As World War II was coming to an end on the European continent, tension started to brew in Trieste, Italy, beginning the first battle of the Cold War on Wednesday, May 2, 1945. President Harry S. Truman and Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the 15th Army Group Commander Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark to send troops into Trieste, Italy at all cost to prevent the Yugoslavians from taking over the seaport. Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark told the British Field Marshal Alexander to send his 2nd New Zealand Division into Trieste during the middle of April, 1945. The 2nd New Zealand Division came into contact with the Yugoslavian Army in the vicinity of Monfalcone, Italy which is about 20 miles northwest of Trieste. General Dusa refused to meet the 2nd New Zealand Division, and so the division continued to advance towards Trieste with the Yugoslavian troops getting in the way of their advance. Meanwhile, Field Marshal Alexander tried to converse with the Yugoslavian Generals, including Head of State Marshal Tito. Marshal Tito told his troops that they were not to give any of liberated land and that they were to claim the land under the Yugoslavian flag.
The Allies wanted Trieste to remain in Italy. Meanwhile, Marshal Tito also wanted Trieste for his country for several reasons: closed down coal mine (filled up with rainwater), industrialization, seaport (dry docks, shipbuilding, fishing port, import/export, railroad yard), refineries, and beginning of the railroad to Austria (supply line to the southern European continent). Yugoslavian iron ore mines had shipped the ore to Trieste for smelting into steel, and coal from Ruhr Valley, Germany was being sent by railroad cars to Trieste to help with the smelting. The coal was the main ingredient for smelting. The Allies wanted the seaport under their control, staying on the Italian border so that they could manage it, and send supplies up to Austria. The imports/exports, industrial factories, refineries, docks, and fishing were the primary monopolies for Italy, and Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia saw this, and he wanted the city for his country. He did everything that he could, by encouraging the Yugoslavian citizens, also known as Yugoslavian partisans, to cause havoc against the Italians and the Allied Military. The Allies had to send in several British Eighth Armies and the 91st Infantry Division to keep the peace between the Yugoslavian partisans and the Italian partisans, also known as the Italian citizens. The 91st Infantry Division was in the Trieste area from May 2, 1945, to July, 1945. The 34th Infantry Division replaced the 91st so that they could return home. The 88th Infantry Division replaced the 34th so they could return to the states in October, 1945. The 88th was doing occupation duties for two years, ending as a division in October, 1947.
A treaty came into effect in 1947, but there was still conflict between the Italian and the Yugoslavian partisans until 1954. The tension lasted for nine years, even the British and the United States three units of army divisions tried to keep peace within the Trieste area for two years. Under the two years of tension between Allies and the Yugoslavians, many Allies were wounded, and the Yugoslavian partisans murdered one of the remaining U.S. 442nd Infantry Regiment Private First-Class Japanese-Americans serving for the 88th Infantry Division in the first area of the Cold War (did not earn enough points to return home, most likely one of the latest replacement soldiers). Many historians, military historians, militaries, and governments, claim that Berlin, Germany, was the first and only city to start the Cold War era, in which this book proves them wrong.