ITALY’S SURRENDER

Grey River Argus, 21 August 1943, Page 5

ITALY’S SURRENDER

Expected in London POPE WORKING FOR PEACE, [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.J (Rec. 11.10) LONDON, Aug. 20. Telephone communication across the Italian frontier was still cut tonight. Trains were held up. Official news is non-existent. It is replaced by rumour. A “Daily Mail” correspondent on the frontier, says: “Reports crossing the border support a belief that Marshal Badolgio has decided to capitulate, and may have already given the word to surrender, but 'the news ma" not be known for days.”' Following the reports from Swedish correspondents in_Rome that major developments occurred in Italy yesterday, observers in London expect an early announcement of Italy’s capitulations. The Italian Government is believed now to have realised it is impossible to defend the country against the Allied air offensive and t° repulse an invasion of the Italian mainland. The Vatican radio to-day stated: “Newspaper correspondents in Rome have noted the frequent visits ot Ambassadors, Ministers, and Apostolic Nuncia to the Royal Palace, lhe Vatican is fully aware of its pacifying and selfless task. In the present decisive hour the Vatican does not ’cease to exercise its vigilant sense of responsibility and its active and impartial co-operation in all efforts calculated to grant peace again to the world.” . There is no news to-day as to how the Italian people are reacting to the fall of Sicily. They are being constantly reminded that the lesson should be taken well to heart Today every 8.8. C. broadcast to Italy began and ended with the words: “This is the 26th day of the Badoglio Goveimment’s war against the United Nations. The responsibility for the continuation of the German war on Italian soil rests only with the Italian Government, led by Badoglio.” Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says the Italians in Sicily lost another complete army—the fifth lost in the war. The Italian Sixth Army has ceased to exist, although probably the headquarters escaped to the mainland. The Sixth Army was composed of two corps comprising nine divisions. The five armies lost by the Italians were the First, Fifth and Tenth destroyed in the African fighting, the Eighth disintegrated' in Russia, and the Sixth lost in Sicily. South Italy r BEING BLITZED BY BOMB AND SHELL (Rec. 1.5 a’.m.) LONDON, Aug. 20. Allied artillery and air forces ana naval units for the last twenty-tour hours have been plastering Southern Italy in one of the most formidable attacks ever seen, says Algiers radio. Withdrawal of German units from Reggio Di Calabria is continuing, the bulk now a're forty miles from the town. A British United Press correspondent at Allied headquarters says. The isolating of 80 miles ot the Calabrian Peninsula from the rest of Italy has been carried a stage further with an attack on railways which follow the coast along botn sides of the peninsula between the Messina Straits and the narrow neck of country at Catanzaro. Guns ot the Allied forces in Sicily have cooperated in these attacks, pouting out a continuous fire across the three-mile straits into Italian defences in the area around Reggio. Planes from the North-west African air force when attacking objectives in the toe of Italy met only light opposition as they crossed the coast, but this opposition increased inland. Bombs dropped at Angitola fell at both ends of an important railway bridge during an attack by Mitchells. Marauders plastered similar target points at Distalletti, ten miles south of Catanzaro. Lightnings strafed, railway yards and other targets at Stalletti. Bostons attacked railway targets at Bagnara on the west coast, also vehicles at two places further north. TERRIFIC ONSLAUGHTS ON ITALY (Rec. 8.50) LONDON. August 19. Allied air and naval forces are staging one of the greatest bombardments in military history against Southern Italy. There is a note ot urgency in this terrific onslaught, but press correspondents are left to guess where the next offensive will fall. The Allied forces scarred the toe of Italy with bombs and gunfire on Thursday blotting out enemy batteries, smashing bridges and tunnels, tearing up railways,, wrecking power stations, and making roads impassable for the war weary Axis forces, which have been fleeing from Sicily. These remnants of a Germany army of 75,000 have been battered and blasted in the last 24 hours in one of the most intensive combined bombardments of the war. They are not being allowed time to regroup, but must trek northward while menaced from the skies at every step. The Germans .already appear to have decided that Southern Italy is too hot for them to attempt to hold. Allied pilots are striking vulnerable points . where roads and railways cross bridges, and are machine-gunning trains and lorry convoys. Some battle-worn Axis forces abandoned the land route for small boats on the western coast of the Italian mainland. They are hoping thus to avoid a dragnet, but Allied warplanes are catching them.

Allied air forces are intensifying attacks against the whole centre of Italy as far as, fifty miles north of Rome.

A Cairo air communique states: A large force of U.S.A.A.F. Liberators yesterday successfully attacked marshalling yards in Fpggia. Heavy weight bombs covered the entire yarjls. Direct hits were scored on an overheat) railway bridge, carriage repairshops, warehouses, and military barracks. A large number of carriages were seen burning in the yards. Explosions and fires were started in locomotive repairshops, and near the main rail station. Liberators shot down four fighters in the course of these attacks. R-A.F. Halifaxes and Liberators on Wednesday night bombed marshalling yards at Crotone. starting fires R.A.F. Beau'fighters and Wellingtons in daylight on Wednesday attacked harbour installations and shinning in the Aegean Sea, also on the west coast of Greece, and directly hit a small vessel at Pevesa. Candia Harbour was also bombed, r out Allied planes are missing from these and other operations. The Air Ministry in a communique renorts: Mosquitoes last night bombed targets in Berlin, fighters attacked enemy shipping in the Channel and sank a minesweeper. - According to the Algiers radio the Axis forces have evacuated a coastal strip in the extreme south of Italy, v. I. ere their positions had become untenable owing to Allied bombardments. They have left the fe y town of Reggio and the area as a as Palmi, 35 miles to the northward. Reggio, one of the ferry terminals in the toe of Italy, is being bombed every half-hour. . . Powerful formations of strategical

and tactical air forces have been used day and night to deal out sustained hammering. , There is little news from the Allied land forces in Sicily. A press correspondent gives a reminder that there is still a front line on the Island. It stretches for several miles, running south from Messina, and is well within range of enemy guns, which, are also well within range of Allied guns. There is no Question who has had the upper hand in the duels that have been going on. The Algiers radio said continuous gunfire from the tin of Sicily crushed several enemy batteries on the Calabrian coast. The Allied fleets completelv control the waters around Sicily and they are shelling troop concentrations and gun positions on the Italian mainland. The Berlin radio stated that German reconnaissance planes reported a great concentration of Allied landing craft in Bizerta harbour, with strong naval formations. The German report that the Calabrian beaches are mined and all harbour facilities destroyed, but it is taking a very narrow view of Allied vision and daring to imagine then’ plans involve only the same narrow Strip of water the Germans found helpful for their evacuation. ©Derations farther north give the Allies room for manoeuvre and me opportunity to employ the crushing superiority of their armour, which was not fully utilisable in Sicily because of the unsuitable terrain, lhe whole world hangs on the Quebec, decisions but the suspense will soon be over. GERMAN LOSSES. LONDON, August 19. Reports from Allied Headquarters say that the German losses in Sicilv amounted to about two divisions, while the Italians lost an entire army. This was the 6th Armv. with 130,000 men, 1700 guns, and 150 tanks. CHAOS IN ITALY (Rec. 12.45) LONDON, August 20. The Associated Press Madrid correspondent, quoting travellers arriving from Italy by plane, state: Highways in central and southern Italy are' streaming with Italian deserters. Strikes are spreading and peace demonstrations are occurring throughout the country. The Italian Army is not anly anxious to quit fighting, but is being disintegrated by thousands of desertions. Reliable sources estimate that there are more than one and a half million bombed-out Italians wandering on the roads. The British United Press correspondent at Stockholm says: Reports from Berne indicate that a vast army of refugees is wandering around northern Italy, threatened with starvation. Their food position is already catastrophic. The Italian war production has catastrophically dropped as a result of Allied bombing states the Stockholm “Sevenska Dagbladet’s” Berne correspondent. Italian military authorities estimate that during the last month the war potential went down 60 per cent. No new arms or munitions can be produced henceforth by Italian war industry. Rome’s Status ITALIAN ATTITUDE. (Rec. 11.10) LONDON, Aug. 20. The Stefani (Italian) News Agency’s diplomatic correspondent, according to the Rome radio, stated: “The only reason for declaring Rome an open city was a desire to spare the centre of' Catholicism. Some British and American circles of bad faith claimed that the decision was chiefly due to a desire to spare Romans from further bombing, because of their psychological and physical relations. That shows our enemies are incapable ot understanding the situation," and of the mentality of the Italians. Having made the declaration of an open city, the Italian Government is now systematically taking all measures,for, which international law provides. ’ “SOFTENING” FRANCE LONDON, August 19. Formations of U.S.A. Marauders 826 attacked airfields at Poix and Amiens-Glissy in France early on Thursday. A formation of R.A.r. Mitchells attacked Poix later. The bombing results were good at both, targets. R.A.F., Dominion and Allied Spitfires escorted and covered lhe medium bomber operations. Typhoons and Spitfires made supporting sweeps over Northern France. The Marauders destroyed one enemy aircraft and fighters destroyed six. ■ From these operations six fighters are missing. Sixteen enemy fighters in all were destroyed during the fifth day ot Home-based bombers and fighters latest “airfield softening” sweeps over Northern France. Fighters shot down nine during the evening and Marauders and lighters seven in earlier attacks on enemy airfields at Poix. RAIDS IN GERMANY LONDON, August 19. An Air Force spokesman in Washington told the Press that the mounting losses of Allied heavy bombers over Europe were due to increasing Allied air power. They did not mean that the German opposition was more effective. The Allies’ numerical losses, he said, were high but the rate had not increased, and was not approaching the rate at which the raids would cease to be profitable. During July the Eighth American Air Force lost lOS heavy bombers. It dropped 3600 tons ot bombs in Europe. It shot down 506 enemy planes. In June, it lost 85 bombers, droped 2458 tons of bombs and shot down 304 enemy planes. More than a hundred German fighters were destroyed by Flying Fortresses and escorting Thunderbolts in the raid on Schweinfurt on Tuesday. „ , The Seventy-five (New Zealand) Stirling Squadron, was in the big raid on Swinemunde, all the aircraft returning without loss and some with excellent photographs. The squadron have received a message of' congratulation from the Air Officer commanding their group with special praise for the Seventy-five. It said: “The Commander-in-Chief (Air Marshal Harris) has sent me a special message expressing appreciation of the efforts made by the personnel of all units in the group in rising to the occasion so nobly when required to operate in strength last night, after the heavy demands made on them during the previous 24 hours. I wish to add my thanks to all ranks for their magnificent effort to keep up the reputation of the group. May I add my personal congratulations to the Seventy-five (New Zealand) Squadron for producing by far the largest effort of anv squadron in the group.”

The Swineffiunde raid resulted in what is reported to be the largest night air battle of the war when bombers fought German night fighters high over the Baltic coastline in a sky glittering with moonlight so bright that it was like day. The New Zealanders bombed without attention from night fighters. The squadron has now peeled off this Swinemunde raid with two visits to Turin and also a mine-laying operation in quick succession.