CHAOS IN ITALY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 August 1943, Page 4

CHAOS IN ITALY

DEMONSTRATIONS CAUSING

ALARM

PEOPLE DEMANDING PEACE.

AND NOT BEING APPEASED BY BADOGLIO.

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, August 5.

The situation in Italy is becoming increasingly chaotic and the population is in a desperate mood, says the Milan correspondent of

the Swiss newspaper “Die Tat.”

The Algiers radio says that, despite Axis reports that the situation is tinder control, continued peace demonstrations are causing growing alarm. The police dispersed crowds which gathered in Genoa and other towns in Northern Italy yesterday, demanding the resignation of Marshal Badoglio and that of King Victor Emmanuel.

According to the latest reports from Italy the Allies could achieve her capitulation within 24 hours if they took the initiative, says Reuter's correspondent on the Swiss frontier. The Italian Press is systematically boosting the view that Italy cannot honourably take the initiative, but must stand firm until the Allies alleviate their terms. However it is said that if the Allies did take the initiative, Italian public opinion would sweep Badoglio away as it did Mussolini.

The Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Zurich correspondent says the censorship throughout Italy has been intensified. Special Press censorship commissions have been set up in Milan and Turin to prevent newspapers publishing anything that might create an unfavourable impression. The Press has been instructed to assure its readers that capitulation means the total destruction of Italy. The “Corriere Della Sera,” ignoring the censorship, stated: “Away with speeches! Demand peace from the Government above every-

thing.” Political observers agree that Marshall Badaglio is endeavouring to pacify the population by severe measures against former Fascists, but nobody believes that the peace desires of the Italian people can be appeased in this way.