ITALY'S TEETH DRAWN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 6, 14 September 1943, Page 4

ITALY'S TEETH DRAWN

THE surrender of the Italian fleet in compliance with the terms of the military armistice dictated by the Allied Command to the Italian Government, marks the first act of surrender by the beaten Empire of Mussolini. When the long line of twenty-two ships of war including two of Italy s greatest 35,000 tonners of the Littorio class steamed into the grand harbour of valiant-hearted Malta, and when the remainder—six large battle ships made formal surrender at Gibraltar, the Mediterranean became in very truth an undisputed British sea-lane. Italy's teeth had been very effectively and permanently drawn and the units of the fleet will ma,ke a very valuable acquisition to the Allied fighting squadrons soon to be released against the foe in the Pacific, for not only will they increase appreciably the Allied cruiser and destroyer strength, but the absence of Italy as an Axis combatant will release the large number of\ naval vessels employed on patrol duties in the Mediterranean. The new development will enable a world-wide redistribution of our naval striking power with obvious attention focussed upon Japan, against which power the mounting might of two continents is building up preparatory to the coming storm. As far as Europe is concerned, it may be said that sea fighting will now be delegated to a secondary position. Germany's weakened naval power has long made her dependant upon the furtive forays of her Fascist ally, bouyed up with the hope that the Italian fleet would one day be hers for the asking, or may be—taking. However those dreams are now dashed and her hope of combating English sea power to any extent is limited to her own naval remnants skulking in the fiords of Norway, sheltering inside the Skaggerak, or lying inert in captured French and lowland harbours. The U-boat menace has been severely watered down by the counter Allied air action, and only, her land and air forces remain capable of giving decisive battles which will bear on shaping the course of the war. Thus the surrender of the: Italian fleet has not only ensured Italian non-belligerency but has also deprived Germany of her last remaining hope of sea strength.