Evening star., 1943-09-21


cannot possibly hold the vast areas
they occupy except upon q certain
minimum shipping supply. Their
| losses certainly exceed any means
| they have or can ever obtain OF re-
| placement.
This also is true about their air
force which - long ago had been
overtaken and now is increasingly
surpassed every month by the enor-
nous United States expansion. '''
venture to dwell on these favor
able aspects Of the war against Ja-
pan only because know 1t is real
lied throughout the United States
that the slightest slackening OF ef-
fort would destroy all. These favor.
able tendencies depend on a small
margin. Any slackening Of effort
might allow them to come into 4
stagnant condition and we might
well find ourselves condemned to a
long drawn process of futile eypend-
lture OF life and treasure 1t is the
pace that kills.
Considerable progress has been
made In the reorganization OF the
Southeast Asia command which is
being set up In India to intensity the
war against Japan. The supreme
Allied commander, Admiral Mount
batten, will shortly arrive in India,
accompanied by stan officers who
Will form a combined Allied head
quarters modelled on that which has
been set up under Gen. Eisen-
hover y.
This form OF combined Allied
headquarters was absolutely nee
essary because many United States
establishments were growing up sep
arately for many purposes in that
great air route to China = =.
Headquarters of the new command
will be set up first at Delhi 50 as to
be in closest liaison with the
government of India and with
Auchinleck, commander In chief in
India. The new command and the
appointment OF Mountbatten have
been warmly welcomed by Chang
Kai-shek -. -,
Overthrow Of Mussolini
And Fascist Regime.
To understand fully any part Of
this war one must have at least 4
broad conception OF the whole. !.
now return. after placing these
general considerations before the
House, to the more recent events
in the Mediterranean theater which
are so fresh and vivid In our minds.
July rs was q memorable day
Even before we had halt completed
the conquest Of Sicily or had set
loot on the Italian mainland, Die
tator Mussolini was overthrown and
the Fascist regime which had lasted
Il years was cast down, vehemently
repudiated by the whole mass OF
the Italian people.
The Bagdolio government came
into existence with the intention OF
making peace in accordance with
the will of the nation. They were
however, intruded upon at ali point,
and overlaid by the Germans and
had the greatest difficulty In main.
tanning themselves against this fate.
ful pressure. We knew nothing about
this new regime. Once Fascism was
completely overthrown we naturally
were anxious to find some authority
with whom we could deal SO as to
bring about the Unconditional surren-
der OF Italy in the shortest time with
the least possible cost in the blood
of our soldiers.
It was necessary, as I advised the
House, to wait until the position had
become more definite and we there
fore continued our preparations for
an invasion in strength Of the main
| land OF Italy and of Europe on
which We resolved at the May con-
ference at Washington.
Presently feelers were pat out by
the new Italian government through
various channels, asking for terms
and explaining the deadly character
OF the difficulties in which they were
involved These difficulties arose
from the menacing presence of Ger
man armies, police and spies all
around them ." we were SYM
pathetic to those difficulties.
| CHere q member made an in
terjection which was not audible
In the press gallery)
Cheap Criticism.
Wait and see. That is cheap criti-
cism from people who must be hard
put to 1t to find criticism, but am
going to answer very precisely and
exhaustively even before we break
Oh for the midday refreshment, We
were sympathetic to those difIicul-
ties, but to all advances we made
the reply: Surrender must be uncon-
ditional. On August Is an Italian
envoy, an officer with the rank of
general, called on our Ambassador
at Madrid, Sir Samuel Hoare. with
credentials proving he came with
full authority from Marshal Ba-
doglio and that he came to say that
when the Allies landed in Italy, the
Italian government was prepared to
join them against Germany When
could they come?
I was at this time not entirely by
accident at Quebec for the confer
ence and was In closest contact
with the President The foreign
secretary was with me and I also
was accompanied by an emple cipher
staff and secretariat through whom
hourly touch could be maintained
with my colleagues in the war cabi-
net. The President and I, there
fore, were able to act together and
give prompt guidance in any emer-
gency
With the approval of the war
cabinet 1t was decided that Eisen-
hover should send British and
American staff officers to meet the
Italian envoy at Lisbon.
We at once informed Premier
Stain Of what was in progress. On
August 10 meeting in Lisbon took
place. The envoy was informed we
would only accept unconditional
surrender. Military terms embody-
ing this act of surrender-not so
much the conditions as the direc-
tions following the act OF surren-
der-which had been prepared some
/