NEW ITALIAN PREMIER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 July 1943, Page 4

NEW ITALIAN PREMIER

MARSHAL BADOCLIO’S CAREER FIRM OPPONENT OF MUSSOLINI WISHED TO SCATTER FASCIST RABBLE. USED GAS IN ABYSSINIAN CAMPAIGN. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.10 p.m.) LONDON, July 25. Mussolini's resignation was first disclosed to the Italians at the beginning of the final news bulletin at 10.45 tonight. The proclamation was read without an introduction, after which the Rome radio continued its transmission without e'mbellishment. Marshal Badoglio. the seventy-five year old Italian Army chief, has opposed Mussolini since the start of the Fascist regime. He is one of the men who took a grip on Italy after the Caporetto disaster in 1917. He is a close friend of King Victor Emmanuel and has always represented the Royalist viewpoint. Marshal Badoglio was not among those of the Army who sided with the Black Shirts when Mussolini led his March on Rome, in October 1922. The story goes that Badoglio urged King Victor Emmanuel to give him three battalions to “scatter this rabble.” The King, who did not want bloodshed, refused and the rabble won the day. When the Italians, in the Abyssinian war, progressed too slowly. Badoglio replaced Marshal De Borno, in November, 1935, after which he replanned the entire campaign and smashed the resistance of the unfortunate Abyssinians with a liberal use of mustard gas sprayed from aeroplanes. Badoglio entered Addis Ababa within three months, after which he was appointed Viceroy of Abyssinia. He resigned and returned to Rome in 1936 and thereafter was created Duke of Addis Ababa. He went to Berlin in September, 1937, and conferred with the German General Staff and inspected the Libyan defences in February, 1939. Badoglio was confirmed as Chief of the General Staff in November, 1939, and was designated Commander-in-Chief of the Army when Mussolini entered the war in June, 1940. He was one of the Italian commissioners appointed to fix the terms of the armistice with the French after the collapse of France.

ORNATE WORDS USED BY THE KING AND badoglio. SOME SINISTER THREATS. (Received This Day, 1.25 p.m.) LONDON, July 25. In his proclamation, King Victor Emmanuel said: “Every Italian must bow before the grave wounds that have rent the sacred soil of our Fatherland. More than before I am indissolubly united with you by an unshakeable faith in the immortality of the Fatherland.” , , The full text of Marshal Baaoglio s proclamation is as follows: —“Italians, on the orders of the King-Emperor, I am taking over the military government of the country, with full powers. The war continues. Italy, grievously stricken in her invaded provinces and in her ruined towns, maintains her faith in her given word, and is jealous of her. ancient traditions. The ranks should be closed around the majesty of the King Emperor, the living image of the Fatherland, an example to all. The call of the day is precise and unmistakable, and will be scrupulously obeyed. Whoever thinks to frustrate normal development, or attempts to disturb public order, will be inexorably punished. Long live Italy! Long live the King.” Signed Marshal of Italy, Pietro Badoglio.