The daily monitor. (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1940-1942, 1941-02-12
War


Continued From Page ~
German troops on the north
bank of the river were speeding
the construction Of pontoon
bridges and massing supplies
near possible jump-off points
leading into Bulgaria.
Diplomatic observers in Bern,
Switzerland. often q source Of
advance news on secret moves
by the Axis, expressed two be-
liefs on the subject of the
Franco Mussolini talks:
1. That II Duce was pressing
for SPANS aid in the western
Mediterranean to help wrest the
offensive from Britain.
2. That Franco, as head of
q large Catholic state, was join
ing his efforts with those of
Pope Plus XII to bring an end
to the war.
Maxi quarters in Berlin said
they knew nothing of such q
meeting, but an authorized Ger
man spokesman ridiculed any
suggestion that a British-Italian
peace move was in the air, de-
claring:
That's the best Joke in the
worlds history"
Spanish sources in Vichy,
France, said they expected a
Spanish-Axis accord to result
from the meeting - possibly
with Spain providing italy with
bases in Spanish Morocco and
on the Spanish mainland to
combat Britain's mastery of the
Mediterranean.
In London, diplomats suggest
ed that Mussolini might ask
Franco for help in the form of
troops or a Spanish attack on
Gibraltar as repayment for ia
vors rendered by Italy in the
Spanish Civil War"
They denied a London news
paper report that Britain had
made a peace offer to Italy with
Franco acting as intermediary.
Pacing these yelled maneu-
vers, Britain's Royal Air Force
bombed the German dive-bom-
Der base at Catania, Sicily, and
smashed at targets in Northwest
Germany, Holland, Norway and
Denmark in overnight raids.
Raj pilots told of setting
fierce new fires in a second sue
cessive attack on Hanover, oil
center. and reported raids on
the big north German sea port
of Bremen; Rotterdam, t h e
Netherlands; shipping at Kris
tiansand, Norway, and Thisted,
Jutland Norway.
The Germans said Raj bombs
killed and wounded some civil
ians in northern and western
Germany, but asserted that anti
aircraft fire compelled the Bri-
fish to jettison their bombs and
flee.
London had quiet night,
with a brief afraid alarm
shortly before 2 a. m.-Its first
early morning alert in many
days.
Hitler's high command re-
ported the sinking of 28,500
tons of British shipping by u
boat and plane attacks.
In the Battle of Africa, Bril-
fish troops were reported to
have encircled the Italian gar
rison at Giarabub, strategic Lib
yam desert outpost 100 miles
south of Tobruk. and other
forces of Gen. Sir Archibald P.
Wavelrs army of the Nile were
said to be hopping up scattered
italian bands in the Wristbands
south of captured Bengasi.
British military quarters said
that the Fascist garrison at
Cheren. East Africa, AZ miles
from the Eritrean capital Of As
mara, was besieged by British
troops but that it was "a ire
mendously strong position"
Mussolinis high command
acknowledged that British mo-
torizcd troops knitting into Ital-
ian Somaliland had occupied
Afmadu, 100 miles east of the
Kenya colony frontier and only
70 miles from the Indian Ocean
In Greece, ancient Athens had
its first night air raid alarm
when Italian bombers struck
last night at nearby Pffaeus,
port of the capital area. Some
casualties we're reported. Athens
itself was not bombed.
Another force from kenya