Survey's Trieste Adventure
In early April 1945 two issues were in focus in Italy: first, the Allies launched the last major offensive on the Po, and German resistance crumbled - that was well received as it meant the end of a long six-year War; and second, Tito's Communist partisan groups harrassed the Nazi German allies in Slovenia and Croatia, and mounted a strong push forward to become the first power to enter and lay their claim to the port of Trieste as part of the intended Federation of Socialist Republics of Yugoslavia, rather than liberating Ljubljana and Zagreb first -this was immediately something less understood on the ground, but quickly it was identified as meaning more unneccessary trouble to sort out.
The Yugoslavs occupied Trieste for forty days, almost at once resorted to a vindictive and repressive pro Slavic-nationalist Communist policy and inciting hatred of Italians, depicted as 'bourgeois Fascist Imperialists and collaborators'. They made use of intimidation through nightly summary arrests, popular kangaroo court trials, and the elimination of Italian professionals (even members of the local Triestine resistance movement), their bodies subsequently unearthed, most with bullet holes in the head, at the bottom of deep caverns, the foibe, which formed part of the first stage in the systematic, and forced mass migration of populations or 'ethnic cleansing': something which was ongoing in all the urban centres in the former Italian territories on the Dalmatian and Istrian coast.
For the Bristol T.A. unit, 3rd Survey Regiment, R.A., 13 Corps, under the command of Lt. Col. Derek Hall-Dare, OBE, the order was to join the northeastern race towards Trieste. The part which reached its destination the earliest was one of the detached sections, operating in the final days of the Second World War with 2 NZ Div., part of the Counter Mortar Troop, under Lt. Gerry Yorath (affectionately known among the Kiwis as "Penny" as in 4 Pen recorder), which crossed the Isonzo Bridge at Pieris on 1st May, briefly met the Yugoslav 9 Corps and their local Communist sympathisers at Monfalcone for group photos of the commanders, and then hurried on towards Trieste. While the Div. drove along the coastal road and had entered Trieste from Barcola, Yorath had been ordered to halt a few miles back at Grignano, overlooking the bay, and to be ready to stand to and lay out a base for locating and registering in the event of hostile batteries shelling either from the direction of the city or the rough white Carsic Hills.
Close behind followed the two batteries of the Regiment, and until early June 1945 the four troops surveyed three flash spotting and three sound ranging bases. Thereafter they just waited, and for an instance there were visions that Tito would stay put and, with the backing of Uncle Joe Stalin, resort to demanding Yugoslavia's territorial claims by force of arms. 3rd Survey in turn was ordered to stand to against any civil disorders. Then, unexpectedly, within days the Yugoslav forces pulled out of Trieste. The diplomats had been working overtime and the men of 3rd Survey could breathe a sigh of relief.
Changing Impressions
One thing which L/Bdr. Bill Roe recalled at the outset was a notable difference in turnout among the local inhabitants while crossing the Isonzo compared to the reception of other Italian liberated areas since July 1943. Though there were the same banners in Italian of "Viva Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin" the main difference was there was no joy or shouting, only silence among the reception groups. At first sight, everyone thought it was due to tiredness of the long wait for the arrival of the Allies but then other features came into view. All the walls of buildings were strewn with red stars, hammers and sickles, and large inscriptions in Slovenian or Croat of "Zivio Tito!" (Long live Tito!) or " Tukay je Jugoslavija!" (It is Yugoslavia here!). It appeared that 3rd Survey had wandered into another foreign land.
The protection of Trieste involved an extension of the period in uniform for all in the unit by six months, which naturally was greeted with gloom and obvious grumbles against the government, the military establishment and any locals they may have met.
Until the unit was disbanded in February 1947 nearly everyone had the occasion to meet locals either where the RHQ and the BHQs, or where they themselves were based. By the early days of June 1945 the RHQ was located at Ronchi dei Leg, 45 BHQ at Cave di Selz, and 46 BHQ at Turriaco - all rural localities around 35 miles from Trieste, which was still part of Italy inside the jurisdiction of the Allied Military Government of Venezia Giulia (AMG-VG), with a few individuals and sections called on for different periods to carry out social welfare, administrative and guard duties in Trieste, inside the Trieste Free Territory Zone A, and briefly for around 8 weeks between July-August 1945 as auxillary police, under 167 Bde, at Pola (later renamed Pula) in Zone B on the Istrian coast.
On arrival all the inhabitants received the British in the same way and fashion as liberators. The majority of locals in the zone where the unit was based were Italians and wanted to remain Italian as part of Italy; the local Communists, and socialist fellow travellors, with the support of Belgrade, demanded that the zone become the 7th Yugoslav Socialist Republic (sending delegations with a petition to Paris Peace Conference to effect their demands, and on their failure successively 300 of the most hard-lined Communist choosing until Tito's break with Stalin in 1948 to cross the frontier and reside in their Socialist haven), and when it became clear that the British government was against their aims they chose to direct their immediate disappointment against any sign of Britain's involvement, ie the presence of 'Tommies' in khaki and this may be the explanation for the strange death of L/Bdr. Kinglsey Mogridge, found in a ditch on June 8th 1945, and later against all signs or emblems of an Italian nature, in order to demonstrate to all that Britain's real aim was the preservation of the status quo, to sustain 'reactionaries' against the real will of 'progress' and the 'people'. This occurred first in the bombing of the local branch of the Italian Christian Democrat party HQ in Turriaco on June 29th 1946, and secondly, in the ambushing of competitors with rocks along the Begliano-Monfalcone main road and the forced diversion of the Trieste stage of the round Italy cycle road race, the Giro d' Italia, a day later on June 30th 1946, back westwards towards Udine. It was the same hard-lined followers of Tito who had gone around the neighbouring villages at night in marauding bands with brushes and red paint, and machine guns, literally painting the towns red to present the impression to all outsiders that these areas were already liberated and the Western Allies were not wanted around. Consequently, if the Military Governor, based at Duino castle, near Monfalcone, ordered troops to pull down the locally prepared victory arches draped with red flags that exalted Socialist Yugoslavia, the local Communists reacted by calling general strikes and demonstrations against 'Imperialist aggression'.
Unfortunately, amicable relations were not necessarily forthcoming among nationalist Italians. Since the troops and officers had only military and not civil duties, whenever any other Italians came forward to inquire what had happened to relatives who had disappeared, and on being told that unlike during the German occupation of the region in 1943-45 when the Kommandant held both civil and military functions, their inquires should be presented to the Military Governor and his offices in Monfalcone, they in turn now felt that the Allies which they had longed for were in reality behaving as all foreigners in connivance with the Slavs against Italy. Furthermore, if occasionally troops refused to join in with local festivities they came to be accused as being distant, untrustworthy, and snobbish, typical of the 'Perfidious Albion' -terms they had learnt during the Fascist epoch, and with lack of common foreign languages to reply and explain themselves, did not permit the two parties from any lasting or warm understanding. Finally, if the Communists provoked civil disturbances the other Italians did not necessarily disassociate themselves from such actions. If was a no-win situation: for even if the foreigner was recognized to be correct to preserve the peace he was still deemed wrong because he was not doing enough and could never be accepted as legitimately right because he was always foreign.
Activities of Third Survey 1945-47
With no sign of war breaking out 3rd Survey was never called upon to carry out a great deal of gunner- survey activities. The exceptions were the regular troop and battery training schemes that the new CO, Lt. Col. Ralph Eastwood, OBE, arranged after February 1946, and the calibration that the different troops were asked to perform for various field and medium regiments in the region from Pordenone to Trieste.
In addition, in August 1946 various trained surveyor NCOs of the unit worked with Lt. J. B. Burrows of 19th Field Survey Coy, R.E., to survey the line of demarcation between Italy and Yugoslavia, known as the 'French Line' as proposed by the French government, which was being discussed at the Paris Peace Conference, and to help the Boundary Commission, by the section's carrying out a Trig. recce over the country traversed by the line. The real purpose was the largest map available on which the line was drawn was a 1/500,000 map, so the course of the line remained vague and unknown on the ground. The area that they covered was from Tarvisio, on the Austrian border, to Trieste, but not south and east of the Morgan Line in the area occupied by Yugoslavia. The real difficulties, as Maj. Charles "Busty" Whyment recollects, was that close to the open hilly border Slovenian peasant women would often appear armed with rocks to harrass the work in progress, causing injury to the surveyors -on one occasion even a Russian surveyor involved in the operation on the border was knocked unconscious,and to remove the Bearing Pickets.
Furthermore, 3rd Survey had been ordered by 13 Corps in June 1945 to survey a race course at Aieillo, near Cervignano. The operation was organized by Capt. Chris Bere (in Post War a top surveyor in Rhodesia and in N. Ireland), complete with tote, with the help of the Racing and the Betting Boards, and the tote and horses became a regular feature during the racing season in the Eighth Army News and the Crusader. To keep up morale and fitness 13 Corps formed a soccer squad, which was trained by Sgt. Alf Fields, BEM, of 3rd Survey (Arsenal F.C. centre half) at the seaside resort of Grado to play against a touring team led by Stan Cullis from England in Milan, which resulted in a good victory; and after this enthusiastic beginning all the units turned out teams to play against one another in an organized league, and occasionally even against Italian local sides to encourage a spirit of friendship -something that did not always go to plan as nationalists used the occasions to stage their demonstrations of national superiority on the playing field. Cricket and rugby also were played at Pieris and Ronchi (on the present land of Trieste International Airport), but created no interest with the local sporting crowds.
Finally, 3rd Survey had from prewar T.A. days a tradition of having a competent Regimental Brass Band, with a swing, and while posted in this region the Blue Shadows, under its band leader Bdr. Cyril Holdsworth (a professional who presided in all the West London theatres until the 1990s when he was thought too old to perform at 80), performed at numerous dance venues and on the local radio broadcast from the studios in Udine for all to hear, bringing pleasure and enjoyment to both listeners and performers. Perhaps, it was through music and dancing, with its international language, which ultimately helped to melt away the icy enmity between foreign military and local civilians.
3rd Survey had moved towards Trieste to help stop further war, in reality it did many more things. Indeed, from that time various relations developed that crystallized into about 12 marriages with local girls, and it was with that unity that helped create a new image of Britain and the British, as well as forging a peace for the future.
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