ADDRESSED TO ITALIANS BY ROOSEVELT AND CHURCHILL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 July 1943, Page 3

ADDRESSED TO ITALIANS BY ROOSEVELT AND CHURCHILL

Only Hope of Survival in Honourable Capitulation GREAT BATTLE BEING FOUGHT FOR CATANIAN PLAIN FATE OF SICILY LIKELY TO BE DETERMINED LONDON, .July 1(i. ■ President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill today issued a warning message to the Italian people that the country’s only hope . of survival is in honourable capitulation to the overwhelming X power of the military forces of the United Nations. The message was first broadcast by Algiers radio early this morning and has since been repeated by the 8.8. C. every two hours. In the week since the Sicilian campaign opened, the Allies have captured a wedge-shaped piece of the island 90 miles from east to west and in depth varying from 15 to 40 miles. Twenty thousand prisoners, mostly Italians, have been rounded up. Many of them have already been taken to Africa. At least eight airfields are in Allied hands and Allied planes are making good use of some of them. Still more troops and supplies are being landed. The Rome radio says under cover of the enemy’s vast air umbrella the Allied forces are being ceaselessly reinforced with men and material. The latest news of the fighting shows that it has reached a new pitch of intensity at the eastern end of the front, British troops are now on the edge of the Catanian Plain, with Catania itself and important airfields as the next prize, ahead of them. It is becoming increasingly clear that the enemy values these places very highly and a battle increasing in ferocity and bitterness is expected. The Rome radio says the battle of Catania promises to be the fiercest engagement fought in this theatre and one that may well decide the fate of Sicily. The Eighth Army continues to gain ground and at the western end of the front the American Seventh Army is pushing towards the centre of the island. In the air, the Allied offensive against Sicily and Italy has reached a new peak, with heavy attacks against enemy airfields, three of which were reduced to a shambles. Other aircraft ranged up and down the Sicilian battlefield, hitting enemy communications so thoroughly that targets are becoming scarce. Axis aircraft have certainly become scarce, as throughout the whole of Wednesday only nine Axis aircraft were seen over Sicily.