"OPERATIONAL AREAS"

Evening Star, Issue 24482, 17 April 1943, Page 5

"OPERATIONAL AREAS"

SICILY AND SARDINIA AXIS DEFENCE PREPARATIONS (Rec. 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, April 16. Mussolini has proclaimed Sicily, Sardinia, and other small islands nearby " operational areas," says the Berlin radio. L'ue ' Evening Standard ' says the decree probably includes Pantellaria and other islands adjacent to it. More Bulgarian troops are going .to Greece to replace the Italian garrison. The Italians withdrawn from Greece are being concentrated in Albania and Dalmatia, and another 100,000 Bulgarians are going to Serbia, the most, anti-Axis part of Yugoslavia. Hungary is rapidly withdrawing her armies from Russia to her own territory. In Southern France the Germans are reported to be rushing the completion of a 350-mile defence line from Nice to Narbonne. The Paris radio stated) that_ the German occupation authorities, in agreement with Vichy, decided immediately to evacuate from Cherbourg, Dieppe, and the immediate neighbourhood all inhabitants not indispensable. Reuter's Zurich correspondent says that since April 12 all travellers from Switzerland have been turned back at the Italian frontier. The Italians appear to be systematically clearing out all foreigners except Axis ones from Italy.