Editing Free Territory of Trieste (section)

===World War II===
[[File:Trieste-Italy border.jpg|thumb|250px|Border between the Free Territory of Trieste ([[Duino-Aurisina|Duino-Aurisina{{\}}Devin-Nabrežina]]) and Italy ([[Monfalcone]])]]
Beginning in 1940, Italy joined [[World War II]] alongside [[Nazi Germany]] as one of the [[Axis powers]]. When the Fascist regime collapsed and Italy capitulated with the [[Armistice of Cassibile]] in September 1943, the territory in and around Trieste was occupied by the German [[Wehrmacht]] armed forces, which made the city the capital of their regional [[Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral]] (OZAK). 

Amid the collapse of German front line towards the end of the war, [[Yugoslav Partisans|Yugoslav Partisan]] units ([[4th Army (Yugoslav Partisans)|4th Army]] and the [[9th Corps (Yugoslav Partisans)|9th Corps]]) entered Trieste on 1 May 1945, after a battle in the town of [[Opicina]] on the outskirts of Trieste. 

The [[2nd New Zealand Division]] also arrived the following day, and forced the surrender of some 2,000 German troops holding out in Trieste, who warily had refused to capitulate to Yugoslav troops, fearing reprisals and executions. An uneasy truce then developed between New Zealand and Yugoslav troops occupying the area, until British General [[William Duthie Morgan|William Morgan]] proposed partition of the territory into separate military-administered zones.

Yugoslav leader [[Josip Broz Tito]] agreed with the idea on 23 May, as the British [[XIII Corps (United Kingdom)|13th Corps]] was moving forward to the proposed demarcation line. A formal agreement on partition was signed in [[Duino]] on 10 June, which created the so-called [[Morgan Line]] dividing the Julian March territory. Yugoslav troops withdrew to their area on 12 June 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/index.php?p=587|title=Stanford University|website=stanford.edu|access-date=10 September 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060721202106/http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/index.php?p=587|archive-date=21 July 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz/index.asp?articleid=5112|title=Ashburton Guardian|website=ashburtonguardian.co.nz|access-date=10 September 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060627095427/http://www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz/index.asp?articleid=5112|archive-date=27 June 2006}}</ref>