CIVILIANS LEAVE GENOA

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23802, 23 November 1942, Page 5

CIVILIANS LEAVE GENOA

EFFECT OF BRITISH BOMBING LONDON. Nov. 20. A coastal strip nearly 20 miles long between Genoa and Portofino is to be compulsorily evacuated, states the British United Press correspondent on the Italian frontier. Evacuees jam all the roads, and the wildest rumours . are circulating throughout Italy about the naval and military damage inflicted by the Royal Air Force. Anyone attempting to approach the waterfront is turned back under the threat of shooting, and the railway to the port of Genoa has ceased running. Many Genoese are being evacuated to Rome, in the belief that Rome will not be bombed. The Genoa newspaper “Corriere Mercantile,” states: “With deep comprehension of the needs of the moment, the Italian State railways have used every means at their disposal for the evacuation as speedily as possible of civilians from Genoa. Special trains have been provided for'the crowds which are unable to find accommodation on the normal trains. As the outflow is increasing, we suggest further exceptional measures, for instance, that expresses from Genoa should stop at smaller stations.” The. Rome correspondent of the Zurich newspaper “Dietat” states that air raid damage in Genoa includes the destruction of the Church of San Stefano, where Columbus was baptised, and also three other churches and eight ducal palaces.