BADOGLIO RESIGNS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 49, 7 December 1940, Page 5

BADOGLIO RESIGNS.

WAR ON GREECE DISAPPROVED.

NEW COMMANDER CHOSEN.

LONDON, December 6

It is confirmed from Rome that FieldMarshal Badoglio, Chief of the Italian General Staff and right-hand man ,to Signor Mussolini in military matters, has been relieved of his post at his own request.

The form in which this announcement is made in Rome contains a strong suggestion that Marshal Badoglio has taken this way of showing his disapproval of II Duee’s venture in Greece.

It. is known .that Marshal Badoglio '3 disapproval of the Greek campaign is shared by officers and men of the army. Reports from the Albanian front show that the • army’s heart is riot in the war, and that the rift between the army and the Fascist Party, which fanatically supports the war, is widening. For some - time Fascist writers have been criticising the Italian High Command for its conduct of the war, arid on the other hand the army has not hidden its opinion that the war in Albania, i.s unnecessary and unpopular. General TJgo Cavallero succeeds Marshal Badoglio. General Cavallero, who is 60 years of age, was Chief of the Operations Bureau at Italian General Headquarters in 1918 and president of the Italian General Headquarters in 1918, and president of the Italian military delegation to- the Peace Conference. Since 1937 he hqs been Comman-der-in-Chief in Italian East Africa. Meanwhile the Italians have suffered yet more reverses in Albania. The Athens authorities haVe not yet claimed the capture .of the naval base of Santi Quaranta, but reports from fighting front say that the Greeks have entered the town and that the Italians are retreating north to Valona with the Greeks hard on their heels.

The fate of Argyrokastron, further north, seems to be sealed. The wireless station there has gone dead and Greek troops have encircled the town.

GREAT LOSS TO ITALY.

MOST EXPERIENCED COMMANDER

(Received This Bay, 10.15 a.m.) LONDON, December 6.

Commenting on the report of the re- ' signation of Marshal Badoglio—it is pointed out that this is what is really meant by “being relieved of his command at his own request”—military circles say that the Italian army is thus deprived of one of its most experienced commanders, and suggests that Marshal Badoglib’s action may well have been prompted by his disagreement with the military policy of the Fascist Government.—British Official Wireless.

DAMAGE TO THE FLEET.

PHOTOGRAPHS FOR ITALIANS,

(Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) LONDON, December 6.

It is confirmed in London that photographs showing the damage done to the Italian fleet by the Fleet Air Arm in the recent raid on Taranto were included in pamphlets dropped by the Royal Air Force over Turin on Wednesday night.—British Official Wireless.

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT.

(Received This Day, 1.30 a.m.) ATHENS, December G

It is officially stated that the Greeks entered and occupied Santi Qua rant a this morning.