Evening star., 1940-12-27


after their capture, near Chimara, C
In Albania. (Chimara was taken by
last month we also have conversed
every war zone, from this southel
Ochrida. Accordingly. it is possibl
Italians who have now been capture
There Is an enormous difference
between the attitude of officers and
common soldiers. Virtually all Of
the officers profess confidence in and
loyalty to Premier Mussolini, and
most of them attempt to justify the
invasion of Greece. The higher
ranking professional militarists
show obedience to the regime and
unquestioned patriotism. Young
lieutenants, aggressively Fascist, are
frequently defiant and arrogant,
sometimes sneering and discour-
teous.
On the other hand, the Italian
soldiers are mostly spiritless, pitiful
assortment. They are ragged and
miserable, and only a few have
vestige of self-assurance left in
them. Again and again, they say
frankly, We've had enough" They
seem to have no shame over having
thrown down their weapons. They
want nothing except food and for
the war to end and to get back to
Italy. Even so, most are careful to
refrain from any direct criticism Of
II Duce or of the Fascist regime. In
this respect, they are enlightening
products of the dictatorial system
of oppression.
Until today We had never had
an opportunity to converse with
prisoners OF the rank Of lieutenant
colonel, who had been junior officers
in the World War and have chosen
the Army as their life career. These
two battalion commanders were Luigi
Sandomenica and Vincenzo Damiani
Both were unshaven and haggard
from the strain of long retreat.
from 20 miles south Of the Kalamas
River. in Greece, far back into
Albania toward Valona. One was
more defeated than the other and
he was the man who did not at
tempt to justify the assault on
Greece, whereas the other lieutenant
colonel expressed an argument
which could scarcely be described as
honest.
The most damaging admission
came from the colonel who stuck
to the comment that II Duce could
not be wrong He said, 1T was
mistake to take the campaign lightly
at the beginning. I believe Rome
must have been misled by our min
lister in Athens"
He insisted that Mussolini still
was received as the leader of the
nation. When asked why the
Fascists sought to destroy the inde-
pendence of Greece, he replied:
I'VE did not intend to interfere
with the independence of Greece
We only wanted few aviation and
naval bases in Greece"
Lack Of CO. ordination.
This same officer admitted a
serious lack of coordination be-
tween units of the invading Italians.
my battalion was 20 miles below
the Kalamas, in one place, and his
battalion was in the other, but
there were big gaps between U.S." he
explained.
This colonels mentality strongly
resembled that of many Fascist
lieutenants with whom have talked
He made the extraordinary claim
that Italy had only 10000 men
in Albania when the war began, but
he did not attempt to defend his
statement when he was reminded
of the names of half a dozen di-
visions from which prisoners had
been taken during the first three
weeks of the invasion.
After refusing to admit that the
Italians are now facing the prob
able loss of all Albania, the colonel
said
Italy can still mobilize many more
men. We have not used all our
forces yet. We have simply been
late getting started"
The other lieutenant colonel
lodged direct answer to the ques-
ton, what the effect on II Duce's
position would be If Italy lost both
Albania and Libya, by replying:
"As an Italian, I must hope we
will not lose them"
Says War Was Not Wanted.
He also avoided expressing an
opinion about who was responsible
for warning on Greece, but admitted
that the Italian people did not
want it."
Younger men and officers fire.
quently assured us that "our propa-
gandists said that the British were
already in Greece, so we thought
it must be true" A remark often
heard has been: I'VE only knew
what our propaganda told U.S." And
this, accompanied by an attitude
indicating very considerable lack
Of faith in the Fascist press and
the utterances of Fascist leaders.
The more straightforward colonel,
obviously faithful and kindly man,