740.00119 Control (Italy)/11–845: Telegram
The Deputy United States Political Adviser in Italy (Offie) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 8—10:50 a.m.]
4067. Reference Deptels 878, October 5, 8 p.m., to Caserta and 1714, October 1, to Rome.14 Control posts are established on Morgan Line manned by troops from XIII Corps and sentries have instructions to comply with Morgan–Jovanovic agreement for effective frontier control.
It has been found impossible to comply with all its principles as it has been difficult to differentiate between Yugoslav inhabitants and residents of zone B in Venezia Giulia. Language difficulty also produces problems as examination of identity documents, often printed or written in Cyrillic characters, give considerable difficulty to American and British soldiers. Numerical check is made, however, so preponderance of movement from one zone to another can be detected. As Dept is aware, original agreement on Morgan Line envisaged issuance of special identity cards for persons domiciled in Venezia Giulia. These are now being issued to residents of Allied occupied zone and by December 15th it is anticipated that all residents of Venezia Giulia province west of Morgan Line will have been provided with such permits. After December 15th passage across Morgan Line will be refused to undocumented persons. Information received at AFHQ indicates that Yugo authorities have so far not taken any steps to prepare documents for residents on their side of line.
- Latter not printed.↩