MORE ACTION AT EL AGHEILA

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23811, 3 December 1942, Page 5

MORE ACTION AT EL AGHEILA

ENEMY ARTILLERY

ENGAGED

WIDESPREAD AIR OPERATIONS (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.)

(Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 2. A livening of activity in the El Agheila area is reported in to-day’s Cairo communique, which states that in this area enemy guns were successfully engaged by the British forces. Patrol activity is also reported. In air combat over the forward area three German aircraft were shot down and others were damaged. Airfields at Bizerte and Trapani, in Sicily, were bombed on Monday night, causing large fires. Yesterday twinengined fighters attacked and set fire to a south-bound enemy merchant vessel off the east coast of Tunisia. From all these operations three Allied aircraft are missing.

Two Malta-based squadrons of fighter-bombers have between them destroyed or damaged nearly 100 enemy aircraft in November, sunk shipping, and bombed railway trains and aerodromes in the course of widespread attacks, states a Cairo message.

ITALIAN WAR CASUALTIES

MUSSOLINI GIVES FIGURES

R.A.F. RAIDS AND SEA BOMBARDMENTS

(Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 2. In an address tq-day to members of the Italian Government and the Fascist chambers. Mussolini gave figures for casualties and damage caused by Royal Air Force bombing and sea bombardment of northern Italian cities. Mussolini said that in air and sea bombardments 1876 persons had been killed and 3300 injured. In Genoa 5772 houses had been destroyed. In Milan 30 houses had been destroyed and more than 2400 damaged. In Turin, 161 houses had been destroyed and more than 3200 damaged. Mussolini also gave figures for Italian service casualties in 30 months of war. He said that 40,219 Italians had been killed and 232,700 taken prisoner, including 215,000 soldiers, 12,000 sailors, and 5000 airmen.

ITALIAN MORALE

REPORTS SUGGEST WEAKENING

ROME RADIO STATEMENT ON AIR RAIDS LONDON. Dec. 1. “Reports from Greece confirm accounts of the deterioration of Italian morale,” says the Istanbul correspondent of “The Times.” “Italians in Greece are converting their ill-gotten gains into gold at an incredibly high rate of exchange. “ ‘Acts of rebellion' have occurred among the Italian troops garrisoning Athens, in consequence of which machine-guns were posted in central streets.”

According to private advices received in Berne, heavy taxes, food restrictions, army reverses, and bombings have created discouragement throughout Italy. The Italian radio and press have burst into a chorus of assurances that Italians can stand up to the British bombings. The Rome radio declared: “The Italians can take it, even supposing the British and Americans take Tunisia and keep an air fleet strong enough to make great attacks against Italian open towns.

“It remains to be. seen whether Italians will show less resistance and less energy than the British and whether they will give way- to madness and revolution. There is no sign at the moment that Italy is really on the verge of collapse.” The radio added: “In this exceptional moment a meeting is being held in Turin to draw up emergency rules for the administration of justice.” The newspaper “Popolo dTtalia” states; "Although Italians emphasise the destruction of works of art by British bombing it does not mean that they are afraid and will hide behind them.”

The .newspaper “Corricre del Lasera” says: “Scenes of devastation cannot diminish the Italians’ determination to hold out. The British attacks will bend neither the spirit nor the will of Italians.” U.S. Propaganda

American radio propaganda directed to Italy is now drawing a sharp distinction between resistance and revolt, and is telling the Italians that the time for revolt is coming. Meanwhile, it is urging only passive resistance, such as sabotage in factories and refusal to go to Germany to work. These broadcasts depict Mussolini as “Honorary German No. 1” in serving Hitler’s interests. The Italian will to resist the democracies is growing steadily weaker, according to informed circles in New York and Washington. The “New York Times,” in a leading article, states: “If the Allies hope to conclude a separate peace with the Italians, we must go beyond Mr Churchill’s general statement and tell them our peace conditions. The Italians must depose Mussolini and his Fascist organisation. We must assure the Italians that they will be free. We must restore trade with the Italians and give them food and other supplies necessary for prompt rehabilitation. “In return we will require the absolute suspension of all Italian trade with Germany and the sealing of the frontier for the duration of the war. Furthermore, the Italians might have to struggle against their former allies to secure peace and neutrality. “Other problems such as the disposal of Italian colonies and the form of government within Italy could be postponed until the general peace. At any rate, we cannot postpone active discussion of peace conditions if we are to integrate our diplomacy with the war effort.”

A New York report says that the Italian-American Labour Council is mobilising thousands of its workers in the United States to encourage and finance revolt in Italy, with the aim of getting Italy out of the war as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the council has received a copy of the proclamation being distributed throughout Italy by the underground Socialist Party, urging the overthrow of the Mussolini regime. The party is reported to number hundreds of thousands.

DISAFFECTION IN SICILY

GERMAN AND ITALIAN DIFFICULTIES NEW YORK, Dec. 1. M. Edward Klenerer, who after 20 years as a correspondent in Italy was expelled by the Fascists, writing in “P.M.,” says that Sicily is a povertystricken island whose inhabitants have always resented Italian Fascism. Sicily may be the first objective of the Allied forces after the complete occupation of North Africa. “Sicily is Rommel’s most important supply base, but for two years the Sicilians have tried to make the Nazis as uncomfortable as possible, and the Fascist leader of Catania has had his hands full stamping out riots since the Germans arrived,” he states. “Nevertheless, his reports to Rome speak of ‘perfect harmony’ between the Sicilians and the Nazis. “Major-General von Mueller, the German commandant, a few weeks ago ordered Jais troops not to provoke the

susceptibilities of the excitable islanders, but Rommel’s youngsters continue their molestation of the dark-skinned Sicilian girls. Hot-tem-pered fathers and brothers consider that such incidents are closed only when they are washed out with blood. “One very popular device of the Sicilians is painting a ‘V’ on their shoe soles so that the pavements receive the imprint of this defiant mark. When his Italian majesty visited Sicily recently to comfort the bombed inhabitants. public buildings, walls, and pavements were plastered with the slogan ‘Down with the Fascist Empire.' “There are practical reasons for this hatred such as forced emigration to factories in northern Italy and the Reich. Moreover, the Sicilian peasant sees the Germans loot his land to feed Rommel’s army, and he thinks of Mussolini’s rosy promises of 20 years ago. He ruefully reflects that the great irrigation plan is still in the blueprint stage and that promised roads, harbours, and railroads have not been built.”

Concession to Argentina. —The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times” says that if Argentina were given a share in the sale and shipment of wheat and corn from areas recovered from the Axis, it might be sufficient to bring her into the war on the United Nations’ side. This is the view of foreign traders in Washington.—New York. December 1.