IMPORTANT HELP

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 18, 16 October 1943, Page 5

IMPORTANT HELP

Expected From Italy LONDON, October 14. The United States Secretary of War, Mr. Stimson, said that Italy's declaration of war should render important aid to the Allied cause. He emphasized that it’was too soon to determine immediate results, as the greater part of the Italian Army is in areas dbmiuated oy the Germans. A message from Washington says the opinion is expressed in military circles that Italy’s declaration of war makes at least'2o Italian divisions available for immediate fighting and that more may be recruited later from free Italian units in the Dodecanese and Yugoslavia, while it Is possible that some troops in central and northern Italy may fight their way through the German lines to join the Allies. The declaration is believed to have clinched the use of the Italian Fleet against Germany. The quality of the Italian soldiers is rather a nioot question in the light of their singularly unimpressive military record. However, it is pointed out that the Italians fight well when on “the right side.” Moreover, there were many instances in Africa where the Italians fought superbly with poor equipment after their virtual abandonment by the Germans. In this connexion the Algiers correspondent of the “New York Times” says: “The lingering feeling between the Italians and their recent enemies mitigates against the Italians efficiently joining in on the actual battlefront. At the same -time, there is an enormous amount of work behind the lines, particularly in Italy itself, where the Italians can be most useful. For example, in matters of supply, as guards for military property, and as a liaison agency between the advancing Allies and the liberated Italian fieople.” The commandant of an internment camp at Florence, in Arizona, said that many Italian prisoners of war are anxious to return to Italy to fight the Germans. The prisoners received the news of Italy’s declaration of war jubilantly, and it was generally agreed that Italy had done the right thing. There is no likelihood of the Bacoglio Government being represented in London. says the political correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph agency. Switzerland will probably continue to represent Italian interests.