Flashpoint Trieste: The First Battle of the Cold War

by Christian Jennings

This is the inside story of how Trieste found itself poised on a knife edge at the end of World War II. Situated near the boundaries of Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia, this pivotal port city was caught in May 1945 between advancing Allied, Russian, and Yugoslav armies on the strategically vital front lines of the nascent Cold War. Germany lay defeated, and now there were new enemies--Russia and Communism.

Told through the stories of twelve men and women from seven different countries, Flashpoint Trieste chronicles, on a human scale, the beginning of the Cold War. A British colonel from the Special Operations Executive, a Maori officer from a New Zealand infantry battalion and a young Yugoslav partisan captain race for the city on May 1, 1945, with the Allies determined to beat Tito's forces and the Russians to the vital port. An American infantry general, decorated in combat in Italy, then holds the line as Trieste is divided between the American and British armies, and the Yugoslav Communist partisans of Marshal Josip Broz Tito. An American intelligence officer tracks wanted Nazis. An Italian woman Communist walks back to her native city from Auschwitz. An Austrian SS chief goes on the run to escape justice for the atrocities he committed in the city. Having survived the war, everyone is now desperate to make it through the liberation.

American investigators hunt for priceless artifacts looted by the Germans. British intelligence will stop at nothing to hold the line against encroaching Communism, and Italian partisans hunt down fascist collaborators. Life is fast and violent, as former warring parties make common cause against the Russians. As the postwar world order unfolds, the borders of the new Europe are being hammered out.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, European History, 20th Century, Italy, World War II

304 pages, Hardcover

First published May 18, 2017

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

And so my 2019 Trieste reading journey comes to an end. Or maybe not, since I don't really have control of these things. In any event, having been lured there by Jan Morris and shown the atrocities by Daša Drndić and followed a coming-of-age story as metaphor, I found it irresistible to read about how the Cold War started at this Adriatic port, and how the glowering of factions has not stopped to this very day.

I started this book on February 10, not knowing that is the date annually that Italians celebrate National Memorial Day of Exiles and Foibe. A foiba, I learned, is a "sinkhole, a cross between a mineshaft, a cave and a ravine, hundreds of feet deep." The long limestone plateau above Trieste was littered with them. Into them Yugoslavian partisans dumped Italian bodies. Italians did the same to Slovenes. And when the War ended, captured German soldiers ended there too. The executions are graphically detailed here.

It should not be difficult to imagine the bodies, intertwined nationalities, much like Trieste itself. While it takes a while in the history-telling of this book, eventually we are brought to the present and the excavations and science (DNA) that mean to determine once and for all which nation, which people, were guilty of the greater number of atrocities. We still find it difficult to unravel the mysteries surrounding human beings. The glowering continues.

This book was very informative and nicely capped my one-month study of Trieste. It had some wonderful moments: "We've had a spot of bother. . . . One of my Gurkhas has beheaded one of their chaps." But it was, at times, unnecessarily redundant; and, too, the writing could be clunky: (Uninhabited apart from by sheep, the climate was unforgiving.); (The Foreign Ministers' Conference made their judgment.)

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Last night, dining out, I perused the "wine-by-the-glass" portion of the menu. I like trying different things. Only five Reds, but one was a Slovenian Cabernet. Yes, I'll have that one, please. It was delicious. And paired very well with the Spätzle! I looked around the restaurant to see if anyone else was enjoying the tangle of my real and reading lives. They weren't. So I took a satisfying sip, and wondered where Jan Morris will take me next.

[Steve Birchmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this over 3 days and had difficulty putting it down. I thought it was for the most part well written for a history book, in that rather than being, as someone once said of history "one bloody thing after another" it seemed more like a thriller in that I couldn't wait to see what happened next. It tailed off at the end unfortunately, but as we all know there was no WWIII, and therefore a bit of an anti-climax was inevitable.

As a mild James Bond fan it was interesting for me to discover that the Bond character 'Pussy Galore' was actually inspired by a real-life beautiful Romanian spy nicknamed 'Pussy'. I was also impressed by the larger then life character of Tito. I knew a little about him before reading the book, but it seems he really was quite something.

I do have an interest in this perhaps obscure beginning of the Cold War as my dad was there in the British Army. I had a rough idea of what happened from his various anecdotes. Its a shame he is not still with us as he would have loved this book.

My dad was an 18 year old conscript in the Royal Corps of Signals and on at least one occasion transmitted an update to HMS St Brides Bay in the Adriatic detailing how in Pula (I think) they were surrounded by elements of numerous Yugoslav Divisions - I wish I could remember the number, but suffice to say the British troops there were overwhelmingly outnumbered by in my dad's words "these terrifying looking partisans festooned with daggers, grenades and bandoliers".

He had a lot of interesting anecdotes about his experience there. He loved the film 'The Third Man' as he said it perfectly captured the atmosphere in Pula and Trieste.

I am grateful to the author for giving such a detailed background to what I recall of his experience there.

[Dropbear123 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,25/5

Really good. By a journalist so accessible and fairly easy to read. The writing style was pretty good and enjoyable to read. It starts with a brief prologue of what Trieste is like today which imo wasn’t really needed. The bulk of the book is about 1945-47 the Allied and Yugoslav occupation of Trieste and the area around it. And the tensions and politics around this. A heavy focus on people and the experiences of soldiers and the population in the area. There is a big focus on the atrocities committed by the fascists and also by Tito’s Partisans. Also a lot on the spying done by the Americans, British and Yugoslavs. The book ends with a brief bit on the death of Tito in 1980 then a chapter on the modern day Italian politics of the ‘foibe’ massacres of ethnic Italians by Partisans. I found these ending bits to be less interesting than the rest of the book.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Jennings provides a well-written account of the military, political and social conditions existing at the northern Adriatic area as “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”

Clearly written, well sourced and a very enjoyable read about largely uncovered historical events. My only criticism would be the story ends with a somewhat unsatisfying loose connection to the atrocities of the Yugoslav dissolution some 35 years later.

[Juan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book loses points for several reasons. First, it’s not really about what the title says. There’s no battle, and as a matter of fact there were no real battles in the Cold War, which is why it was called Cold War. Second, it’s not really about Trieste. It’s about the end of the Second World War, and what happened with Yugoslavia and its relations with the Soviet Union and the Allied. But third and foremost, it’s badly written. It’s not structured, situations are not solved (when did Trieste get integrated into Italy? When and where did the different territories got assigned to Yugoslavia and Italy and what happened?) anecdotes and sentences are repeated over and over (over a dozen times it’s repeated that Yugoslavia ousted the nazis, and a couple o times the anecdote of Tito eating in full uniform dress in summer with Churchill).
It gives you a general idea of what happened and the general tensions that followed the drawing of new borders between Yugoslavia and Italy. But no matter how many times you repeat “tension was high in the Morgan line”, it does not make it any more interesting or thrilling.
I read the last pages of the book once I crossed the Isonzo on the train to Trieste, and I was none the wiser about the city. Read Trieste and The Meaning of Nowhere any time. Excellent book.

[Bill Perrin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another author who writes for the winners; and the writing is not very good. His bias is not well disguised. The bad guys (I.e. the Yugoslavs), allege, possibly, not reliable. The good guys, the winners (I.e. the Americans and British) provide “facts”. The sources he uses are slanted so far to the winners that it is difficult to believe much of what he writes.
If you are interested in the area of Trieste, try another book.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is interesting, but at times it becomes picaresque and loses a central focus. Curiously, the "battle" aspect of the Cold War comes across as downplayed and minor rather than central.

Nonetheless, the author brings much interesting research to light from local and national archives, which helps us understand international politics in the late-WW2 era.

[Barbara White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Flashpoint Trieste. I learned so much about this period in history. Thanks to Christian Jennings and Goodreads First Reads for a copy of this book.

[Jason Kerridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of one of the first clashes of the cold war. Authoritative and well written. Packed full of detail. A must for anyone interested in development got the cold war.

[Roy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mess of a book, horribly disorganized, incomplete and really in need of an editor

[Cameron Ratkovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. I have always been interested in the history of Yugoslavia and its successor states. I had the opportunity to visit Trieste a few years ago and found it to be very interesting. The division of Trieste and its surrounding area was something that I wanted to learn more about. Jennings book does a good job of explaining the political situation and describing what it was like for the players, American, British, Italian, Yugoslav etc. I enjoyed the book and learned quite a bit. However, there are several factual errors in the book. Several times, Jennings states that Istria was part of Yugoslavia between the world wars (p. 81, 96). Istria was given to Italy after WW1 and did not become part of Yugoslavia until 1947. His map at the beginning of the book clearly shows Istria as part of Italy in1937. On p. 108, he states that the Yugoslavs entered Trieste on May 30 when previously he states that they had occupied it by May 1. On p. 119 he states that Tito was born in the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes. That country didn't even exist when Tito was born. On p. 119 he says that Serbia sided with Britain and Italy during the 1st World War. Serbia was at war before either Britain or Italy. On p. 125 he describes King Peter as being in exile prior to the German invasion of Yugoslavia. He didn't go into exile until after the Germans invaded. I can get a few factual errors but there were quite a few and I found it distracting and made me question the accuracy of the rest of the book. Additionally his writing style contains many fragments which I found unusual. Overall, I am glad that I read this book as I am particularly interested in this part of the world, however a good editor could have helped.