ITALIAN DECISION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25305, 16 August 1943, Page 3

ITALIAN DECISION

ROME AN OPEN CITY ALLIES REQUIRE PROOF (Rec. 1.10 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 15. The Stefanl News Agency has announced that the Italian Government, in view of the repetition of the air raids oi\ Rome, has decided formally to declare Rome an open city without delay. The Government is taking the necessary steps according to international law. The Government, on July 31, announced through the intermediary of the Holy See its decision to take this step, and has been waiting to know the circumstances in which this declaration would be accepted. The British United Press correspondent on the Italian frontier says that after the announcement that Rome would be declared an open city crowds filled the streets in Genoa, Milan, and Turin, demanding immediate peace. Demonstrations for peace throughout Italy, particularly in the bombed cities, have been redoubled, in spite of increased arrests. The declaration cannot modify the liberty of action of the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, says the Algiers radio. Rome will be bombed as long as it continues to be the centre of German military communications. Diplomatic circles in London and British newspapers hail the announcement as one further step in Italy’s withdrawal from the war. Necessary Measures The Press Association’s diplomatic correspondent says that the Allies will require, through their protecting Power, a complete assurance that all the necessary steps will be taken to ensure that Rome really is an open city. This means that Rome will be unable to make a further contribution of any kind to the Italian war effort or to Italy’s prosecution of the war. All barracks must be emptied and the troops sent away. Government offices connected with the war must be removed. Munition factories, of which there are many in Rome and its environs, must be closed. Any military aerodromes in the area must be vacated, and railway stations and railway lines running through the city must not be used for military purposes. Reuter’s commentator on Italian affairs says that the proclamation is believed to have been made after prolonged pressure from the Holy See. The Vatican radio announced that thousands of people assembled before St. Peter’s as soon as they heard the official Government statement and cheered the Pope, who twice appeared at the window and gave them his blessing. The crowd offered prayers of thanksgiving. Pope’s Intervention 5 The declaration clears up the Pope’s much-talked-of role as an intermediary, says the Berlin radio. Many rumours in the past fortnight have been circulating in Rome and also m Allied quarters that the Pope was mediating between the Allies and Marshal Badoglio. It is now apparent that the Pope’s activities were limited to passing on to the Allies the desire of the Italian Government to declare Rome an open city. Well-in-formed circles have long been aware that the most important Italian Ministers and also the Italian High Command left Rome some time ago, and German headquarters, and German troops were never centred in Rome. < The American Associated Press s Washington correspondent savs that the United States will probably ignore the declaration until it is unquestionably proven that Rome’s military and production facilities are no longer being used against the Allies. The unofficial American reaction accorded with the official British statement that the move cannot affect General Eisenhower’s full liberty. The Italian secret radio, Italia Avanti, announced that a general strike would be called in Italy when resistance in Sicily had ended to enforce the people’s demands for peace.