FEARS OF INVASION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 April 1943, Page 3

FEARS OF INVASION

ITALY PREPARING HURRIEDLY UNDER GERMAN DIRECTION. FORTIFICATION AND CLEARANCE OF FRENCH COAST. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, April 2. Italy is hurriedly preparing for a possible invasion by Allied forces from North Africa. According to reports from Spain, the Italian Cabinet is meeting to authorise the appointment of Rommel as supreme commander of the southeastern Italian defences. The German News Agency states that Mussolini has replaced leading officials

in exposed provinces. Quoting neutral reports the Daily Mail” says the Italian Cabinet is arranging details for a Tunisian “Dunkirk.” The “Daily Mail’s” naval writer believes that the bombing of small ships at Cagliari (Sardinia) is evidence that Romel is already collecting an evacuation fleet, to be convoyed by the Italian Navy. , From Switzerland come reports that the Germans are fortifying and erecting barbed wire barricades along the whole French Mediterranean coast| The .Germans are taking a census of French seamen living on the coast. All foreigners living in coastal* districts citizens living near the sea, or in places overlooking the Mediterranean, have also been ordered inland. British and American residents are being evacuated to concentration camps on the Spanish border. A blackout throughout the coastal region has been strictly enforced. GERMAN CLAIM J “SUCCESSFUL RETREAT.” JUNCTION OF TWO FORCES (Received This Day, 12.45 p.m.) LONDON, April 2. Announcing that Rommel has joined up with Von Arnim the German News Agency claims that the Axis forces have ‘successfully retreated” to Central Tunisia, and British attempts to encircle the Afrika Korps have failed. ~ The News Agency says: After Rommel s tank army reached new and shortened defences it united with Von Arnim's troops, thus achieving the original aim of a wellconsidered plan. The News Agency adds. Montgomery and the British and Americans repeatedly tried to prevent the union but Rommel, anticipating the Allies joint operations, disrupted Montgomery s preparations against-the Mareth Line by a vigorous attack and, under cover of stiong rear guards, reached the area between El Hamma and Gabes, with all stores and arms. VISE CLOSING AXIS FORCES ON DEFENSIVE. SPECULATION ABOUT GERMAN ASSERTION. (Received This Day, 12.20 p.m.) LONDON, April 2. Gripped tightly in the steadily closing Allied vise, the Rommel and von Arnim armies at present are on the defensive along a 200-mile front, from Sed Jenane to Oudref. . Considerable speculation has arisen regarding the German military spokesman’s assertion that General Montgomery would not be allowed to make contact with the main Nazi forces. The spokesman said: “The Allies in South Tunisia, despite terrific pressure, have not yet contacted Rommel’s mam forces nor will they succeed in doing so. Some quarters interpret this as meaning that Rommel does not intend to fight before reaching North Tunisia or his forces withdraw from Africa. Whether or not it indicates an attempt at an Axis “Dunkirk,” which apparently is the only alternative to another “Stalingrad,” correspondents emphasise that it is most unlikely that preparations for such a move will escape the Allied air reconnaissance. The possibility of- an attempted evacuation is so obvious that, with the aerial superiority which the Allies possess over a wide area of the Mediterranean and surrounding coasts, any effort to take off enormous numbers of troops by ship would undoubtedly be observed and give the Allied air forces the chance for which they certainly are praying. NEXT DEFENCE LINE PREPARATIONS FOR ATTACK. STIFFER OPPOSITION APPARENT. LONDON,, April 2. Tonight’s despatches from Tunisia show that the Aliles are facing stiffer opposition in the southern sector. The Eighth Army is preparing to tackle the next enemy defence line, somewhere south of Gabes.