CAMPAIGN IN ITALY

Grey River Argus, 2 May 1944, Page 5

CAMPAIGN IN ITALY

YOUNG ITALIANS CONFESS. SHOT FOR ESPIONAGE. ’ 8.0.W. RUGBY, April 30. A Naples correspondent says:- Six Italian spies, who crossed the lines into Allied occupied Italy on missions for the Germans, have been shot, after being tried by an Allied Military Court. They were convicted of espionage and condemned to death. Three were 18 years old, two 20, and the other 21. Three had been sent by the Germans to gain information about troop movements, identity of units and headquarters, and other matters of interest to the German Intelligence Service". One was Instructed .to bring back information about political and economic situation in Allied-oc-cupied Italy. In addition to collecting military information about vehicle markings, gun positions, and anti-aircraft sites, the remaining two spies were given a sabotage mission to destroy petrol dumps with delayed action incendiary bombs. These agents were all Italians, picked by the Germans and the Fascist organisation in German-occupied Italy, from the streets and through acquaintance. All six confessed that they had been sent by the Germans.

ALLIED AIR STAFF ESTIMATES.

8.0.W. RUGBY, April 30. Allied Air Force staff officers in Italy, summing up the Allied bombing and strafing of German communications, declare that no through lines to Rome had been open since March 24, writes a Naples correspondent. In his effort to maintain traffic, the enemy had been forced on to the highways where his motor transport had been exposed to constant strafing. Strategic attacks on Italian factories created a spare parts problem In operating civilian trucks. A further indication of the success of Allied air attacks on German communications is the increasing use by the Germans of ports along the west coast of Italy as an alternative means of moving supplies from Northern Italy and France, around several railroads between Florence and Rome. The campaign against bridges,’ viaducts and other bottlenecks on the railways in Central supply the German troops in the front line, continues solidly and systematically.