The Wilmington morning star., 1943-09-09
CATASTROPHE HITS
HITLER AT THROAT
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five days before it was announced.
The delay in making the SUI
render public seemed to mean
that Gen. Eisenhower had calmly
withheld the news of the greatest
Allied victory of the war in order
to make the best disposition of
his forces to finish the job.
There were a number of sug-
eestions as to who might take
over the occupation of Italy and
the final destruction Of German
strength there. Clearly, the Ger
mans had no intention OF commit
ting large forces south of Rome,
but they may make a fight IN
the region of the Pc in the north.
To the occupation force presum-
ably would fall the lot of Selling
the person of Benito Mussolinl
against the day when judgment
may be passed upon the man,
who. of all Italians, was an enemy
of the Allies and the leader who
thrust his unhappy country into
alliance with Hitler.
There was some hint, however,
that this day of Allied j u S i e
might never come. Reports from
Turkey said the former dictator
was i'll with cancer and interned
in Fort Braschi, north of Rome.
The collapse of Italy-a nation
that had lost more than 1000, 0oO
soldiers and an empire in little
over three years of Inflated war
laid bare the whole German po-
sition in the south, from the OAR
danelles to the French Riviera.
Hitler's loss of his greatest Eu-
ropean ally perhaps was as fateful
as was the Kaiser's in 1918 when
Bulgaria, then Turkey, then Aus
tria succumbed in quick success
sion to Allied arms and paved the
way for the final catastrophe in
Germany itself.
Badoglio's capitulation had the
immediate effect of stripping Hit
Ter of about q Italian divisions
posted in the Balkans. 1t probably
means the immediate occupation
by the Allies of such strategic
spots as Sardinia n d Corsica
from which southern France may
be invaded.
Although bloody campaign
NAV have to be fought in northern
Italy before the last German is
driven beyond the Alps, the Allies
probably will gain quickly a va
riety of strategic air bases from
which to punish every corner OF
the Reich.
An even more staggering blow
to the Nazis may be the moral
effect placing in doubt Hitler S
ability to hold anywhere in south
eastern Europe.
The dramatic bankruptcy of Fas-
cism where it was Graded ap-
peared bound to open crevlces
there. as we'll as in Germany.
Poised to take advantage of new
battle arenas opened up in the
southern theater were no less than
seven Allied armies, some of them
superbly trained a n d equipped.
These were the British E G h t h
Army. already in action in Italy.
the American Seventh Army, mys-
teriously inactive since the fall OF
Sicily. the British First and Amer
lean Fifth armies which have been
held in reserve in North Africa,
the newly-equipped French army
in North Africa. and the British
Ninth and Tenth Armies in the
Middle East.
Opposed to these forces OF per-
haps 1000, 900 to 100000 men Hit
Ter had up to 10 divisions in Italy
and perhaps Is divisions in the
Balkans, plus 20 Hungarian, u
Rumanian and IS Bulgarian divi-
sions-perhaps 100000 men.
This meant that Hitler must de-
pend largely on unreliable vatel.
lite troops to hold in the south.
But already the situation in the
Balkans was such that the Allies
might turn the business of taking
countries "by telephone"-as Hit
Ter used to do-to their own &C.
count.
In Bulgaria the cabinet was re-
ported in session today to consider
the knotty problem of choosing a
regent to run the country follow
ing the death of King Boris. The
choice undoubtedly will be sharply
influenced by the news from Italy,
especially snce the mother of six
year-old King Simeon is the daugh-
ter of King Vittorio Emanuele OF
Italy.
Hungary was reported taking