RUIN IN MILAN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 August 1943, Page 3

RUIN IN MILAN

MORALE OF THE PEOPLE SHATTERED REPEATED ALLIED AIR ATTACKS WHOLESALE EVACUATION. ALL PUBLIC SERVICES PARALYSED. LONDON, August 16. R.A.F. bombers last night dropped a hundred 4,0001 b. bombs on Milan’s industrial and railway targets. The raid was the third on Milan in four nights and was heavier than the one on Saturday night. On the outward trip some enemy fighters were encountered. Two were destroyed. The first bombers to arrive over the city reported that fires were still burning from the previous night’s raid. The Italian news agency reports that the Mayor of Milan has resigned. The Rome! radio said that Milan was unre--4 cognisable after the raid on Saturday I night, and the number of casualties ' was feared to be high. The Royal Palace was in flames. The raids have completely shattered the people’s morale, reports the Milan correspondent of the Swiss newspaper “Die Tat.” Thousands are trying to

leave the city, disorganising all transport. All the city’s public services are paralysed. No trains or taxis are running. The main station is so badly damaged that trains are unable to leave or arrive. The centre of the city is one gigantic ruin, with fires everywhere, huge clouds of smoke, and always new explosions. Reuter’s Zurich correspondent states that a steady stream of refugees from the stricken city is arriving at the Swiss frontier via Como. There are indescribable scenes at the frontier. It is impossible to accommodate and feed all the refugees.

Writing after Saturday night’s raid by the R.A.F., the correspondent said that unbelievable chaos reigned in Milan, and the evacuation of the city had become a general flight. Thousands of families were camping in the open air outside the city.