MILAN CATHEDRAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 205, 31 August 1943, Page 4

MILAN CATHEDRAL

the ruins of the city of Milan, the Cathedral still stands. The world, that part of it which believes in preserving the treasured heritage of the past, will rejoice that it was the British who were engaged in attacking Milan, just as they will rejoice that it was the American Air Force which undertakes the task of bombing Rome. How different from the conduct of.the Luftwaffe which in the hour when it could not match the strength of the Royal Air Force in Great Britain, took to Baedaker bombing operations, hoping to hurt British hearts by the smashing of treasures that cannot be replaced! Milan Cathedral has been described as frozen, music, a description which does not over-state its beauty, yet it was the Fascists who put this treasure in jeopardy, and now it is Marshal Badoglio who keeps it in peril of destruction. The Italian people had a right to expect of him that he would use whatever force was available to him to protect .civilisation’s heritage. To do this he should have protected his country from becoming a battleground between the Allies and the Axis. He determined to continue tlfe fight and now he knows that every treasure-house in Italy is likelv to be smashed to shapeless rubble by the action of the Nazis. If the Nazis are allowed to enter into Italy and stay there, then the fascist regime, with all its corruption, will be re-estab-lished, the promise of freedom will fade as does a mirage, and Italy will again enter into another period of the Dark Age. ’ A people will only be free when it dares to be free. Freedom cannot be purenased—it must be fought for, and when it it is gained it must be defended. This is not an accident, it is a law of life. For the Italians and for every other people there is no denying, nor avoiding, this law of life.