TAKEN WITH RESERVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 May 1942, Page 4

TAKEN WITH RESERVE

REPORTS OF ITALIAN DEMANDS AND MOVEMENT OF TROOPS AGAINST FRANCE. 1 MUSSOLINI’S WITHERED LAURELS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, May 26. Three hundred thousand Italian troops are expected to move against Nice and Corsica at any moment following reports that Vichy will reject Italian demands for their cession, says the “Daily Mail.” M. Laval is reported to be agreeable to negotiate only on Tunisia. The Zurich correspondent of the British United Press says it is officially announced in Rome that King Victor Emanuel reviewed troops at Alessandria and Turin, in north-west Italy, and Crown Prince Humbert reviewed Black Shirts at San Remo. . Laval reported to Marshal Petain yesterday on the result of his latest visit to Paris, and then summoned Admiral Auphand (who is the Vichy Secretary of State for the Navy) and the Resident-General of Tunis, Admiral Esteva, for a conference. The diplomatic correspondent of “The Times” says: “There is a general impression in the Mediterranean region that the Axis is preparing outstanding military and naval efforts there. The Turks are watchful, the Spaniards are expectant, the Portuguese are anxious, ' and the British Navy is alert. “Some of the evidence, however, is of doubtful value. • The Italian clamour for French spoils may be merely an attempt to revive the Duce’s withered laurels or to exact a high price for the Italian cannon-fodder which Hitler hopes to use in Russia. It is hardly a moment for Germany to assist Italy in wrecking the policy of the French-German collaboration.” The . “Daily Telegraph” says 'there are indications that the Germans are pressing Laval for facilities at Bizerta, though the Germans are treading warily, as they do not want a rupture between Vichy and the United States, 1 which would follow the surrender of the French Fleet or a North African possession to the Axis. The Italians may also be pressing for concessions in Tunisia, firstly of an administrative character, whereby the Axis hopes to insert the thin edge of the wedge without provoking an immediate American reaction, the “Telegraph” says. It adds that the reports that Italy has demanded the immediate cession of Nice and Corsica must be taken with great reserve, likewise reports that Mussolini has massed 300,000 troops on the French frontier. A “Daily Express” correspondent on the French frontier says that Mussolini’s demands on France are contained in a second Note. A Vichy message reports that Petain is to review French troops at Chateauroux (central France) tomorrow.