DISCONTENT IN ITALY

Southland Times, Issue 24887, 29 October 1942, Page 5

DISCONTENT IN ITALY

CATHOLIC ATTITUDE LONDON, October 27. The Berne correspondent of The Evening Standard quotes an Italian who has just returned from the bombed areas as saying that 10,000 persons who rushed for one shelter in Genoa during the Royal Air Force raid on Friday became jammed, in the gates and panic broke out. As the throng jammed into the restricted space bombs began to fall in the port area and the crowd used their fists to get to the shelter and women and children fell down and were trampled on. Troops at the entrance to the shelter made an effort to disentangle the mob before the situation got out of hand, but they only heightened the confusion because someone shouted: “The soldiers are trying to get into the shelter.” A Geneva message says that the hostile attitude of the Italian Catholics towards the war is mentioned by the newspaper Regima Fascista in an article extolling the confidence of the Italian soldiers compared with the pessimism of the Catholics. Regima Fascista suggests that the soldiers should visit the editors of the various Catholic newspapers in order to inspire the staffs with confidence in victory. „ A Rome Radio’s pep talker, Mario Appelius, declares: “The Mediterranean is once more in the front line of the battle. The Anglo-American strategists have finally chosen it as the leading theatre of their war. We will be disciplined. We will be satisfied with the _ news given to us daily in our communiques.” A ghost voice interjected: “Why don t your communiques tell the truth about your cities?”