ITALY’S SURRENDER

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 September 1943, Page 5

ITALY’S SURRENDER

FOREIGN OFFICE DENIAL MILITARY MOVE PREDICTED LONDON, August 30. London is alive with reports from many quarters to the effect that a mounting crisis in Hitler’s Europe is likely to produce big developments soon. The turmoil in Italy, the Danish revolt, and Bulgarian unrest, coupled with reports of a great Allied army on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean, ready to strike new blows, present - a picture m which many developments are possible, but Italy is figuring most prominently. „ The diplomatic correspondent of the “Daily Express” says: “Neutral diplomats in London are convinced that big news which will be good from the Allied point of view will come from Italy in the immediate future. It is fully expected that military moves against Italy win speedily bring an announcement of Ca ?t“i?‘stated on behalf of the Foreign Office that no information has been received substantiating the report that Italy is signing terms of Ca The l '“D°aiiy Telegraph” says that Italian capitulation must necessarily take the form in the first place of military surrender. Terms may therefore have been served on Rome, not from the Foreign Office, but fiom General Eisenhower s headquarters. The United Nations radio broadcasting to Italians from Algiers tonight, warned them that Allied air, naval and ground forces were concerted m the Meffitonean, ready to strike against the Germans. They might land rn the north and south of the Italian peninsula and converge towards the centre. A Rome radio spokesman, broadcasting in English to-day, outlining what he described as and war aims, said: We are sun fighting against plutocracy andl Boshevism. The wars hercest fighting has not yet begun. We sh all . f ha Y® peace with justice next year. ri we make up our minds not to be infirmMeanwhile the whole Axis transport system in central and southern Italy is cracking under the Allied an onslaught. The latest smiishmg attack, against Orte, made a total ot 30 vital centres in the south of Italy devastated by Allied air blows. It is reported from Berne that troops were again called out t°-day in Milan, Turin, and Genoa to disperse crowds demonstrating against the Government for allowing Count Ciano to escape. . , , The Rome radio to-night announced a significant reshuffle in the Italian prefect. system, a new Prefect of Rome and a general as Prefect for the much bombed town Oi The 3 Cairo correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain, who has just returned from a fortnights tour of the Middle East, says: The eastern shore of the Mediterranean, from Egypt to the Turkish border, hums with the activity of a great Allied army. There are many indication: that these forces are ready to strike. The Germans, apparently aware of this threat, have shown their apprehension by the establishment of a regular programme of flights over the eastern Mediterranean. The troops which had been drawn up on the northern border to guard a g™}sta German thrust towards the Middle East oil lines are now largely free to join in an assault on Europe. A network of aerodromes has been constructed, both to supply the widespread troops and to provide air cover for the operations to come.’ AXIS REPORTS (Recd. 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 31. The German overseas radio stated. A minor British landing attempt on the Italian coast south of Reggio was immediately scotched. A Rome communique says that enemy aircraft yesterday raided the provinces of Cagliari and Naples. “DAYS OR HOURS.” (Rec. 11 a.m.) LONDON. August 31. Reliable observers in London are convinced that Italy will be out of the war within a matter of days, perhaps hours. All the evidence points to the fact that Italy is prepared to lay down her arms, and it is believed an announcement is imminent. British sources have not yet confirmed a German report of an Allied landing in Southern Italy, but it is believed too much importance should not be attached to any landings which might be made. The outstanding fact is that it will not be necessary to conquer the mainland of Italy ‘by force. The Rome radio said to-day that leaflets had been distributed in Rome, calling for a 15-minute strike to-morrow afternoon. . Expanding the report of a British landing south of Reggio, the German overseas radio said it was learned from military sources in Berlin that a British force of about 400 men, brought by naval units, landed on the toe of the Italian boot southeast of Reggio on Sunday. The landing was discovered immediately, and Axis forces took immediate counter measures and wiped out all except 30. who escaped into 'the interior. Military quarters point out that those who escaped appeared to have taken to the mountains, where they still are and where there is at present no danger. Their rounding up is expected to occur in the shortest time. Experts believe this landing manoeuvre was probably intended to serve as preparation for a major bridgehead. The fact that the British had with them extensive communication equipment which they attempted to set up immediately they landed seems to point to that presumption. According to the German News Agency version of the landing, 300 British troops escaped to the mountains. The Berlin radio declared several British commando raids were carried out in the toe of Italy in the past few days. It claims that all were frustrated.

“The Times’s” diplomatic correspondent writes that definite political news from Italy which all await has not yet arrived, but there is no mistaking the extent of the disintegration within Italy, and the sapping of the Italian will to continue to fight.