Tito To Withdraw From Carinthia

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 118, 21 May 1945, Page 5

Tito To Withdraw From Carinthia

HO CHANGE IN TRIESTE America And Britain Forward Strong Notes

N.Z.P.A. —Copyright—Rec. 12 noon LONDON, May 20. Marshal Tito has decided to withdraw his Yugoslav troops from the Austrian province of Carinthia, states a 8.6.C. reporter from Klagenfurt. There is no change in the situation in Trieste. Marshal Tito has between 12,000 and 20,000 troops in Carinthia. Marshal Tito has been informed from Washington and London, in reply to his Notes on the situation at Trieste, that the agreement made between him and Field-Marshal Sir Harold Alexander, Allied Supreme Commander in the Mediterranean, in Belgrade in February must stand until the decisions of the Peace Conference are made known.

Latest dispatches from Trieste indicate that all is quiet there, although there has been no slackening in the tension. The Italian Garibaldi Division, which fought under Marshal Tito, has been demonstrating in the city's main square and other troops have been making a display of German arms which they had captured. Allied officers have been going about conspicuously unarmed. Yugoslav fighter planes are patrolling continuously over the city. Field-Marshal Alexander's statement that Marshal Tito was to abide by the earlier decisions for the occupation of Trieste seems to have been effective, for the Yugoslav troops parading the streets are unarmed. New Zealand troops and tanks are patrolling outside the city and the Royal Navy is keeping vigilant guard from the harbour.

A Washington message says that the United States acting Secretary of State, Mr. J. C. Grew, told a Press conference that Yugoslavia's-Note on Trieste, reiterating its claims to the area, is not acceptable to the United States, as it clashes with the American position published a week ago.

Mr. Grew indicated that the United States is ranged strongly behind Field-Marshal Alexander, Allied Supreme Commander in the Mediterranean, who charged Marshal Tito with attempting to establish territorial claims reminiscent of those of Hitler and Mussolini.

Mr. Grew stressed the serious turn that affairs have taken in the disputed region by calling attention to the continued infiltration of Yugoslav Partisan troops. He pointed out that they are assuming authority which interfered with the Allied Commander's ability to maintain order and establish Allied occupational control. The United States is consulting the other Governments concerned in order that the principles of just and orderly settlements may not be prejudiced.

Belgrade radio broadcast the text of the Note from Marshal Tito in reply to the British and American requests concerning Trieste. The Note, after reiterating the statement that the Yugoslav armies had the same rights as other Allied armies to remain in the territory they had liberated in the struggle against the common enemy, says the needs of the Allies for ports and lines of communications have been completely safeguarded in the spirit of the talks between Marshal Tito and Field-Marshal Alexander.

"The honour of our army and country demands the presence of the Yugoslav-Army in Istria, Trieste and on the Slovene coastline. Decisions of the Peace Conference, which will be final as regards the apportioning of the regions concerned, will be in no way prejudiced. With regard to this, the Federation of Yugoslavia is opposed to all unilateral declarations."