DRIVE IN ITALY

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 236, 3 July 1944, Page 5

DRIVE IN ITALY

Germans Declare Florence Open NEW ALLIED ORDER TO PATRIOTS (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.— Copyright.) (Received July 2, 8.10 p.m.) LONDON, July 1. General Alexander, in a special message 'broadcast over Algiers radio, said: “Patriots of ail Italy: for the next week, starting from today, apart from your ordinary activities, make all efforts to destroy the enemy’s signalling system and communications.” The radio revealed that 'the patriots have contributed to the liberation of 400 localities in Italy. Berlin radio announced that Hitler has declared Florence nn open city so that its irreplaceable treasures can be preserved. After being held for several days at the Chienti River, advanced troops of the Eighth Army have reached (lie vicinity of the Civitanova railway, Jive miles, east of Macerata, reports the Exchange Telegraph’s correspondent in Algiers. Inland, the enemy has now been cleared from Maginone, and advanced elements have reached Corciano. six miles west of Perugia. The Fifth Army, pressing back tin; Germans in the Cccina area, has reached a position three miles north-cast of the town, and Fifth Army tanks have cap- ■ tured Monte Cerboli, on the road to Pomarance. . Reuter’s correspondent at lhe Allied headquarters says a combat team comprising American soldiers of Japanese origin is fighting with the Fifth Army. Three days ago the Germans killed 50 Italian civilians and 10 partisans in reprisal for the death of six German soldiers in the outskirts of a village. People of the village told Amgot ollicials that the Germans went from house to house, battering down doors and shooting everyone inside. In one home a father and four children were shot, in anol her a. young woman and her mother. The victims included four women, two 11-year-old boys and a nuui of <5.

This is not the first German outrage of this kind in Itlaly. In a village in the soutli the Germans murdered more than a score of civilians as a reprisal measure last October. .