ITALY’S PLIGHT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21842, 20 December 1940, Page 7

ITALY’S PLIGHT

Symptoms Of Deep Discontent German Anxiety British Official Wireless (Received December 19, 7.48 p.m.) RUGBY, December 18. The plight of Italy, where symtoms of deep discontent are already manifest, is the subject of a leading article in “The Times," which remarks that the lighthearted mood of the summer and autumn has vanished as a result of the defeat in North Africa following upon that in Albania. “The Italian communiques scarcely attempt concern at the magnitude of the disaster and only Nazi commentators still pretend that the operations in the Wesern Desert have been confined to Marshal Graziani’s outposts. Meanwhile repercussions are being felt in the International field. The eclipse of Italy has given an impetus to the growing confidence among the population of France that dictators after all are not invicible.”

After remarking that the reaction to recent events in North Africa and Syria cannot be ignored, and that all round the Mediterranean the news of the Italian reverses has been hailed with relief and enthusiasm. “The Times” says: “It may be taken as a matter of course that the Italian campaigns and their repercussions have been anxiously studied in Berlin.” Apparently the Nazi quiescence certainly masks an abundance of underground activity. Whatever contempt Hitler may feel for Mussolini he cannot afford to allow Italy to be driven out of the war or Mussolini to be driven from power if he can help it. These contingencies are not yet imminent. But they are beginning to loom on the horizon and Hitler must have taken his precautions. The Nazi pre-invasion methods of infiltration and permeation, utilised so successfully in Norway and Holland, have certainly been practised in Italy. In place of the canvassed drives against Gibraltar or Constantinople, Hitler may seek to reach the Mediterranean by a less devious route. Rarely has the policy of one man contributed so much to the humiliation of his country as Mussolini’s policy to the humiliation of Italy.