Editing Trieste (section)

===Zone A of the Free Territory of Trieste (1947–54)===
{{Main| Free Territory of Trieste}}
[[File:Free Territory of Trieste Map.svg|thumb|upright|left|Trieste and Zone A/B]]
In 1947, Trieste was declared an independent [[city state]] under the protection of the [[United Nations]] as the [[Free Territory of Trieste]]. The territory was divided into two zones, A and B, along the [[Morgan Line]] established in 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/89801/DOC_0000258341.pdf|title=The Current Situation in the Free Territory of Trieste|publisher=CIA|year=1948|access-date=21 June 2014|archive-date=17 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130717211341/http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/89801/DOC_0000258341.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

From 1947 to 1954, Zone A was occupied and governed by the [[Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories|Allied Military Government]], composed of the American [[Trieste United States Troops]] (TRUST), commanded by Major General [[Bryant Moore|Bryant E. Moore]], the commanding general of the American [[88th Infantry Division (United States)|88th Infantry Division]], and the "British Element Trieste Forces" (BETFOR), commanded by Sir [[Terence Airey]], who were the joint forces commander and also the military governors.<ref>{{cite web |title=British Element Trieste Forces – Order of Battle |url=http://www.milhist.net/betfor/ordbat.html |access-date=21 June 2014}}</ref>
[[File:Trieste 1954.jpg|thumb|Cheering crowd for the return of Trieste to Italy on November 4, 1954]]
Zone A covered almost the same area of the current Italian Province of Trieste, except for four small villages south of [[Muggia]] (see below), which were given to Yugoslavia after the dissolution of the Free Territory in 1954. Occupied Zone B, which was under the administration of [[Miloš Stamatović]], then a colonel in the [[Yugoslav People's Army]], was composed of the north-westernmost portion of the Istrian peninsula, between the [[Mirna River (Croatia)|Mirna River]] and the cape [[Debeli Rtič]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=TIMES |first=Special to THE NEW YORK |date=1952-05-16 |title=YUGOSLAVS TIGHTEN TRIESTE ZONE GRIP; Retaliate Against U. S.-British Concessions to Italians -- Travel Facilitated |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/05/16/archives/yugoslavs-tighten-trieste-zone-grip-retaliate-against-u-sbritish.html |access-date=2025-03-25 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1954, in accordance with the Memorandum of London, the vast majority of Zone A—including the city of Trieste—joined Italy, whereas Zone B and four villages from Zone A ([[Plavje]], [[Spodnje Škofije]], [[Hrvatini]], and [[Elerji]]) became part of Yugoslavia, divided between [[Socialist Republic of Slovenia|Slovenia]] and [[Socialist Republic of Croatia|Croatia]]. The final border line with [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and the status of the ethnic minorities in the areas was settled bilaterally in 1975 with the [[Treaty of Osimo]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.inps.it/docallegatiNP/Mig/Allegati/459Ex_Jugoslavia_Trattato_Osimo.pdf|title=Trattato tra la Repubblica Italiana e la Repubblica Socialista|website=inps.it|language=it|access-date=7 June 2023}}</ref> This line now constitutes the border between Italy and Slovenia.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Italian Occupation in Slovenia and Dalmatia: 1941–43 |date=2016-10-04 |work=Italy and Its Eastern Border, 1866-2016 |pages=166–191 |url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315762586-13 |access-date=2025-03-25 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315762586-13 |isbn=978-1-315-76258-6}}</ref>