MANY RUMOURS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 September 1943, Page 3

MANY RUMOURS

4 AFLOAT ABOUT MUSSOLINI. ENEMY AND OTHER REPORTS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 14. The Berlin radio announced that the Fascist national Government which was founded in Mussolini’s name is now under his direct control. It is authoritatively stated in London that Mussolini was never in our hands, for which reason a neutral report that he was rescued from Sicily is most improbable. The Berlin radio announced that other leading Fascists were freed with Mussolini, and the Dutch radio stated that his son, Vittorio Mussolini,* has arrived in Germany. According to the Algiers radio, Mussolini is now en route to Hitler’s headquarters. The Zurich “Die Tat’s” correspondent on the frontier says Mussolini has joined Signor Farinacci at Cremona, north Italy, which is the new seat of the Fascist government. The correspondent adds that former Fascist officials are again ruling in Milan, Turin, Genoa, Novarra, Bologna and other north Italian towns under German control. The Fascist newspaper “Regima Fascista” has also reappeared. “Die Tat’s” Berlin correspondent says that Mussolini’s first action is expected to be a proclamation cancelling Italy’s capitulation and ending the rule of the House of Savoy. A broadcast from Munich by the new puppet Fascist Government states that three Italians were executed for putting a bomb on the railroad track through the Brenner Pass. As against the suggestion of a Berne correspondent that Mussolini is dead and that the Nazis are attempting to conceal the fact, it is believed in London, according to the “Evening Standard’s” diplomatic correspondent, that the report that the Germans freed Mussolini is true. If was not a condition of the armistice terms that Marshal Badoglio should hand Mussolini over to the Allies, but it is the intention of the Allies to try Mussolini with Hitler and the other war criminals, when the war* is won. i ' =