AXIS REPORTS

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23997, 12 July 1943, Page 5

AXIS REPORTS

“First Defences Overcome” DECLARATION BY ROME RADIO (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, July 11. One of Mussolini’s mouthpieces, broadcasting on Saturday, said that the Allies had “overcome the first barrier of our defences.” “Zero hour has struck,” said the Rome radio on Saturday afternoon. "We face it with serenity and firmness. Both the population and the armed forces, particularly those in Sicily, are in the best of spirits. Our hard people know to-day more than ever , that the fight must, if necessary, be fought to the last drop of blood. The enemy’s chief aim is not military but political, namely, to oust Italy from the war, which would mean an enormous political gain. “Our people will have ready for the enemy a number of great surprises. We will make the enemy's progress tremendously costly because each Italian soldier knows the outcome of the fight will mean either slavery or life for Italy." The special reporter of the German Overseas Radio in Sicily said: “The fortifications of Sicily cannot be compared with the Atlantic Wall, but the men who man them are imbued with the same spirit. Mobile reserves are waiting in the mountains for the signal calling them to battle. There are forbidden military zones everywhere. Giant batteries protect the coast, behind which stand the most modern German tanks. The German and Italian generals who drew up the defence plans are all in the front line.

"Reinforcements of tanks and motorised troops arc pouring into the island. Thousands of Sicilians line the streets, admiring the. modern German weapons. The German soldiers are literally covered with flowers. The population is calm, confidently expecting the invasion to be repulsed.”

The German radio claimed that the Allied forces in Sicily sustained very heavy losses. It added that the coastal batteries and Axis bombers sank a number of landing transports laden with troops and material. German Comment The German military commentator (Captain Sertorious) said: “The enemy possesses in the north coast of Africa a base of operations with many good harbours. His navy secures for him mastery of the Mediterranean. He has doubtless sufficient transport. His landing troops are mostly well-rested and magnificently equipped. His air forces, though they suffered heavy losses last week, nevertheless have considerable superiority. "There is a British and American force in North Africa and the Near East big enough to make possible invasion operations at other points on the south European front or against the Dodecanese, Crete, or Sardinia. It is highly probable that the Allied High Command will start one or more actions against Southern Europe to make the Axis dissipate its forces,” Gayda, in the newspaper “Giornale dTtalia,” says: “The attack against the Italian outer positions had hardly begun than it encountered very fierce resistance.. The German and Italian forces, supported by the proud and indomitable spirit of the Sicilians, are making the enemy realise .that Sicily is not a front waiting to be plucked, and he is not being received with open arms as a liberator. The whole Italian nation is determined on battle, for which it possesses the spiritual and military means,” A German military commentator said on Saturday night that the German High Command considered the Sicilian operations to have boon purposely coordinated with the Kursk battle on 4 he Russian front.