ITALY’S FALL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 October 1941, Page 5

ITALY’S FALL

SERVILE SUBJECTION TO GERMANY MUSSOLINI A PRISONER OF THE GESTAPO. NATION HUMILIATED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 22. A visit which has been made by the Nazi Economic Minister and President of the Reichsbank, Dr. Funk, to' Italy, and a glowing picture he painted in Rome of the Italian trade future in the Mediterranean are regarded here as further signs of the complete domination by the Nazis of their so-called partner. The speed with which Mussolini has sunk from the proud equal in the Brenner talks to a “gauleiter” in the Ger-man-controlled Europe is emphasised by “The Times,” which says: “Mussolini has himself become a virtual prisoner of the Gestapo. He is now no longer ‘Il Duce’ of Italy but the gauleiter of the Italian provinces in the German Reich. “Any dream he may have had of being treated as an equal partner by his fellow-gangster must have been finally dispatched by the way in which the Italian feelings and the Italian interests have been disregarded in the Balkans. Italian troops, it is true, are being allowed to do some of the donkey work of holding down the enslaved Greeks and Yugoslavs, but all decisions on policy are made by the Germans. “The humiliations of this position must, for those Italians who still retain a sense of national pride and national honour, be still harder to bear than the material hardships which their position entails.” SERIOUS UNREST COUNTRY ON THE VERGE OF REVOLT. FEARS OF BRITISH INVASION. LONDON, October 23. Reports from Italy bring further evidence of serious unrest, and, according to neutral journalists, Italy is on the verge of revolt. Army officers are resentful over Mussolini’s action in sending Italian troops out of the country at Germany's request. There is also 'evidence that Italy fears an invasion by Britain, and feverish steps are being taken to safeguard the coastline.