BELATED MOVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 August 1943, Page 3

BELATED MOVE

BY BADOGLIO GOVERNMENT TO DECLARE ROME AN OPEN CITY AIRCRAFT FACTORY IN AUSTRIA BOMBED. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, August 15. It was announced from Rome yesterday that the Badoglio Government had decided to declare Rome an open city. It is commented in London that the Allied Governments, before recognising such new status for Rome, will watch in the light of international law, measures taken by the Italian authorities.

Great damage was caused in the San Lorenzo and San Litterio railway yards when United States bombers, without loss, raided Rome on Friday, the Allied headquarters in North Africa announced. A Middle East communique yesterday reported that a force of American four-engined Liberator bombers attacked a Messerschmitt aircraft factory 35 miles south of Vienna on Friday night, dropped 150 tons of bombs. Large fires and explosions were seen in the factory and among parked aircraft. The flight involved a round trip of 2500 miles: ENEMY’S HARRIED RETREAT A correspondent with the Eighth Army, writing yesterday, states: “Throughout Friday medium bombers and fighter-bombers attacked the beaches and roads in the Messina area, creating havoc among enemy troops who were unloading from lorries, which had rushed them back from the front. Braving the terrific barrage over the straits, our bombers and fighters dived down to attack many landing craft and sank and immobilised several with personnel aboard. “The enemy forces holding the lines are still thinning out, and their rearguards are getting weaker. These groups get little peace, as the R.A.F. is bombing and shooting up all roads leading to Messina. “It is estimated that the enemy has now withdrawn considerable remnants of his three fighting divisions and is improvising with mixed units to fight the rearguard action. These rearguards, however, since the fall of Randazzo, have ben doing little to stop the advance of our troops on the coastal sectors. The enemy pulled back some forces during the night, and the few machine gun posts which he left manned in this line were quickly burnt out. “Our troops headed northward were unable to make contact with the main enemy forces. Our patrols are only 10 to 12 miles from the Americans advancing eastward from Randazzo, and the enemy troops between the two forces are in danger of being cut off, as the only road of escape is blocked by our bombers at Nuvara.” RACE TO THE BEACHES. Another correspondent said that the enemy was obviously endeavouring to evacuate as much equipment as possible from Sicily. The German troops are preventing the Italians from getting out of Sicily, said the “Daily Express” correspondent at Allied headquarters: “As every hour of the Allied sea, air and land onslaught gets heavier and the Axis position more desperate, the Germans are ruthlessly thrusting the Italians aside in the race to the beaches,” he says: