CIC Makes Mistaken Arrest in Trieste (4 MAY 1946)

Courtesy Photo | The 351st Infantry Regiment (TRUST) at an Italian border outpost in Zone A, Free Territory of Trieste (photo courtesy of Kathi Mirto)  

UNITED STATES

04.26.2024

Story by Erin Thompson 

U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence

by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian

CIC MAKES MISTAKEN ARREST IN TRIESTE
On 4 May 1946, the Trieste Sub-Office of the 428th Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) Detachment mistakenly arrested an Italian soldier returning home from fighting in Italy. The arrest resulted in a multinational protest against the CIC in Trieste.

Under the Allied peace treaty with Italy at the end of World War II, the Free Territory of Trieste was established as an independent territory between Italy and the former Yugoslavia. The region was under direct control of the United Nations Security Council, which split it into two zones: Zone A administered by British and U.S. troops, and Zone B overseen by Yugoslavian forces. The autonomous region was plagued by diplomatic tensions with northern Italy and Yugoslavia and the latter’s communist ally, the Soviet Union.

In mid-1945, the 428th CIC Detachment became responsible for all counterintelligence duties in the region and in support of the main American units stationed there, primarily the 351st Infantry Regiment, later known as the Trieste United States Troops (TRUST). The CIC established six zones of operations within Zone A which were further divided into sub-offices. The Trieste sub-office, later organized as the 17th CIC Detachment, was responsible for the city of Trieste and adjacent areas in northern Italy.

On 4 May 1946, CIC Agent Arthur Henning arrested Lt. Alfredo Fabrici, a soldier with the Italian Alpini, Italy’s specialist mountain infantry units that had fought alongside the Axis powers during World War II. Agent Henning believed Fabrici was still a member of the National Republic Army in northern Italy and charged him with collaborating with the Nazi SS. Fabrici had returned to Trieste after the war to stay with his father, who was an official at the Monfalcone shipbuilding yards.

Shortly after Fabrici’s arrest, the CIC office in the heart of the city was overrun by angry citizens. “Italians, Yugoslavs, and Austrians—some of whom were partisans, others Communists—all pleaded for Fabrici’s release.” The level of support for Fabrici from a multinational source was surprising. Upon interrogating the lieutenant, Agent Henning discovered that, although Fabrici had served with the SS, “the Fascists had given him only two choices: serve with the SS or be sent to a concentration camp. He unwillingly selected the first option.”

While a member of the SS, Fabrici acted as a double agent for the anti-Fascist partisans operating in Italy. Using the authority granted to him as an officer, Fabrici smuggled German materials and weapons permits to known partisan leaders. According to Fabrici, he had also persuaded the infamous Gen. Odilo Globocnik, stationed at the end of the war in German-occupied Trieste as the Higher SS and Police Leader of the Adriatic Coastal Region, to surrender to local partisan leaders. For this action, Fabrici was a wanted man by the Nazi party and had fled to the hills of Tarvisio to avoid capture.

Agent Henning acquiesced to the pleas for Fabrici’s release and let the officer go. His final report of the arrest noted that Fabrici “used his position in the [SS] for the benefit of partisan groups whose ideals were close to those of his own. He risked his life in helping these organizations.” With no proof of any voluntary collaboration with the Nazi occupying forces in the Trieste region during the war, Fabrici was exonerated of any wrongdoing and returned home.


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• Date Taken: 04.26.2024
• Date Posted: 04.26.2024 15:09
• Story ID: 469664
• Location: US