FEARS MOUNTING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21092, 12 May 1943, Page 3

FEARS MOUNTING

INVASION OF ITALY “BAD DAYS LIE AHEAD” NAZI REASSURANCES LONDON, May 10. With the Allies now in tne position they wanted for the 1943 operations comes evidence of the mounting .Italian invasion fears. The Rome radio stated to-day: “The fan of Tunis and Bizerta is a serious mow to tne Axis, particularly to Italy. Tunisia was an advanced Italian c;eience position and its fall means that ltaiy is directly menaced. Very bad mays lie ahead. Our cities will oe descioyect by devastating air raids and Italy's fair soil will very soon be tne cneaire ot bloody fighting, but Italians, witn tneir immense courage, can stand up to adversity. ® We must be certain mat the fallen in Africa, drenched wnn ruffian biooci, will see us back us victors. We owe this to our dead.”

Germany, however, is still explaining tnat the events m Tunisia ao not constitute a defeat. A military commentator on the Berlin radio claimed that the Axis forces had not been deleated but only compressed by material superiority. ‘'in the past lour years we Germans have gone tnrougn many victorious campaigns, but we have won victories withoi... ever naving had such crushing superiority,” General Dietmar said. "The enemy’s overwhelming superiority has come into its own, but tne result of tne Tunisian campaign does not surprise experts who are astonished that tne inevitable has only now occurred.

“Our jump to Tunisia and the long delaying action have been fully justified. In the meantime, we have been aDie almost to complete the Atlantic wail, consolidate the military and political situation in south-eastern Rurope, and consolidate the eastern front to a degree beyond all expectations. We have also prevented tne launching of a second iront when it would have been most awkward for the Axis. The enemy's organisation is chiefly responsible for his success.”

The Axis authorities are rushing the evacuation of civilians from the French Riviera at top speed, says Reuter's Zurich correspondent. Tne Axis is also speeding up ihe work on the Riviera fortifications, camouflaging and reinforcing light artillery. Tney are also said to be installing long-range guns with big stores of weapons ana ammunition at certain points, hew U-boat bases are stated to be established along the French Mediterranean coast. Many new airfields and seaplane bases are being built and reinforcements of Italian seaplanes are expected. Signor Gayda, writing in the Giornale d 'ltalia, dwelling on tlie otitis against the Italians in the last, phase of the Tunisian battle, said that_the Allied plant's reached a total of 5000 against the Axis “modest number.”