STRANGE INCIDENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24636, 15 July 1943, Page 3

STRANGE INCIDENTS

ITALIANS' REACTION SOME LIKE SLEEPWALKERS OTHERS FIGHT COURAGEOUSLY (Rccd. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, July 14 Strange things happened in the first hours of the Allied assault on Sicily, says a British correspondent. Some Italians fought bravely, but others, thunderstruck by the scale of the expedition, behaved like sleepwalkers. Three Italians who were manning a maehine-gun rwst 200 yards from the bouch sat for 10 hours undiscovered without firing a single shot. They finally showed a white ilag, walked out and surrendered. They explained that the sight of the armada off-shore petrified them into inactivity. This incident and the hundreds of prisoners marching to tho rear are only one part of the story. That large numbers of Italians fought hard and well on the road to Syracuse and boyond is proved by tho fact that tho road to Syracuse is strewn with bodies and shattered pillboxes. Our troops are not winning because of an Italian collapse, the correspondent says, but because tho Allied soldiers are fighting better and with better and more equipment. They are fighting smoothly and efficiently, mile by mile, not walking in unopposed. Allied troops came up against some German units yesterday and they were captured and taken to a camp. They were well equipped ami in excellent physical condition, They were visibly impressed by the large Allied tanks and heavy guns rolling toward the hills, While the advance continues another chapter of heroism is being written on the beaches, where men are unloading supplies under the blasting and strafing of the German fighters and bombers, which swoop low, drop bombs and machine-Run the men and then roar away. The New York Times correspondent says the Italians are lighting just as badly as they did in Tunisia. Indeed, it is obvious that they do not want to fight and it is questionable whether they do not handicap the Germans. Unless tho Axis. strikes within the next few davs, adds the correspondent, it will finally have lost its chance to take the offensive.