Recondly
with the Soviets and with Tilo not envisage somewhat violent internal reac
at Washington followed
war with tre Yugoslavs, and that Stalin himself addressed me
on the Yugoslav problem. tion the new President's bold tele
short of war, I do not con- Marshal Stalin to Prime Minis-
should be sider Ambasadors
21 June .45 to me. The argument gram
withdrawn. It is at critical "Don't let us get tied up in
fact Notwithstanding the that Ambassadors junctures for- Europe had always been
That the Yugoslav Government -WEEK-later,
May 12, midable.
should be on the spot, Undoubtedly It had
Meanwhile, Tito's
accepted the proposal of the after the great events had led to the Second World War
American and British Govern- has arrived, and is completely
the On May 2 Gen. Freyberg happened in the
Western through the ruin of the League
mants with regard to and his New Zealand troops theatre,
negative. We clearly cannot- arrived thero
from of Nations by the withdrawal
this state,
Istria-Trieste region, the con- It
leave matters wis
will entered Trieste, took the President Truman a most wel- of the United States.
and immediate action
versations in Trieste stem to have He now to play almost as deadly a
Teached deadlock. come and strong message. surrender of the German said he was becoming increas- part at a moment when the
This Is principally 10 .be garrison, and occupied the ingly concerned at Tito's actions future hung in the balance.
explained by the fact that the
the representatives of Allied Command in the Medi- terranean are unwilling to take account oven of the minimam wishes of the Yugo-
slavs
dock areas.
Alexander
THERE was also at this time
the desire to finish off Japan by concentrating bil valable and suitable forces in the Far East. This was supported by the which had powerful school East before Europe, sugges- from the beginning set the Far
tion of a "Blonde Of B
In Venezia Giulia. Tiio seem- ed to have no Intention of abandoning the territory or lot- ting this ancient problem await 5 ON May
a general postwar settlement, telegraphed:
We must now decide, said the to uphold now, finds him- President, whet
whether Tito self In. # much
stronger the fundamental principles of military
than position
he territorial settlement by orderly foresaw when I was in Bel- process against force, intimida- If Tito grade, and wants to cash in tion, or blackmail,
he would probably standfast" order seems to have on it. Then he hopes to step succeeded
I claim parts of South Austri, raised this issuo-abruptly in the Trieste when finally inlo stepped out.
Now ho wants Hungary and Greece.
Although the stability of Italy President's circle. At any rate, be installed there.
and
and her relations with Russia his replies seemed couched in only allow me user's rights.
"We must bear In
mind might be at stake, the present somewhat different mood to that since our meeting he issue was not a question of tak- that expressed in his telegram,
about Trieste,
On May 14 he said he prc- has been to Moscow. I be ing sides in a dispute between lieve he will hold to our Italy-und-Yugoslavia-or-bacon--ferred to see what happened original agreement if he can involved in Balkan politics, before considering a continued, "but of deciding whether Britain though temporary, occupation
10
Christmas
FOR HER
FOR HIM
GHFFS
from the JEWELLERY DEPARTMENT
OPEN
STORE
until 7 p.m.
Compacts and Cigarette cases,
MIKIMOTO cultured pearl necklets, Handbags for day or evening wear, Jade mounted ear-rings, Eternity rings ROLEX TUDOR watches, Gold charms Silver brush sets, Gold bracelets
Key chains, Cuff links, Tie clips, Watches and watch bracelets, Rings, Cigarette cases, Cigar cutters and piercers, Cigarette and cigar boxes, Tankards and cocktail bar novelties.
and FOR THEM:
Beautiful CANTEENS of CUTLERY fitted with silver or plated ware
from "Lane Crawford's
and America were going to of the Soviet Zone in Germany allow their Allies to engage in by the Western Allles. As for uncontrolled land-grabbing tactics which were all too re- miniscent of Hillier and Japan.
We should insist, he urged, on Field-Marshal Alexander
or the Yugoslavs, Mr Truman de-
ob-
to
clared that we should awolt reports about our messages Belgrade before deciding what forces to use if our troops were Unless Tito did attack
atineked.
now be necessary. Otherwise we shall merely appear to have been bluging, And will
in fact be bluffed out.
I think we should prevent the rough handling of our front-line troops; or Infiltra- tions ostensibly peaceful, but contrary to the directions of and the Allied commanders,
the on a scale to endanger position of our forces where they now stand.
tions I should In these conditions not consider action
by Alexander to ensure the pro- functioning of his Mill- tazy Government as constitut- ing "a war with the Yugo- slavs," But I certainly thunk that pressure should be put upon them to quit Trieste and Pola and return-to-the-lines- marked
out, and that this pressure should be regarded 03 the nature
of trontier incidents rather than as prin- cipal diplomatic decisions....
per
Laining complete and exclusive control of Trieste and Polo, the it was impossible to involve the N May 21 Mr Truman said he
Yet the Yugoslave earned the merit of liberating this territory from the German invaders, and in that territory moreover the Yugoslav populs- tion is in a majority. This position cannot be regarded as satisfactory from the point of view of the Allies,
In my desire not to make matters worse, I have hitherto
not
ta
drawn attention in our correspondence to the be- _haviour. of Field Marshal Alexander; but now it is time emphasise that cannot accept the supercilious tone with regard to the Yugoslavs which Field-Marshal Alexan- dor has occasionally adopted in these conversations.
It is absolutely unaccept- able that Field Marshal and Alexander in an official public message allowed him- self lo compare Marshal Tito with Hitler and Mussolini. Such a comparison is unjusti fed and offensive to Yugo-. slavia.... I replied:
and His Majesty's Government had to put motion many hundreds of thousands of troops in order from to prevent themselves being attacked by Marshal Tito,
have been Great cruelties inflicted by the Yugoslavs on
of the Italians in this part
In the world, particularly Tylesta and Fiume, and gen-. erally they have shown' a disposition to grasp all the which their territory Into light forces have penetrated.
The movement of thesa
not light forces could
havo been made unless you for your part had made immenso from and welcome advances the cast and in the north, and unless Field-Marshal Alexan- der had held 27 enemy divisions on his front in Italy to and finally reduced them aurrender.
I do not considèr that it can be said that Marshal Tito has conquered all this territory.
It has been conquered by the movements of for
greater forces, both in the west and
in the cast, which compelled of the the strategic retreat Germans from the Balkana.
AT any rate, we have reached
an agreement which it is proposed to enforce. We think that any permanent territorial changes should be soitled, of
the peace table, and Marshal Tito is in no way prejudiced by accepting the present: Line which we demand until that meeting takes place. In the interval we can talk all these matters over together at Ber- iin.
Tho nctual Field - Marshal
wording of Alexander's
President's
telegram has been largely taken from the draft We do not see why wo should be pushed about
people where, especially by we have helped, and helped before you were able to make any contact with them. There. fore I do not see any reason
to make excuses for-Field- Marshai Alexander, although I was not aware that he was going to draft his telegram · exaclly in this way,
It seems to mo that Russianised frontier running from Lubeck through Elsen- ach to Trieste and down to Albania is a matter which requires a very great deal of argument conducted between good friends.
(Continued Tomorrow)
agreed we could not leave line of communication through United States in another wor matters as they were. We should Gorizia, and Monfalcone, and Two days later he declared he reject Tito's answer and rein of a big enough
to the was unable Arca
and unwilling to force our troops at once so that cast to ensure proper adminls involve his country in a war the Yugoslavs should have no tration. Mr Truman said wo with the Yugoslavs unless they doubts about our Intentions. He should be prepared to consider attacked us, in which caso we proposed that Eisenhower and
steps any necessary
Minister to Marshal to effect would be justifled in using Alexander should make a show Prime Tito's withdrawal. He also add- Allled troops
und to throw them of force by land and air,
Stalin
Re. 23 June 45 World Copyright reserved. back far enough to stop any time it to coincide with our re-
Our Joint Iden at the production, even partially, in any further aggression,
Jestion of Tito's demands. The Kremlin in October was that language, strictly
• Author's subsequent italics.
prohibited.
+
Nice piece of suiting, Sidney--very nice,
London
Bervio