Evening star., 1943-09-25
Surrender Of Italian
Fleet Like a Movie, ;
Correspondent Says
BY CLARK LEE,

POSI, sept. IL tDelayed) .-Thi.
has been the kind of day that
Hollywood would dream up for 9
war correspondent, except that there
were no slim and beautiful brunette.
In the picture, not even redhead
was in a mood to commit hara.
kiri on Gen. Dwight D. Eisen.
hower's doorstep and told the gen.
eral so when I went to see him al
1880 this morning. There are a hal,
dozen stories of worldwide i'm.
portance within a half mile o1
headquarters, but 1t is forbidden
to write them.
The general said he could not
discuss the fighting at Salerno for
publication because it was still in
the stage of touch and 60, then he
asked what I wanted to do to get
some news.
First of all I'd like to fly out
and have a look at the Italian fleet
that's coming down to surrender,
then see Admiral Cunningham, and
I'd like permission to write the in
side story of the italian armistice
negotiations and of what is going
on in Italy. Everybody involved is
in this area now and all the ma
terial is available"
Arranged in Half Hour.
Gen. Ike then waved his magic
wand and won friend for life.
He called in a staff officer and said,
phone Air Chief Marshal Tedder
and see if he can provide an air.
plane. Phone the admiral and
make an appointment. Phone the
censorship office and get an okay
for the armistice story"
In a half hour it was all ar
ranged and Dave Brown of Reuters
and I got the first installment of
the armistice negotiations story
from the brigadier who participated
IN the meetings as one of Gen.
Eisenhower's representatives.
I remember reading that Open
helm used to dictate his novels of
international intrigue to a stenog-
rapher. But the real life story that
the brigadier dictated to a lady
sergeant stenographer out Open
heimed anything the old master
ever dreamed up.
1t has everything except Joe Pa
iooka disgusting himself as the En-
peror of Japan and flying up to
heaven in rocket ship to interview
the Sun Goddess.
Split Second Schedule.
After the interview the rest of the
day was arranged on a split second
schedule.
We rushed over to the airfeld at
1915 pm. and climbed aboard BIS
that Air Chief Tedder had assigned
to us and to two Army photog-
raphers. The pilot and CO. pilot, Its.
j. e. Terrett of Canton, Ohio, and
D. E. Ballard of Nashville, Tenn,
looked awfully young to me-about
old enough to be getting their first
bicycles for Christmas presents, or
maybe I'm just getting old.
We had exactly an hour to fly out
and look at one of the great scenes
in recent history as the Italian bat
tie feet steamed toward Malta after
surrendering at sea. The ships were
stretched out over five miles of sea
In three perfect columns headed by
two British battle wagons and six
destroyers.
Behind them were the italian
ships, the dreadnaughts Vittorio We
neto and Italia, five cruisers and four
cans. We had expected to see three
battleships, but we learned later that
the Roma had been sunk by German
planes off Sardinia. One of the
italian battle wagons was trailing
big oil slick from damage caused by
Heinie bombs, but she was keeping
her place.
Identification Flares.
Our pilots, Its. Terrett and Bal
lard, and their crew had seen these
same ships many times before. For
the past month our airmen have
been flying over La Spazia every day
and photographing the fleet to make
sure it was still in harbor. 1t is nice
to see them when they aren't shoot
ing at you. The British battleship
Warspite challenged us with light
signals, whereupon 1t. Ballard sig
nailed me to pull the trigger of the
Very pistol in the top of the cabin
and shoot off our identification
flares.
The photographers snapped their
pictures and 1t. Terrett opened up
the engines of the BIS. 1t was my
first ride in the type of plane and it
certainly is a beautiful ship, steady.
dependable and easy to fly.
We sat down on the airport at
l:29 pm, Just l minute ahead of
schedule, and TAXED over to the con-
troll tent. An RAF officer wanted
me to sign in for the plane. But I
told him it wasn't my airplane, I'd
never seen it before and had no
idea where it was going. Then we
ran over to a Royal Navy limousine
driven by a British marine with a
red band around his hat.
On AdmiraPs Ship.
We got down to the docks and
aboard the British destroyer HAM
bleton just before it cast off to take
Admiral Sir Andrew Browne Cum
ningham and Gen. Ike to see the
Italian ships.
The general and admiral had Just
come from the daily war council
of the Allied chiefs. Apparently
the news from Italy was satisfac-
tory because they were smiling as
they went up to the crowded COM
pass platform on the destroyer's
bridge.
The destroyer kicked up Is knots
ss 1t chased out of the harbor and
within half hour we were passing
down the outside column of ships.
When he noticed me standing on
the bridge, Gen. Eisenhower said,
II thought you were up in an air.
plane"
At an opportune time he called
MIR. Brown and myself over and in
troduced US to Admiral Cunning
ham, who had been fighting for
three years to get the italian fleet
out of port and at this moment was
realizing his ambition uera