Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-23
Disaster in Africa
And Invasion Threat
Bring Italy 10 Panic
Cities Blasted by More
And More Allied Bombs
And PoIieed by Nozis
By the Associated Press.

b. the Associated Press.
Facing complete disaster in
Africa and possible invasion at
home, their cities pounded and
blasted by Allied bombs and
policed by more and more Ger
man troops, Italians appeared
today to be on the verge of
nationwide panic. Dispatches
from half a dozen European
cities all pointed to approaching
crisis for the regime of Benito
Mussolini.
Italy, which went to war for a
quick victory in 1910, appeared to
be facing sudden defeat now. A
total of $4,000 German tourists"
we're reported infiltrating the pen
insula to bolster collapsing morale
while Propaganda Minister Ales-
sandro Pavolini felt compelled to
ask Italians voluntarily to evacuate
large cities if their presence in
them was not imperative.
Separate Peace Move Reported.
Reuters, British news agency, dis
tributed dispatch from Ankara
quoting recent arrivals from Italy
as saying movement for separate
peace had been started under lead
ership of Marshal Pietro Badoglio,
Mussolini's unofficial opponent"
According to the Reuters account
an anti-Fascist group headed by
Badoglio, the conqueror of Ethiopia,
lot r. lot
with the full knowledge of King
Vittorio Emanuele, Crown Prince
Umberto and Count Galeazzo Ciano,
II Duce's son-in-law and Foreign
Minister. The British news agency
went on to say that Mussolini quar-
relied violently with Ciano.
The Moscow radio broadcast
Tass dispatch reporting that Ger
man agents had arrived at all Ital-
ian ports on the Adriatic and were
feverishly building coastal fortifica-
tons. The greatest activity was on
the heel of the italian boot" along
Otranto Strait, which connects the
Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
Port of Genoa Useless.
Aerial bombing experts in London
surveyed photographs taken above
Genoa after the raids of November
IS and since, and declared the port |
has been made useless as an effec-
tive Axis supply channel for months
TO come. Milan and Turin also have
felt the blows of British two-ton
block busters.
In Genoa alone, photos showed |
one patch of q acres, another of |
20 acres, completely burned out |
The pictures showed many streets |
of roofess, burned-out buildings and |
vreckage in the great Ansaldo |
works which made engines for war
ships and tanks and other war ma
terial. One picture showed more
than so fires, many of which merged I
into one great conflagration cover
ing whole districts of the city which
has been raided six times since
October %.
In the harbor two of Italy's trans
Atlantic liners-the 30,8l6-ton Roma |
and the 30,418ton Augustus-were
damaged. The Roma, which was
being converted into an aircraft car
rier, received two hits. The funnel |
of the Augustus was split in half |
and the upper decks were severely |
damaged by fire.
Refugees Flee Cities.
The British radio relayed reports
from Switzerland which told of |
thousands of refugees streaming
out of Northern Italian cities, and |
reports in Ankara said the Germans |
were preparing a second line" of |
defense along the old Austro-I Italian |
frontier.
With the flower of Italian arms |
already smashed or captured first |
in East Africa, now in Libya, with |
others forced into freezing 'front.'
line positions in Russia, and other
Italian units apparently headed for |
capture or a costly evacuation from |
Tunis. talk was even spreading in |
Italy of evacuating Rome, according
to diplomatic channels tapped in
Turkey.
AS compensation for all her losses.
Italy had only Corsica, Nice and |
Savoy, taken from PROSTATE France
when the Nazis occupied the Vichy |
zone and held only on sufferance of
her Nazi overlords.