OCCUPATION OF CATANIA

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24020, 7 August 1943, Page 5

OCCUPATION OF CATANIA

PEOPLE WELCOME BRITISH TROOPS SCENES DESCRIBED (8.0. W.) RUGBY, Aug. 5. “It was an amazing sight and I don’t suppose any conquering army advancing in enemy territory has received such a warm welcome,” says a correspondent, describing the entry of the British forces into Catania. “The people were excited and mobbed the British, jumping on to the runningboards of cars and shaking hands with the men. As the troops marched through many people were in tears, but they were obviously tears of joy. There were repeated shouts of ‘Viva Inghilterra!’ “The people pressed what little gifts they had into the hands of the Allied troops. In addition they were anxious to show where the enemy had left extensive minefields. Two hundred Italian prisoners taken in the town said that they had done nothing for five days but-sow mines. “Men, women, and children crowded round the British cars, frequently begging for food. Some people had sufficient command of English to say that they had been virtually without food of any kind for a week. “There was no mistaking the words with which the British were hailed as liberators. Eager citizens, in a joyful demonstration, almost mobbed a unit of British infantry which, after combing the town for possible snipers, assembled in a street leading to the town’s main square. Mingled with the cheers was the saddening cry, ‘Give us something to eat’ Like people of every German-occupied city, the people of Catania have suffered through the German habit of robbing them of food and looting their shops.”, The Allied precision bombing smashed all the military targets in Catania, a Royal Air Force pilot told the correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain at Allied Headquarters. The newly built port facilities, which will be of immense value to Allied shipping, were untouched. The airman said that a 350 ft merchantman was found blasted up against the side of the Vecchio mole, and Italian tank-landing craft and a ferry sunk across the centre of the port were fresh evidence of the power and accuracy of the Allied bombing. The Catania marshalling yards were littered with deep bomb craters. Two large sheds had been scattered, and three lines of rail tracks lay torn and twisted from direct hits. The building housing the Fascist Party headquarters was damaged by blast and the administrative building in Catania had taken a direct hit from a heavy bomb.