"ONLY JUST BEGINNING"

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 65, 14 September 1943, Page 5

"ONLY JUST BEGINNING"

OPINION ON WAR IN ITALY

(Special P.A. Correspondent.) LONDON, Sept. 13

Rec. 9 a.m.

"The war in Italy is only beginning. Hitler has turned it into total, unlimited battle. He has transferred fresh troops from France, and staked his most valuable commander, and made it a matter of primary prestige,"says "Libefatoi;" in an article in the "Observer."

He points out thafe Hitler's reappearance at the microphone had military significance. It was accompanied by military and political measures which leave no doubt that the Allies have to face a further instalment and unpredictable Hitlerian strategy and not the precise calculations of the regenerated German General Staff. The military defence q£ Naples, Genoa, and Sofia has been placed in the hands of the Nazi strong men, Rommel, Kesselring, yon Weichs.^and Lohr. "Rommel's appointment in particular," the writer says, "underlines Hitler's decree that the war in Italy is to be fought not only for military considerations but equally for the prestige of the Reich, for not only Italy is at stake. If Rommel fails to demonstrate Hitler's capacity to 'protect' his vassals, then the German hold on the Balkan and Scandinavian satellites becomes precarious indeed." The writer adds: "Hitler proclaimed that he would make the Italian Government's action a test case of the respective strength in Europe of the Allies and the German Wehrmacht. This is a challenge so open and clear to every European country which is