NAZIS OPPOSED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 September 1943, Page 4

NAZIS OPPOSED

ITALIANS FIGHTING IN MANY AREAS SAID TO BE IN CONTROL OF SOME CITIES. REPORTS OF WIDESPREAD RESISTANCE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 16. Reporting that clashes between Italian and German troops are continuing, the Algiers radio said Bologna is in Italian hands. In Turin 2,000 Italian soldiers have encircled a strong German formation and have taken several hundred prisoners. Como and Verona are also said to be in Italian hands. The Italians control the whole of Tuscany and the greater part of the Abruzzi provinces. In Milan the Italians are meeting German tanks with machine-gun fire. Italian patriots are fighting bitterly against the Germans at Trento and along the railway leading to the Brenner Pass. The whole area between Bologna and Romq is now under the control of Italian patriots. Elsewhere patriots are mining railway lines, bridges, food and ammunition dumps. Bitter fighting is occurring in Piedmont, in many areas of which Italian workers have refused to return to work and have opened fire on the Germans. Reuter’s Zurich correspondent says a diplomatic courier who recently arrived from Rome reports that fighting between Italians and Germans is still going on in a quarter of Rome adjoining the Vatican, where Italian workers have built barricades and fortified houses. All attempts to wear down the Italian defenders failed. The Germans are not allowing worshippers to enter St. Peter’s. The Germans cleared the square in front of St. Peter’s, although by the Inderlatern Treaty the square belongs to the Vatican. ■ Other reports from the Italian frontier state that ten anti-aircraft guns are mounted in St. Peter’s Square, below the Basilican steps. Machine-gun posts are also established in the colonnade. German parachutists guarding the Vatican .seem to be intent on keeping Allied diplomats from contact with the outside world. The food position in Rome is reported to have become worse. An Associated Press correspondent on the Italian frontier reports that the Germans today fired on hunger-driven crowds storming food shops. All public services are paralysed. Nothing is entering the city from outside. MARTIAL LAW PROCLAIMED BY GERMANS IN WHOLE OF NORTHERN ITALY (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.55 a.m.) RUGBY, September 16. The Germans have proclaimed martial law over the whole of Northern Italy, according to the Swiss radio. According to an ordinance issued by the German military commander in Milan, all industrial enterprises must resume activities at once. The Germans have banned all listening to radio transmissions and a ban has been imposed also on strikes. ITALIAN WARSHIPS ANOTHER 28 REACH PALERMO. MANY MERCHANTMEN ARRIVE 5 AT VALETTA. (Received This Day. 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 16. It is officially announced in Algiers that 28 more units of the Italian Fleet have arrived at Palermo, and that numerous Italian merchantmen have arrived at Valetta