ITALY’S DECISION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 October 1943, Page 3

ITALY’S DECISION

DEGREE OF CO-BELLIGERANCY

FORCES AVAILABLE.

GERMAN NEWS AGENCY’S COMMENT.

(Bv Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, October 13.

It is assumed that Marshal Badoglio or his personal representative will be attached to General Eisenhower’s headquarters, says Reuter’s correspondent at the Allied headquarters. The questions of the degree and manner of cobelligerancy with which the Italians will aid the Allies call for considerable work regarding both policy and details.

It is believed that eight or nine Italian divisions are at present available to Marshal Badoglio. two or three of them in occupied Italy, about, four in Corsica and two in Sardinia. In addition. there are several hundred Italian airmen in the Allied-occupied territory; and the unknown number of individual soldiers who have escaped through the German lines .can be reorganised. The texts of the Notes and proclamations are being broadcast repeatedly to Italy from the United Nations radio. Field-Marshal Smuts, before flying to London, took a lengthy part in a conference of the Allied leaders in North Africa during the final stage of the negotiations leading up to the declaration. The conference was attended by an impressive group of the highest Mediterranean commanders, headed by General Eisenhower. Moscow radio announced Italy’s declaration in a special bulletin, in which the declaration was read in full. Bari radio announced tonight that King Victor Emmanuel has visited several units of the Italian Fleet. The German news agency, commenting on the Italian declaration of war, says: “This mereily puts the finishing touch to the Italian treachery. The Italians have been fighting on the British and American side against the Germans in Italy for weeks, and the situation, therefore, is not changed. Badoglio and his adherents have confirmed their submission to the disgraceful British demands and have again shown that they will no longer refrain from even the dirtiest action in order to favour their personal interests.”

The United States War Department announced that Italy’s declaration of war against Germany will not immediately change the status of the Italian prisoners, but the possibility of a future change is being studied. The department added: ’An announcement of the disposition of the Italian prisoners of Avar in the hands of the Allied troops abroad is a matter for the theatre commander concerned.” ACTIONS WILL COUNT REMISSION FOR GOOD CONDUCT. LONDON, October 14. “If the news of the Italian declaration is received by many people in this country and elsewhere with something less than unqualified enthusiasm this is due neither to a lack of sympathy for the Italian people nor to a lack of determination to use every practicable means of shortening the war against Germany,” says "The Times” in a leading article.

“But a question which is quite properly being asked, and which is not yet answered and cannot be answered except by the test of experience in Italy itself, is whether Marshal Badoglio’s declaration of war will in fact enable or encourage a substantial number of Italians in the liberated regions or beyond to take up arms or participate actively by sabotage and other means in the struggle to expel the Germans from Italy. If it does, it will have amply justified itself.” The “Daily Mail,” in a leading article, says: “There are things we cannot and must not forget. Actions alone will count. To put it another way, Italy will be punished for her misdeeds, but she may obtain a remission for good conduct.” “At the moment, and on the record of the Italian fighting men to date, Italy’s declaration makes very little difference for us,” says the “Daily Express” in a leading article. “The burden ...on the Fifth and Eighth Armies is not lightened one jot. The difference is for Italy herself. Yesterday she was in the hopless morass where Mussolini had left her; today there is a way out. The comradeship of the battlefield and the conference table must, however, be earned by a different outlook from that shown by the Italian defenders of Rhodes and Kos.”