FLIGHT FROM ROME

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 July 1943, Page 3

FLIGHT FROM ROME

WHOLESALE EVACUATION OF CIVILIANS TO LESS EXPOSED DISTRICTS. RAIL & TRAMWAY TRAFFIC DISRUPTED. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK. July 22. The exodus of civilians from Rome has now reached a daily total of approximately 150.000 persons—all proceeding northward—according to Reliable figures which have reached Berne, says the “New York Times” correspondent. The number is expected to increase as raid alarms become more frequent. The wholesale evacuation completes to the last detail the analogy with the situation in France in 1940, even to a report that Ministries have been destroying useless archives and packing others for removal elsewhere The Italian Ministry of Propaganda, continuing its now policy of entire frankness; has authorised the publication of details of the exodus. The local authorities have received instructions to facilitate the movement so that the roads will noli be cluttered. Provision has also been made to send a first batch of 100,000 children from Rome to less-exposed districts, and other plans are under way to evacuate nearly 1,000.000 children from other principal towns. Life in Rome is far from normal, but the evacuations have resulted in a marked improvement in the food situation. Municipal life remains disrupted. Thousands of refugees assemble by day and night under the colonnade of St. Peter's Square, where the Vati-1 can police maintain a watchful guard, discouraging discussions. Wrecking crews continue to pour into the blocked-off area from which, according to a German report, “at pitifully frequent intervals” ambulances rush out with another injured person or take bodies to improvised morgues Travellers say that the train traffic has not resumed from the terminal stations. the yards of which arc a shambles. The traipway traffic on many lines which are fed by cables passing through the bombed areas has not yet been resumed.

AXIS PROPAGANDA REGARDING INTENTIONS OF POPE RIDICULED BY CATHOLIC OFFICIAL. LONDON. July 23. Monsignor Mozzoni, Auditor to the Papal Nunciature, in an interview with Reuter's Madrid correspondent, described the reports that the Pope was planning to live in the centre of Rome, if the city was again raided, as Axis propaganda. Monsignor Mozzini said that the suggestion was absurd. The German news agency says: "According to Vatican circles Vatican City, in view of the war's increased proximity to its territory, sees itself forced to limit its activity. These circles emphasise that on the basis of Article 24 of the Lateran Treaty the Vatican City’s territory is always in all cases to be regarded as neutral and inviolable.”

ACTION TO SAVE LIVES ROOSEVELT DEFENDS BOMBING OF ROME. VENERATED CITY NOW USED FOR WAR PURPOSES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 10.20 a.m.) RUGBY. July 23. President Roosevelt today defended the bombing of Rome and reiterated his urgent plea to have Rome declared an open city, states a Washington message. He said it was necessary to bomb the city to save the lives of those who were fighting in Sicily. For the pastyear every effort had been made to have Rome declared an open city, but the Fascists would not agree. The United States had used every argument, but it did not work. Mr Roosevelt recalled how Rome had become an important military centre and said he did not believe in destruction for retaliation, but destruction for the saving of the lives of men at war was an inevitable necessity. Asked whether the bombing of Rome was in fulfilment of the ChurchillRoosevelt warning to the Italians to surrender or die, Mr Roosevelt said the two things should not be confused. One was the problem of the entire nation, the other was a city venerated throughcut the world, but now used for military purposes. He added that the Allies had received no communications whatever from the Vatican regarding the bombing of Rome. 13,895 CHURCHES AND OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDINGS. BOMBED BY AXIS IN BRITAIN. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) RUGBY, July 23. The bombing of Britain damaged 13,895 churches, monastries, convents and other ecclesiastical buildings, according to the report of the War Damage Commission, cited by the Home Secretary (Mr H. Morrison) in the House of Commons. The figures, he said, did not include schools, vicarages or ordinary residential buildings.