PANIC IN ITALY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1943, Page 4

PANIC IN ITALY

FLIGHT FROM BOMBED CITIES REFUGEES CROWD ROADS TRANSPORT SYSTEM BROKEN DOWN. CHAOS ON THE RAILWAYS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, June 1. Roads leading from the bombdamaged Italian cities of Naples, P/lilan, Turin, Palermo and Messina are choked with refugees, says the “Daily Express’s” Stockholm correspondent. The refugee scenes are reminiscent of those in France after the German break through on the Marne in 1940.

Neutral travellers report that the Italian transport system has broken down under the rush for safety and is in a state of utter chaos. The number of early morning travellers at the Milan Central Station has increased from 9,000 to 20,000 daily. An acute shortage of locomotives has added to transport difficulties. One hundred of Italy’s most modern locomotives have been used to transport “flying divisions” to the south, to meet the Allied invasion which the Rome radio says is near.

The British United Press Stockholm correspondent, quoting a German newspaper, says great numbers of invasion barges are concentrated at Allied ports in the Mediterranean. The barges reached Gibraltar early last month, during the final stages of the Tunisian campaign, and since then have been steadily moved eastwards. The Berlin radio announced that the Chief of the Italian General Staff, General Ezio Rossi, has been recalled and replaced by General Mario Roatta. Rossi has been appointed to command an army group. General Guzzioni has also been appointed commander of an army group. Roatta was a former Chief of Staff until he was replaced in January, 1942, by General Ambrosio. The annual report of the Fiat Works, at Turin, admits that R.A.F. raids against Turin have forced a dispersal of workshops. The report, quoted by the Berlin radio, says: “During air raids and the resulting decentralisdeion Of the Fiat workshops, the staff gave proof of high discipline. The annual profit sank to'3B million lira, compared with 59 million lira in the previous year. However the firm is still paying dividends of ten per cent from profits made in earlier years.”

GERMANY’S PROBLEM CONTROL OF EVACUATION. (Received This Day, 12.35 p.m.) LONDON, June 1. A Berlin message transmitted by the Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Zurich correspondent says the evacuation problem, due to incessant R.A.F. raids, has made necessary the appointment of a special administration board. It has also been found necessary to forbid voluntary evacuation.

AXIS BLUFF REGARDING IMPREGNABILITY OF EUROPE. SOME OF THE DEFENCES SKETCHY. (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) LONDON, June 1. Axis assertions of the impregnability of the European fortress contain a large measure of bluff, according to the “New York Times” Berne correspondent. He points out that the Germans have been working hard on the, Atlantic coast, but that the strength of the defences is far short of that claimed in propaganda. The condition of the fortifications on the Mediterranean coast of France brings smiles to the lips of technicians. The Italians devised a general plan, which remains sketchy. Some of their lines are described as trenches of the 1914 type. Significantly, Marshal von Runstedt, commander of the Western defences, has established his headquarters in Southern France, where he can watch the Italian zone of occupation now' threatened by developments in Africa. The truth seems to be that the Axis attached insufficient importance to the aerial menace when it planned its fortress, for it then enjoyed an undoubted mastery. Now that the tables are turned, some of the defences might prove virtually useless in the event of attacks from the air.