The Evening Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER' 24, 1942. ITALY’S PLIGHT.

Evening Star, Issue 24334, 24 October 1942, Page 4

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER' 24, 1942. ITALY’S PLIGHT.

Undeb his leadership of the Fascist movement, Mussolini helped Italy to emerge from what for a time was almost a .state of anarchy. All his good work was undone when ho made the fatal step in the present war of. taking sides with Germany. Sympathy must ho felt for the Italians in the plight in which they find themselves, for to the mass of this normally peaceful people the war must be abhorrent. It is not surprising to learn that the King is ill. He has suffered many troubles in the fortytwo years of his reign. Soon after the end of the last war terrible earthquakes, with much loss of life, occurred in Northern and Central Italy, and this disaster was followed by the domestic upheaval during which Mussolini took charge and Victor Emmanuel 111. was left a king only in name. Now, as a result of II Dime's megalomania, bo sees his subjects in a very unhappy condition indeed. In the present conflict Italy has suffered many reverses at sea, on land, and in the air. In the House of Commons on Wednesday a .member asked the Secretary for Air: “Do we not owe it to Malta to bit Italy Ironx the air? ” To which the Minister replied: “We are hitting Italy very hard, and wo shall go on hitting.” The fulfilment of that promise is reported to-day by the announcement that Genoa had been heavily bombed from the air. Genoa is the chief port of Italy, it is a naval base, and it is strongly fortified. Tlio last raid on Genoa was made just over a year ago. Since then tho United Nations have built up their air strength rapidlv, and wo'may expect that raids on Italian vulnerable points will follow

the lines of those that are being carried out on Germany’s industrial cities. Operations in the air, it has been said, cannot Avin tho Avar, but they must greatly Avcaken the enemy. The position avus reasonably put by General Sikorski on the anniversary of the outbreak of war.i This Polish leader expressed the opinion that the Avar Avill not end in 1942, as some believed, but will be drawn out through a fourth Avititer. The present period and the beginning of 1943 Avill be a period of gradual exhaustion for the enemy; it will Aveaken him in a moral and physical respedt. “It Avill prepare the avuv for the final triumph by increasing and concentrating the forces of the antiGerman coalition by the planning of decisiA’e blmvs.” There is no exaggeration here. Present conditions support this statement. The Allied strength is increasing at a great rate, the Nazis have hew checkmated in their Russian adventure, and Germany, and Italy face a bleak Avinter prospect, with the certainty of ever-increasing intensity in the air raids.