BADO-GLIO GOVERNMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 271, 16 November 1943, Page 5

BADO-GLIO GOVERNMENT

A TEMPORARY EXPEDIENT

Recd. 6 p.m. London, Nov. 14. Marshal Baxloglio has issued a statement from Italian Government headquarters In south Italy confirming that Count Storza and Dr. Croce have refused active participation in the Badoglio Government until King Victor Emmanuel has abdicated, Crown Prince Umberto has renounced the succession, and the Crown Prince’s son has been made minority* 11 * re Bency during his

Marshal Badoglio said: "The leaders of each party informed me that once Rome was liberated they favoured the establishment of a completel yconstitutional Government, leaving me only military affairs. I told them the first thing to do was to free Italy of the Germans—that to make radical political changes now would* only upset the liberated zone and thus hamper the Allies and would forestall the wishes of the whole Italian people, which could only be expressed after all Italy was freed. suggested that the King should form a Government by placing in each Ministry technical experts ready to work with the Allied Commission. The King has approved this plan. I shall now complete the Government with under-secretaries authorised to deal with matters pertaining to each Ministry. Thus the necessary administrative work will not bo held in abeyance, the causes of disturbances in liberated zones will be avoided and the desires of the leaders of all political parties will be met. For myself, once we reach Rome I will be -delighted to remove so heavy a burden into more expert hands and into the care of more youthful energies. I am happy to have assumed, under an order from the King, the responsibility of the armistice and the declaration of war against Germany, and also to have collaborated fullv with A the efforts which the British and the Americans have made and art making to free Italy.” As an illustration of the far-reach-t?? Italians to lhe King Marshal Badoglio said that all the Italian Ambassadors except the one in Berlin had preferred arrest and a concentration camp than foreswear their allegiance to the House of Savoy. The Ambassador at the House of Savoy was suffering extremely harsh treatment. Marshal Badoglio said Italy had recognised Russia as a co-belllgerent and that the Communist Party was legalised in Italy and free to publish a newspaper. Trade unions were being re-establish-ed, and 100 Fascists were already in concentration camps in the liberated zone.

In a confidential reference to the future, Marshal Badoglio recalled a parallel for the present campaign in lhe victory at Vittorio Veneto. Then he said British, American, French, and Italian troops broke the Austrian Empire a week before Germany's collapse. He hoped soon to see Italian mountain troops in action against the Germans.—U.F.A. and 8.0.W.