Waiting for Italy’s Collapse

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 208, 2 September 1943, Page 5

Waiting for Italy’s Collapse

MATTER OF DAYS, PERHAPS HOURS LONDON, Aug. 31. Reliable observers in London are convinced that Italy will be out of tbe 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. The German overseas radio statod that a minor British landing attempt on the Italian coast south of Reggio was immediately scotched. British sources have not yet confirm ed the German report of an Allied landing in Southern Italy, but it is believed that too much importance should not he attached to any landings which might have been made The out standing fact is that it will not be necessary to conquer the mainland of Italy by force. 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 ous 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 at present there is no danger. Their rounding up i 3 expected to occur in the shortest time. Experts believe this landing manoeuvre was probably intended to serve as a preparation for a major bridgehead. The fact that the British had with them extensive communications and 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 Rome radio said to-day that leaflets had been distributed in Rome calling for a 15-minute strike to-morrow afternoon. Two American fighter-bombers recently sank a 50,000-ton transport of the Conte ui Savoia class anchored near Bagnara in Southwestern Italy, announced the U.S. War Department. The pilots reported two direct hits and said the whole ship lurched and the stern sank. The vessel shook itself and rose to the surface, but reconnaissance the next day showed that the ship sank. Another formation of Invaders scored a direct hit on an Italian cruiser off the southwest coast of Italy. The Times’ diplomatic correspondent writes that definite political nows 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 the fight. The Allies have continued their air attacks on the Central and Southern Italian railways. Aversa, 15 miles north of Naples, was raided by a strong force of American bombers, which, in spite of enemy opposition in the air, pressed home their attack. About 70 Axis fighters tried to prevent the Americans from reaching their target, but the effort was expensive for the enemy, 17 of his planes being shot down. Flying Fortresses attacked the airfield at Viterbo (30 miles northwest of Rome). They met with no opposition. The other targets bombed were in the toe of Italy. Cardinal Galleazi, general governor of Vatican City, has arrived in Lisbon by air. The reasons for the journey are not disclosed.