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AMERICANS STOP SLAVS
ENTERING TRIESTE
TRIESTE, Wednesday.
American troops yesterday fired a burst of shells to prevent
Yugoslav troops from entering Trieste. The Yugoslavs comprised
a detachment of 2,000 who had been designated to be
attached to the Allied Military Government as liaison troops.
The American " Associated Press
stated that the Yugoslavs brought
up reinforcements in full battle order
after the Americans had refused
to permit them to. enter.
After the Americans had, fired a
warning burst the Yugoslavs withdrew
and set up machine-guns as
soon as they reached the border-.
! Major General Airey, British commander
in Trieste, said that the "ex-
traordinary good sense and tact of
the Americans prevented an incident
which might have led to bloodshed
and a breach of the peace treaty."
He added that he had received a
; letter from the Yugoslav General
. accepting his proposal that the
troops should go round the Anglo-
American zone to reach the Yugoslav
zone. He explained he had refused
to allow the Yugoslavs to en-
ter because there was no accom
, modation in the city and the last
three days had indicated feelings of
the population were so bitter that
the troops entry would certainly
, have resulted in bloodshed.
Five allied soldiers believed to be
two Americans and three British
have been released by the Yugoslav
authorities in Trieste.
Five other Allied troops declared
themselves deserters and refused to
be returned, according to the Yugoslav
Foreign Ministry in a statement
to the British Embassy in Belgrade,
in reply to a British protest
about the detention and maltreat-
ment- of British soldiers in the
Trieste area.
The Trieste correspondent of the
British United Press says that British
military headquarters announced
that no British personnel is being
held illegally in Yugoslavia. Five
soldiers were returned on September
15 and two sailors the following day.
A United States spokesman stated
two U.S soldiers, who were held for
37 days in a Yugoslav prison, were
now in an American hospital suffering
from malnutrition. Watery soup
was the only food they had had while
imprisoned in a small cell.
Allied headquarters announced that
Yugoslav" troops had not advanced
against a U.S. outpost at noon to-day is
as threatened, but the situation is
still not settled.
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