PANIC IN ROME

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 July 1943, Page 4

PANIC IN ROME

UNDER HAIL OF BOMBS ALLIED REPORT ISSUED EARLY. IN ORDER TO FORESTALL AXIS LIES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day. 11.40 a.m.) LONDON, July 19. According to reports reaching Switzerland, the population of Rome panicked when the air raiders came over the city. The British United Press Berne correspondent says the important railway station of Porto Naccio, south-east of Rome through which pass all south-bound trains, was heavily hit. It is reported that numerous Italian antiaircraft shells failed to explode in the air, but burst when they hit the ground. A good deal of damage and some casualties ai'e reported to have resulted. It is announced from Allied Headquarters that the raid was carried out by unescorted Flying Fortresses, also Marauders and Mitchells, escorted by Lightnings. 'Liberators also participated. A Cairo message says Liberators dropped about 350 tons of bombs on Rome. An Algiers correspondent says correspondents were given information concerning the raid at 1 a.m. It was the first time in the war on which a report of a bombing mission had been released before the attack had begun. Allied Headquarters were notified by radio instantly the bomb-bays of the leading flight of raiders were opened. The reason was to forestall Axis propaganda. which might allege that Rome had been widely and indiscriminately bombed. It was expected that lurid and fantastic versions of the raid would be flashed from Axis countries to Catholics throughout the world.

AIMED BOMBING AT TARGETS IN AND NEAR ROME. CORRESPONDENT’S TESTIMONY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 1.30 p.m.) RUGBY, July 19. During the air attack on the San Lorenzo marshalling yards, about 400 yards outside Rome, anti-aircraft fire at times was intense, but pilots say it was inaccurate. There was little opposition from fighters. All the Flying Fortresses returned. The Littorio yards are four miles north of the city and the two airfields are eight miles from the centre of the city. A correspondent says the railway yards were left belching smoke and flames. Another correspondent, who travelled in one of the Flying Fortresses, tells much the same story — great fires blazing below and huge volumes of smoke rising above. One correspondent tells of the steps taken to prevent the bombing of religious and cultural objects. Every pilot and bomb-aimer was provided with a map in which such objects were marked with a red square, with the words: “Not to be harmed.” The crews were told that if a direct hit were not possible, they were not to release their bombs. “I can testify that our bombs did fall on the targets—the vital link between the Axis war factories and the Axis armies in Sicily,” the correspondent said.

SIGNS OF UNREST PREPARATIONS FOR CIVIL WAR. MANY ARRESTS BY SECRET POLICE. (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, July 19. Reports of purges, unrest and civil disturbances on the Italian home front continue to reach neutral countries. The latest Stockholm reports, obtained from travellers just arrived from Italy, state that underground preparations for civil war and eventual hostilities against Germany have begun in Italy. The reports say that Mussolini’s secret police arrested 2000 civilians last week and sent them to prison camps. Despite the police counter-measures, oppositional elements arc distributing arms and ammunition among people with anti-Fascist sympathies. Clashes between armed anti-Fascists and small German detachments are reported in many places. In Florence three students were killed in a fight with German soldiers. At Trieste, hand grenades were thrown on to a German Air Force lorry standing outside the German Consulate. Broadcasting to the Italian people, Scorza, Secretary of the Fascist Party, admitted that the Italians had lost the initiative in the Mediterranean and warned Italians that they were now forced to defend themselves in their own homes.

BROADCASTS CEASE FROM ROME STATIONS. SOME BERLIN REPORTS. (Received This Day, 12.40 p.m.) LONDON, July 19. Apparently the air raid considerably disorganised the Rome broadcasting system. The British United Press says all the Rome broadcasting stations stopped transmitting at 2.13 p.m. No reason was given. The system is slowly returning to normal. An English broadcast came on at 3 p.m., but only on one wave-length, instead of three as usual. The bulletin at 3.10 p.m. was not broadcast. The bombing of Rome was not mentioned except in an Italian communique which simply stated that formation of enemy planes dropped numerous bombs on Rome and that the damage was being ascertained. The Berlin radio stated that the raiders were over Rome for 21 hours and that bombs were dropped east of the city in various districts. A bomb, the Berlin radio added, exploded 300 yards from the Lateran Basilica of the Vatican. The radio later said that the stricken districts of Rome present the horrible aspect characterising of raided cities, with torn-up streets, destroyed and burning houses, people killed or wounded, and the homeless wandering aimlessly about. Police and troops, it was added, are maintaining order and have begun repair work.