MUST DECIDE NOW

Evening Star, Issue 24919, 17 July 1943, Page 5

MUST DECIDE NOW

ALLIED LEADERS' MESSAGE TO ITALIAN PEOPLE HONOURABLE SURRENDER COUNSELLED (Rec. 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, July IC. Jn a message broadcast from Algiers, Mr Roosevelt and Mr Churchill warned the Italian people that the time had come for them Jo decide whether to die for Mussolini and Hitler or to live for Italy and civilisation. "'This is a message to the, Italian people from the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Great Britain," said the broadcast. "At this moment the combined armed forces of the United States, Great Britain, and Canada, under the command of General Eisenhower and his deputy, General Alexander, are carrying the war deep into tho territory of your country. This is the direct consequence of the shameful leadership to which you have been subjected by Mussolini and his Fascist regime. " Mussolini carried you into the war as a satellite ot the brutal ■ destroyer of peoples and liberties. Mussolini plunged you into a war which he thought Hitler had already won. In spite of Italy's great vulnerability to attack by air and sea, your Fascist leaders sent your sons, your ships, and your air forces to distant battlefields to aid Germany in her attempt to conquer England, Russia, and the world. " This association, the design of Nazi-controlled Germany, was-,un-worthy of Italy's ancient traditions of freedom and culture, traditions to which the peoples of America and Great Britain owe so much. Your soldiers fought, not in the . interests of Italy, but for Nazi Germany. They fought courageously, but they have been betrayed and abandoned by the, Germans on the Russian front, and on every battlefield in Africa from Alamein to Cape Bon.

" To-day, Germany's hopes for world conquest have been blasted on all fronts. The skies of Italy are dominated by the vast air armadas of the United States and Great Britain. Italy's sea coasts are threatened by the greatest accumulation of British and Allied sea power ever concentrated in the Mediterranean. The forces now opposed to you are pledged to destroy the power of Nazi Germany, a power ivhich has been relentlessly used to inflict slavery, destruction, and death on all those who refuse to recognise the Germans as the master race. " The sole hope of Italy's survival lies in honourable capitulation to the overwhelming power of the military forces of the United Nations. If you continue to tolerate the Fascist regime which ,\ serves the evil powers of the Nazis, you must suffer the consequences of your own choice. We take no satisfaction in invading Italian soil, bringing the tragic devastation of war home to the Italian people, but we are determined to destroy the false leaders and their doctrines which have brought Italy to her present position. Every moment that you resist the combined forces of the United. Nations, every drop of blood you sacrifice, can serve only one purpose—to give the Fascist . leaders a little more time to escape from the inevitable consequences of their own crimes.

" Your own interests have been betrayed by Nazi Germany', and by your own corrupt leader It is only by disavowing botli that a reconstructed Italy can hope to occupy a respected place in 'the family of European nations." The message went on to stress that the time had come for the Italian people to consider their own self-respect,-their own interests, and their own duties for reconstruction of the national dignity, security, and peace. It continued: " The time has come for you to decide whether Italians will die for Mussolini and Hitler or live for Italy and civilisation." The message is being broadcast to Italy every few hours. Thirteen news bulletins were broadcast to Italy during the day.