The Tribunale Building
For Colonel Donald
and the New Zealanders who first arrived in Trieste, the Tribunale (Law Courts)
building was occupied by belligerent SS officers who refused to surrender.
To quote the Official
History:
|
"At
the Tribunale Donald could not persuade the garrison commander to surrender; he
was an SS officer who ‘was still humbugging undecidedly and was apparently
under the influence of alcohol.' Donald therefore arranged with the
Yugoslav commander that tanks of C Squadron of 19 Regiment and C Squadron of the
20th would surround the building and give it a 20-minute pounding with their
guns and Brownings. First the square was cleared of all troops and civilians,
and at 7 p.m. 18 tanks at ranges of from 20 to 50 yards blew gaping holes in the
walls and through the windows of the Tribunale. The Germans took shelter in the
cellars and had few casualties, but the Yugoslavs entered the building and by
morning had rounded up some 200."
|
The shelling of the
Tribunale was one of the few incidents of damage inflicted by the New Zealand
troops on arrival at Trieste. A few photographs survive from the event.
|
Front of the Tribunale today.
Note the windows in the corner face
|
Main frontage of the Tribunale
today
|
You can click on each photo for a larger image (use your browser's Back button to return to this page)
|
In his book "In Peace and War", Lt Col Haddon Donald, commander of
the 22 Battalion, recalls:
"....I decided to try on my own to persuade them to surrender.
With no flag of truce available, I made do with my handkerchief, which
was white and reasonably large... I knew enough Italian and German to
be able to explain who I was... and we would give them safe conduct back
to a British prisoner of war camp.....They stepped back inside and
slammed the door." "I was fast losing patience with
the SS types in the Tribunale, but decided to have one more go at
offering then safe conduct.... Terry McLean, my adjutant, could speak
some German and by this time an Austrian civilian had joined us to act
as an interpreter. The three of us, under a better constructed white
flag marched once more across the Square to parley with the Germans." "I
gave the order to fire and keep firing until we had blown several
entries into the building.... The tank boys were having a wonderful
time. Never had they had such an easy target and nobody was shooting
back at them." |
|
One of several conferences
between Germans occupying the Tribunale and New Zealanders. Note the
window.
|
Trying to decide what to do
|
|
About the time of the second
trip to the front door of the Tribunale. Note the "better" white
flag in the foreground
|
The tanks lined up ready to
fire. Again note the window.
|
|
After the tanks - note the
window is now blown apart and the smoke damage on many of the windows.
|
The corner of the Tribunale
from a distance, and the window with smoke scars.
|
Return to Day 7
Last updated: 23/04/2006
|
