THE RESTORATION OF ITALY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1944, Page 4

THE RESTORATION OF ITALY

AT the earliest moment consistent with safety the Allies have handed "*"* back to the Italians, for their own control, as much of their country as has been won from the Germans, with the exception of the areas immediately behind the fighting zone and Mediterranean islands which are essential to the safety of shipping. They have imposed safeguards, and they have made it clear that the arrangement is only temporary until the voice of Italy from the toe to beyond Rome can be heard. The speed and energy with which the pacification and restoration of order in the occupied area has been accomplished and the readiness with which self-government has been restored will be an inspiration to the smaller nations writhing under the paw of the German beast, renewing their hope for an early freedom from oppression, tyranny and mass murder. They will realise more fully than ever that the Allies do not wish to impose any form of government, any method of external control, on them so long as each is ready to apply its own system of government with justice and tolerance. The difference between the freedom now granted Italy and the terrible burden of extortion, oppression and enslavement of France is the deadliest indictment of Germanisation and all that it stands for that could be imagined. The Allies have cut several Gordian knots in coming to their decision. They have handed the reins over to Badoglio meantime, despite the opposition of five antiFascist parties, and of such leaders as Count Sforza and Benedetto Croce, who have refused to have any truck with Badoglio until the King abdicates. This opposition has not been allowed to stand in the way, and though the action of the Allies may seem a little precipitate the moral effect of the contrast between the methods of Allies and German will be a great stimulus to the forces of freedom which are now fighting the Nazis in the underground and guerilla movements everywhere ■breaking out like boils upon the unhealthy bodies of the invaders.