THE NEXT ROUND

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 43, 19 August 1943, Page 5

THE NEXT ROUND

ALLIED ARMIES REGROUP

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 12.40 p.m. LONDON, August .18. "Allied armies have begun to regroup in readiness for the next round —the biggest offensive yet right inside the fortress. of Europe," declares the Algiers correspondent of the British United Press. The attacks against land communications on the Italian toe have been so effective that the Germans are now trying to withdraw their forces from Reggio di Calabria to Palmi (25 miles to the north-east), and fighter-bombers are harassing the vessels they are using.

Following the conquest of Sicily, Allied planes are now attacking Axis communications far into Italy. Allied planes have heavily raided the railroad and highway ■ lifelines into the southern provinces of Italy after destroying or damaging 306 evacuation vessels in the final round of the Sicilian campaign. The British United Press correspondent with the American Seventh Army says that the Axis claim that the German forces escaped with all their equipment is nonsense. "When the Seventh Army marched in yesterday, bMessina was jammed with abandoned guns, vehicles, and other booty," he says. "The road for four miles into bMessina was lined with knocked-out and abandoned vehicles. There were practically no Germans in Messina, but Italian troops surrendered wholesale. Hardly a building in the city remains intact. The docks in particular are a mass of jumbled stone and steel."

All correspondents' stories of the occupation of Messina stress the damage done by the Allied bombing.

Reuter says that the town area is practically down to ground level, and that not a single building escaped damage. JUBILANT CITIZENS. The British United Press states: "The Allied bombing so impressed the Italian soldiers that they remained in the air-raid shelters for four hours after we entered the city. When the news reached them that the city was in our hands they poured out, mad with excitement and relief, cheering, applauding, shouting, and shaking hands with the British and American troops. Italian women hugged and kissed men of the British tank force. Civilians said that the Germans looted the shops before they left, and killed anyone who tried to stop them."

The Associated Press of Great Britain reports that the first Americans to arrive in Messina accepted the city's unconditional surrender and drove the Italian leaders to American headquarters. Jubilant residents playing drums and horns formed an impromptu street parade for the conquerors.

"It is impossible to describe the damage," the correspondent says. "The earthquake which levelled the city in 1908 nardly caused more destruction. The centre of the city is a labyrinth of tangled wreckage." LANDINGS IN ITALY EXPECTED. Most authoritative British and American observers believe that an Allied invasion of Italy will come soon. It is considered likely that when invasion Qf Italy begins simultaneous moves will be made against the Balkans, Sardinia, or southern France. ,

Mr. Moriey Richards, the "Daily Express" military writer, says: "Allied landings in Italy may be expected at any moment. General Eisenhower has established a magnificent strategic position. He has ports from which to strike in one or more of three directions. He could move through Sardinia and Corsica to southern France or to Italy or the Balkans. The attack on Italy may be synchronised with other Mediterranean offensives, for the Allies have a second large force based on Cairo and a third in Syria."

The "New York Times" says: "Italy remains in the war only as a prisoner of Germany. It can be rescued only by a determined show of Allied strength— to impress the hesitant Badoglio Government, to encourage the population which is crying out for peace, and to chase the Germans out."

The "New York Daily News" says:--"ltaly is ready to quit the war. This happy result has been achieved by splitting the Italian people from their Fascist leaders. It would be worth while for the Allies at least to try to do the same thing to Hitler and his Nazi Party."