ROAD TO ITALY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3251, 12 April 1943, Page 6

ROAD TO ITALY

ISLANDS OFF THE COAST OPENING OF SECOND FRONT STEPPING STONES FOR ALLIES Many people know, and love the beautiful islands whose shores are washed by the blue waters of the Mediterranean. It was on these isles that many artists and writers found a quiet and pleasant place to work and play. Mallorca, Corsica, Capri and Sicily have at some time been centres of international intellectuals who wanted to realise the old dream of “back to nature.’’

European unrest, prelude to the present war, brusquely disturbed artistic dreamers of a freer and more beautiful life. Fascist governments in Italy and Spain drove out “suspicious” foreigners, and the outbreak of the war has scattered the last remnants of Mediterranean artist colonies all over the world.

To-day these islands of beautiful dreams -have been turned into fortresses which command the sea lanes through the Mediterranean. With Allied occupation of North Africa, the strategical importance of the islands has increased. Possession of insular strongholds in the Western Mediterranean have weight in the Allied, enterprise to invade Southern Europe. To-day these islands are strongholds of Axis power; to-mor-row they must become stepping -Hones to Allied liberation of Europe. Blueprint Of Defence

German geopolitical writers, intellectual forerunners of German imperialist expansion, were long aware of the strategic importance of the Mediterranean islands. Numerous maps published in their paper, Zeitschrift fur Geopolitik (Munich) show the blueprint of defence which to-day Hitler’s . generals are setting up in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Axis bases on Pantellaria and on Sicily have already blocked the Westeastern thoroughfare of the Mediterranean. British convoys which tarried war supplies to the battered garrison of Malta have constantly been under fire. As long as .the Tunisian fortress and naval base of Bizerte remains in German hands, communication between 'Gibraltar and Suez through the Mediterranean is subject to interruption.

Insular Protection

Italian naval and air 'bases on Sicily and Sardinia make the southwestern part of the Italian mainland inaccessible to direct Allied invasion. Insular protection of the Italian coast has been considerably strengthened by Italian occupation of the French island of Corsica. In the eyes of the geopoliticians, however, Axis? domination of the Western Mediterranean is only completed if they succeed in bringing the entire “insular diagonal line” under direct control. .Strongholds of this line are Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Spanish Balearic Islands. More than once already the “scientific” theories of the Munich Geopolitical School have ibeen executed by the German General Staff. It is to be expected then, that Hitler’s occupation of Southern France may be extended' to the Balearic Islands and possibly to Catalonia (Barcelona).

Pantelleria, 40 miles from the Tunisian coast and 150 miles from Malta, haddbeen a forgotten and lonely spot until'Mussolini broke traditional friendship -with Gre"' Britain. In 1935 the Fascist -General Staff decided to fortify the small volcanic island, 2500 feet high, which dominates

the narrow channel between Tunisia and Sicily. In 1937 Pantellaria was declared a military zone and airplanes were forbidden to fly over it. Pantelleria, however, is not a second Malta. It has no natural harbour and its anchorages are exposed to enemy attack. The (geological structure of the island has not allowed the construction of large airports. Pantelleria is only a centre of hydroavwns which put down on its small lake. On the other hand, the island’s coast contains many hiding places for. Italian and German submarines. Dominating Role

Sicily always has played a dominating role in Mediterranean warfare. With an area of 9900 square miles an a population of more than four millions, Sicily is the largest and most populated island in the Mediterranean sea. The Italians have turned the island into a military base of first importance. Travellers who visited Sicily in recent years report how the quiet life in the ancient cities had changed. Everywhere new military barracks and homes for defence workers had been built. Italy’s main naval bases on Sicily are Palermo on the north coast, Catania-Augusta on the east coast, and Trapani in the west.

Palermo, Messina and Agrigento are important military centres. Large airdromes have been constructed near Palermo, at Catania, Syracusa and Comiso (south coast). The numbei' of air bases on Sicily has been largely increased since Italy entered the war. After Italy’s defeats in Libya, the German Luftwaffe took over command of all Axis air forces on the island. The smaller Italian island of Sardinia (9300 square miles and one million inhabitants) was considered by the Italian High Command as a defence base against France. Sardinia covers Italy’s western flank; a narrow channel of only seven miles, the Straits of Bonifacio, separates Sardinia from Corsica. Sardinia has already played an important role in the naval history of the Mediterranean Sea.

Main Naval Base It was in La Maddalena, small island port of the Sardinian mainland, that Admiral Nelson and the British fleet waited for the French fleet coming from Toulon, and eventually defeated it at Trafalgar. To-day, La Maddalena has again become the main Italian naval base; on the Sardinian north coast. Italy also fortified Cagliari, capital of the island, on the southern coast, and the small islands of Sant’ Antioco and San Pietro at the. south-western end of the island. Terranova, located on the east coast of the island and facing the Italian mainland, is another naval and air base. After the defeat of France, Corsican defence bases had been disarmed under

the supervision of Axis commissions, and Corsica therefore was unable to offer any resistance to the Italian invaders. Italian troops probably will content themselves with the occupation of the main French bases at Ajaccio (West coast), Bastia (east coast), and Bonifacio (south coast), and they are not likely to enter the macchia (Corsican mountains) in the interior of the country, where they face Corsican guerilla warfare. Italian Move Mussolini has several times undertaken to establish Italian bases on the Spanish Balearic Islands. In 1926 he concluded an agreement with the one-

time Spanish dictator Primo de Rivera giving Italy the right to occupy the Balearics in time of war. The Spanish Republic repealed this treaty, but when General Francisco, Franco and other Spanish military leaders revolted against the Republican government, Italian air forces arrived' in Mallorca. Diplomatic negotiations eventually resulted in the withdrawal of Italian military forces from the island, though Italian civil air companies used Mallorca as a landing place for the line Rome to Cadiz.

Strategically, the most important island of the Balearic group is Minorca. During the 18th. century Minorca was three times in British possession, and they transformed the excellent harbour of Mahon into a strong naval base. Port Mahon and its fortress, La Mola, have since been occupied by Spanish troops. Recently the fortifications have been modernised and numerous coastal batteries and finti-aircraft guns set up. In ancient and in modern history the Mediterranean Sea has been the battlefield of peoples who fought for world domination. Again and again possession of the Mediterranean islands has changed hands. Occupation of French North Africa ,is only one step in the United Nations road to victory.