JUST SURRENDER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 171, 21 July 1943, Page 3

JUST SURRENDER

ITALIANS IN SICILY

Canadians' 7000 Prisoners, "Booty Mounting Up" British Official Wireless RUGBY, July 20. A correspondent with the Fifteenth Army Group Command Post has for the first time encountered blown-up roads. Cabling to-day he says: "All the way from the beaches there have been no obstacles apart from an occasional poor -road block in the path of the Canadians. "Near Grammichele attempts had been made to crater the roads with demolitions, but the Royal Canadian Engineers filled the holes up in a short time. Burnt-out Italian trucks were lying like skeletons every mile or so. "There was plenty of evidence of the Grammichele fight as I drove along the road. On the hill west of the town was a charred hulk of a German tank and two half trucks blown to pieces by Canadian tank gunners. "I drove through Grammichele, which is a small town battered by fighting, and went on to Canadian headquarters, where I learned that the total number of prisoners taken by the Canadians has now probably reached the 7000 mark. There was a-definite figure of 5000, but hundreds of others are being rounded up and taken back. "Captured enemy booty is mounting up too. I saw plenty of Breda machine-guns, rifles, ammunition and shells lying about. I met a British officer who fought in the desert, and he said: 'Never anything quite like this was seen in the Western Desert. The Italians used to put up some kind of a fight,' but in most cases here they are just surrendering'." SHELLING ENGLAND | i Rec. 10.30 a.m. LONDON, July 20. The Germans three weeks ago were reported to have begun using a big gun mounted on the French coast to shell the English south-east coast. The range of the gun is by far the greatest of any other known gun. It has shelled across the Channel at least four times, only a few shells being used each time. Experts express the opinion that such a weapon can have little accuracy. HUMOUR ON BUSES LONDON, July 16. Women conductors on London buses and trams are handling their jobs with an unexpected flair—even to the witticisms for which male bus conductors have become famous. During a recent night air raid, a London bus continued running, although many flares were coming down and things looked as though they might be "dirty." A conductress—they work at all hours, even on night services—on the top deck collecting fares, popped her head out of a window, shouting: "Any more flares, please?" The Minister of Labour, Mr. Bevin. recently encouraged millions of British women workers by announcing that their share of war production had tipped the scale, tmh]ir)£r this year's offensives