GATHERING HEAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 July 1943, Page 3

GATHERING HEAD

MOVEMENT FOR LIBERTY IN ITALY BADOGLIO’S HARD TASK. IN ATTEMPTING TO CONTINUE WAR. (By Telegraph—press Association— -Copyright) LONDON, July 30. The movement for liberty is increasing in strength throughout Italy, and it already surpasses Marshal Badoglio’s power, says the Zurich correspondent of the Exchange Telegraphs Agency quoting a diplomat who witnessed events in Milan. Badoglio is every day finding it harder to persuade the nation to continue the war against the Allies to secure an honourable peace. The war weariness is too great, and the democratic elements are gaining ground too rapidly. Many news items bear out the suggestion that there is a growing social cleavage inside Italy. Crowds are marching in the streets under red flags and singing the “International." The two most important arms factories in Milan and Turin have ceased work because the workers have refused to manufacture war materials. A clandestine radio. “Milano Liberia, has appealed for immediate peace, even if it means unconditional surrender. The radio, in a broadcast in English. said: “A so-called honourable surrender—a contradiction in terms—is logically unsound for a country which has fought with valour." The radio's military commentator, in a special appeal to the Italian armed forces, said: “Soldiers of Italy! The events in the last few days have deeply moved and shaken us. We must be worthy of this great hour. Greater ones lie ahead. The war goes on, and it will be long and hard, but we shall fight on. You know what tremendous trials and bloody days lie ahead. We hold our heads high; no one will break us.”

MANY FASCISTS ARRESTED. More than 5000 prominent Fascist administrators have been taken into custody in order to protect them from the crowds, says the “Daily Mail’s” correspondent on the Italian frontier. This could not be done in the more remote towns and villages, where, it is reported, many grim scenes have occurred. Minor Fascist job-holders and those whose positions were dependent on their party connections, are now in hiding. Their jobs remain undone. Transport in many places has stopped because the men responsible for running it cannot be found. Milan is still the main centre of popular demonstrations and agitation, says Reuter’s correspondent of the frontier of Italy and Switzerland. Workers at the Breda and other big factories refused to return to work. Troops have broken up in Milan many demonstrations in favour of immediate peace. Several demonstrations in support of Russia have occurred. Demonstrators were dispersed by troops parading in armoured cars. Steps have been taken to restart transport services. Banks, shops, and cinemas have reopened. NEWSPAPERS SUPPRESSED. The Italian censorship has been tightened. The “Corriere della Sera” appeared with many blank spaces in accounts of events in Milan, and other Italian cities. The Liberal newspaper, “11 Mondo,” which briefly appeared after 20 years of suppression, has again been suppressed. The Communist paper “La Riscossa” has also been suppressed. The Berlin radio says that the Italian Press has been instructed that it must not attack Mussolini, and that it must suppress all comment on continuation of the war. »

GERMANS IN ISTRIA. Italian and German troops have been rushed to Fiume and Trieste, where Croats and Slovenes are demonstrating for the separation of the Istrian Peninsula from Italy, reports the Berne correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain. The situation is described as tense. The Croats and Slovenes, who number 600,000, are demanding the inclusion of Istria in a Southern Slav State. The Istrian Peninsula, which is on northern Italy’s frontier with Yugo-

slavia, was seized by Italy from Yugoslavia after the last war. The Columbia Broadcasting System’s Berne correspondent says that German troops who moved through the Brenner Pass occupied Trieste, Fiume and Pola at night, and are now rapidly occupying the rest of the Istrian Peninsula, The American Under-Secretary of War,. Mr Pattersen, stated in Washington that in spite of the indications of Italy’s imminent collapse, German troops were now fortifying northern Italy above the River Po and occupying strong positions which present great difficulties to an attacking force. However, the collapse of Italy would be a serious blow to Hitler, giving him an uncomfortable problem in replarng, the Italian garrisons in the occupied countries of Yugoslavia and Greece.. Later news direct from Rome reaching high sources in Madrid confirms that the Germans yesterday began a methodical occupation of the Istrian Peninsula and the whole of the Udine district from the Gulf of Trieste to the Austrian border, says the Madrid correspondent of the Associated Press. Fighting is reported between ’Germans and Italians, the latter apparently resisting without consulting Rome. The Germans are reported to be moving into the Udine region and Trieste from Klagenfut, Austria, south-west-ward across the corner of Yugoslavia and the Julian Alps, and also through the Alpine passes west of Klagenfut. The 8.8. C., in a broadcast to Italy has appealed to sailors not to scuttle their ships, pointing out that Italy would need all the tonnage after the war to supply the country’s needs.