ITALIAN PATRIOTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23013, 3 October 1944, Page 5

ITALIAN PATRIOTS

Germans Taking Precautions LONDON, October 1. A correspondent at Rome reports that machine-gun emplacements and barbed wire are being installed at Milan for the protection of banks and hotels, for fear of an attack by the Garibaldi Brigade, as the numbers of patriots in the mountains north of the city continue to swell daily. German-trained divisions of the Italian Republican Army made such a poor showing in thier efforts to combat the patriots that their employment has been suspended. Of five divisions formed only two —San Marco and Monte Rosa—have been put into action. They both suffered heavy losses in fighting and through desertion. The Monte Rosa Division is now considered useless. One division recently lost 500 effectives through desertion in one movement, and to counter this tendency the Germans have taken preventive measures by arresting Italian generals and air force officers and holding them as hostages. The Garibaldi Brigade, in a heavy battle south of Asiago, inflicted 433 casualties and captured a large amount of war material.