Race for Trieste
| Race for Trieste | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II in Yugoslavia and the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy | |||||||
Tanks of the Yugoslav 4th Army in Trieste | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Yugoslavia New Zealand Italian Resistance |
Germany Italian Social Republic Chetniks | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Petar Drapšin Bernard Freyberg Ercole Miani |
Odilo Globočnik Giovanni Esposito Momčilo Đujić | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
4th Army 2nd Division |
10th SS Police Regiment 204th Regional Military Command Dinara Division Serbian Volunteer Corps | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
68,601–84,000:243 19,423 |
20,000:286 5,000 13,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
436 dead 1,159 wounded |
2,842 killed 3,829–5,200 captured 99 cannons 74 AA guns | ||||||
| 6,500–8,500 civilians killed | |||||||
The Race for Trieste (Italian: Corsa per Trieste), also known as the Trieste Operation (Slovene: Tržaška operacija), was a battle during the Second World War that took place during early May 1945. It led to a joint allied victory for the Yugoslav Partisans and 2nd New Zealand Division and a joint occupation of Trieste, but relations soon deteriorated and led to a nine-year dispute over the territory of Trieste. This battle is also considered the last battle in which a considerable force of Chetniks fought, as 13,000 of the irregular troops under Momčilo Đujić surrendered to the New Zealand forces under Lieutenant General Sir Bernard Freyberg as the battle progressed.