CONDITIONS IN ITALY

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24022, 10 August 1943, Page 5

CONDITIONS IN ITALY

UNREST SAID TO HAVE INCREASED PRESS AND RADIO ASK FOR UNITY (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) (Rcc. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON. Aug. 9. “Peace demonstrations and unrest have increased throughout Italy in spite of the state of siege and heavy military rule, according to reports from Italian sources,” says the Madrid correspondent of the Associated Press. "Spanish correspondents report a heavy military censorship of the Italian newspapers, which are leaving large blank spots in the space usually devoted to interior news. The press maintains a unified campaign against unconditional surrender.” The Rome correspondent of the Spanish newspaper “A.8.C.” says: “The only peace acceptable to Italy would be one safeguarding the honour and interests of Italians. Unconditional surrender cannot be counted on.” The Rome radio, appealing to the Italian people to stop criticism and avoid discord, quoted an article from the Milan “Corriere della Sera,” which said: “Italians, do not complicate with hasty judgments the tremendous tasks the Government has undertaken. Criticisms from the people in these turbulent moments is inopportune and damaging.” Meanwhile, the Algiers radio, broadcasting to Italy, said: “Milan, Turin, and Genoa have had the first taste ot renewed Allied air bombing. Italians, the air lull is over. The ball has started rolling.” According to a report received in Zurich from Rome, negotiations for declaring Roms an open city are proceeding with good prospects of success. Damage in Milan “The Royal Air Force raid on Milan on Saturday changed the city's face overnight.” says the correspondent of a Swiss newspaper. “Streets have gone, houses have disappeared, the population has vanished, and entire areas are in ruins and fenced off.” Reuter’s correspondent on the Italian frontier reports that the raiders dropped leaflets in addition to bombs, The leaflets, it is reported, bore Marshal Badoglio’s "war goes on” statement, with this addition: "Are you going on, too?” The main attack, adds the correspondent, was against the Pirelli tyre works, where bombs fell on the factory for 20 minutes. Fires visible from the frontier were still burning yesterday. It is reported, without confirmation, by the Ankara radio that Italian and German military leaders are conferring in central Italy. Ribbentrop and Guariglia. the German and Italian Foreign Ministers, it added, were taking part. The British United Press correspondent on the Italian frontier reports that German military leaders, headed by the chief of the Ge; ian TT: "h Command (Marshal Keitel) are holding important military talks with the Italian Chief of Staff (General Ambrosio) and his experts at Verona, in northern Italy. ■

RAIDS ON NORTH ITALY DEFENCE STILL WEAK (E.0.W.) RUGBY, Aug. 8. A significant fact that emerged from the attack on Milan, .Turin, and Genoa by Royal Air Force Lancasters on Saturday night was that the Germans had not reinforced the anti-aircraft defences of northern Italy, says the Air Ministry News Service. No effort apparently had been made to strengthen the defences of the three cities, which, according to the bomber crews, were as weakly defended as ever. There was little flak, only one or two night fighters, and the searchlights seemed to be handled by completely inexperienced men. One Lancaster pilot who has made three previous flights to northern Italy said there were many searchlights when he arrived over Turin, but the ground crews soon went to pieces when the bombing started. “They seemed to have no plan of defence and made no attempt even to build up the beams into cones,” he said. “At one point when most of us were over Turin we were calmly flying backwards and forwards picking out our targets. The searchlights were still in a ring round the city. They might just as well have not been there at all.” When the crews arrived back in England they were all confident that they had hit the target*: “We were a little early, and we did a leisurely circuit round Turin,” one pilot said. "The searchlights were waving rather aimlessly. I don't know who would have been more surprised if the beams had picked up a Lancaster—the ground crews or the air crews. Then flares were dropped and the city was lit tin as though by daylight. We could see the streets, churches, factories, railway lines, and the main station. We made a circuit over the city while the flak and searchlights hardly interfered, and dropped our bombs. Fires began to spring up rapidly, and by the time we left they had a good hold.” Pilots who went to Milan and Genoa reported a similar lack of defence. At first it was believed that three bombers were missing. Later it was learned that one had gone to North Africa because of engine trouble. NAVAL SUPPORT FOR ARMY SUCCESSES GAINED IN SICILY LONDON, Aug. 8, “An entirely new system of naval gunnery procedure has been introduced into naval support for the Army on a scale never before attempted. The system. which was tried out in the Dieppe raid and during the North African landings, was brought into full use during the invasion of Sicily, and it proved an unqualified success” says Reuter’s correspondent with the Mediterranean Fleet. . “Every assault unit engaged in the land attack against Sicily had a forward observation oflicef working with a specially-trained opposite number aboard one of the supporting ships. This enabled the infantry to get vital artillery support often against targets which were invisible from the sea before field artillery could be landed. Enemy strongpoints inland were battered with incredible accuracy by the warships.”

GERMAN AND ITALIAN SEA LOSSES - FIGURES ISSUED BY ADMIRALTY (Roc, 7 p.m.i LONDON, August 8. During the 46 months of the war to June 30. 9.045.663 gross tons of German and Italian shipping were captured, sunk, or damaged by surface ships, submarines, aeroplanes, and mines, according to Admiralty announcements. The total of German and Italian shipping captured, sunk, or damaged increased by more than 2.867.000 tons during the year ended June 30, The Admiralty points out that the figures exclude Russian successes against the Germans and the tonnage immobilised in countries not fighting Germany. They also exclude Japanese losses. N.Z. Airmen Arrive in England.— The High Commissioner for New Zealand 'Mr W. J. Jordan) recently welcomed 150 New Zealand airmen, who reached a reception centre in the south of England after training in New Zealand.—London, August 8.