Paris Peace Conf. 184.01102/256
Lieutenant Colonel Sherman Miles to Professor A. C. Coolidge 37
I went down to Pola and back again by automobile, going and coming by different routes. I spent a day there. I made this trip in order to see certain geographic features of the Istrian Peninsula, but principally because I had letters to some Austrian Naval officers and wanted to get their information on the Dalmatian coast. I got all I wanted and also found an American Destroyer in port and picked up some information from the officers. I have wired you twice that the Navy is not reporting to Paris and I think this is a great mistake. Perhaps it is too late to remedy it now, but I would suggest that you wire to Paris and tell them that they can get a lot of local information on the Istrian and Dalmatian questions if they put the Navy on the job.
I had thought of writing a short report on Pola, but I hardly think it worth while. Pola and lower Istria will go with Trieste; and I take it that Trieste will certainly be given to Italy. Of course, the outstanding facts are well known—that the interior is Slav (though not thickly populated) and that Pola has no commercial importance, but is purely a military port. Pola must in any case lose greatly in importance, but will probably be better off under the Italians than under the Jugos.
I have not tried to write any reports on the local difficulties between the Allies. The fact of the matter is that the Italians are running things with a high hand and are clashing with the French and to a lesser degree with the British. As is well known in Paris, Fiume is in a narrow zone east of the Pact of London line (Armistice Line). This narrow strip is nominally under inter-allied occupation, but as a matter of fact the Italian troops very greatly outnumber the British and French, and an Italian General is Governor of Fiume. The whole question is complicated by the fact that the French have taken Fiume as the base-port of their “Army of Hungary” (Franchet d’Esperey). The French control all the railroads from a point five miles to the east of Fiume. This makes the Italians furious, and the frontier is practically closed. The money question, and the fluctuating value of the kronen would of itself make shipments from Fiume into the interior at present almost impossible. The Italians are trying to break the French hold over the railroads in the interior by refusing anything but purely Italian control on the Fiume end of the line. This Italian control is exercised by the so-called National Council, who are really the self-appointed Italian leaders in Fiume, backed by the Italian military [Page 492] governor. There are also some strong indications of a very bad feeling between the Italians and French. This is because the French have had the good sense to play the game the Italians should have played in the Balkan Peninsula. The Italian determination to antagonise the Jugo-Slavs is a most amazing piece of stupidity, when one thinks of the opportunity Italy might have seized in the Balkans. The British are very much annoyed at every turn by the Italians, but of course are not so much involved as the French.
I hear rumors that the Italians are buying up the Hungarian interests in Fiume. I cannot imagine where this money is coming from, unless it is out of our pockets. This is the only indication of an Italian-Hungarian rapprochement I have found.
I found in Pola that the Italians have been on the whole pretty considerate of the Austrian Naval officers there and of their property. I don’t suppose this means much one way or the other, except that the Italian Admiral in command, Cannay, is said to be one of the greatest imperialists. The Jugo-Slavs here think that France is working against them, favoring Italy for the Italian support regarding Alsace-Lorraine.
- Transmitted to the Commission by Professor Coolidge under covering letter No. 171, March 23; received March 26.↩