COLLABORATING CLOSELY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 July 1943, Page 4

COLLABORATING CLOSELY

In Regard to Developments in Italy VARIOUS REPORTS ABOUT MUSSOLINI’S WHEREABOUTS MAY HAVE TAKEN REFUGE WITH CIANO IN VATICAN CITY (By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright.) (Received This Dav, 12.15 p.in.) LONDON, July 26. Mr Churchill and the Cabinet today studied military and diplomatic reports on the Italian crisis, says the “Daily Telegraph’s’’ political correspondent. Ministers had the latest advice on reactions abroad, _ including those of Allied and neutral governments. The British and American Governments are collaborating closely. Mr Churchill is fully apprised of President Roosevelt’s views. The “Daily Mail’s’’ political correspondent says it is recognised in Whitehall that conditions in Italy must have been very grave for Marshal Badoglio to have declared martial law so quickly. This can only indicate that Mussolini and his Ministers are so unpopular that civil unrest is widespread. The “Daily Herald’s’’ former Rome correspondent expressed the opinion that Mussolini may have resigned at Hitler’s suggestion, or in order to stop the disintegration of the Italian armed forces, which were no longer obeying the Duce’s orders. According to the Paris radio, foreign correspondents in Rome seeking official comment on the developments in Italy were referred to Marshal Badoglio’s communiques and statements. However, the Algiers radio says Badoglio is reported to have ordered 22 Italian divisions from Yugoslavia and Greece and to have recalled three to four divisions from France. There is no official news of the whereabouts of Mussolini and his Cabinet colleagues. Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent says reports are circulating here that Army officers captured Mussolini while he was trying to escape to Germany. The United Press Madrid correspondent quotes reliable sources for a report that Mussolini and other Fascist leaders and Ministers are under police protection at a villa believed to be in the Rome area. One theory advanced in London suggests that Mussolini has taken refuge in the Vatican, with his son-in-law, Count Ciano, who is Italian Ambassador to the Holy See. The Rome radio has not mentioned Mussolini’s name since its announcement of his resignation on Sunday night.