MOUNTING AXIS INVASION FEARS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 110, 11 May 1943, Page 3

MOUNTING AXIS INVASION FEARS

ITALY NOW MENACED Nazis Say European Wall Is Strengthened N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 11.30 a.m. LONDON, May 10. With the United Nations now in the position they wanted for their 1943 operations comes evidence of mounting Italian invasion fears.

Rome radio stated to-day: "The fall of Tunis and Bizerta is a serious blow to the Axis, particularly to Italy. Tunisia was an advanced Italian defence position and its fall means that Italy is directly menaced. Very bad days lie ahead. Our cities will be destroyed by devastating air raids. Italy's fair soil will very soon be a theatre of bloody fighting but our immense courage can stand up to adversity. "VVe must be certain that fallen Africa, drenched with Italian blood, will see us back as victors. We owe this to our dead."

A Zurich message says the Italian Press is taking great pains to assure the people that the evacuation of Tunisia does not affect the security of Italy, claiming that the Allies reached Tunis and Bizerta too late to open an attack against Southern Europe in 1943, but neutral observers report an atmosphere of depression among the Italian public. ■ ' German Explanations Germany, however, is still explaining that events in Tunisia do not constitute defeat. The military commentator of Berlin radio claimed that the Axis forces have not been defeated but only compressed by material superiority. "In the past four years," the commentator added, "we Germans have gone through many victorious campaigns, but we have won victories without ever having had such crushing superiority." General Dietmar, the German military commentator, said: "The enemy's overwhelming superiority has come into its own, but the result of the Tunisian campaign does not surprise experts', who are astonished that the inevitable has only now occurred. Our jump to Tunisia and our long delaying action have been fully justified. We, in the meantime, have been able almost to complete the Atlantic wall, consolidate the military and political situation in Southeastern Europe and consolidate the eastern front to a degree beyond all expectations. We have also prevented the launching of a second front when it would have been most awkward for the Axis. The enemy's organisation is chiefly responsible for his success.