The Wilmington morning star., 1943-09-12
Four Battleships, Sever
Cruisers And Six De-
stroyers Escape Nazis
MORE EXPECTED SOON
Allies Race With Germans
To Partition Assets OF
Fallen Country


TIERS IN NORTH AFRICA,
Sept. II. -P - The back
bone of the Italian fleet -
four battleships, seven cruis-
ers and six destroyers - sail
ed into Allied hands at Malta
today after a spectacular
running battle with the Ger
man air force which sent one
battleship to the bottom.
The battleship which went
down under the German at
tack was the 35,000-ton Ro-
ma, one of Italy's newest
ships, and those arriving
safely at Malta were the bat
tleships Italia, formerly the
Littorio, the Vittorio Vene-
to, both $4,000 tons, the An
drea Doria and the CATO Dui-
lilo, both $4,000 tons.
The cruisers included the Luigi
di Savoia Duca Degli Arbuzzi, the
Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Ehgenio
di Savoia, the Emanuele Filiberto
Duca d'Aosta, the Raimondo Mon
tecuccoli and the Luigi Cadorna.
all 5000 tons (the seventh cruiser
was not Immediately identified.
Drop Roma's Survivors
GA dispatch from Palma de NAL
lorca said that seven additional
/ Italian warships stopped in ports
of Spain's Baleric islands to drop
wounded survivors of the Roma,
most of whose 900 man crew was
reported lost. The ships, reported
en- route to surrender at Gibraltar,
were given "a hours to leave. They
may, however, request an extern
sion to make repairs. The ships
were not identified.
Additional Italian fleet units were
expected to reach Malta shortly,
marking a major bloodless victory
for the Allies as land forces raced
with Germany to partition the re-
manning assets of bankrupt Italy,
which had fallen into chaos.
/ Allies Widen Holdings
The Germans had seized all
northern Italy and Rome after
scattering weak Italian resistance,
while the Allies, 10 miles below,
expanded thir holdings around Ma
pies and captured the port of Sa.
lerno. In the far south the Eighth
army stepped up it's advance to
reach Mazda, 70 miles from Italy's
southern tip.
King Vittorio Emanuele was re-
ported still reigning in Rome, de-
spite German radio reports that
he had fled with his prime minis
ter, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, to
Sicily.
Allied airforces were pounding
the peninsula and Algiers radio
reports told of 'alian-German
fighting in turn and sabotage
against the Germans throughout
the country.
But the major event in the Medi-
terranean today was the dramatic
dash of Italy's fleet from the Ger
man grasp in its greatest show Of
spunk during the entire war, in
which it has been largely inactive.
Escorted BY British
The battleships, cruisers and de-
stroyers steamed into port under
friendly escort by British Warships
after half-hour battle with Ger
man bombers which attacked them
off Corsica and split IN two the
Roma.
Ha Linea dispatches corrected
previous reports by saying that no
Italian ships were visible at Glib
raltar from the Spanish town
across the frontier. They had said
Friday that six Itali IN ships found
haven there.
Cat least five and possibly six
of 1talys seven battleships have
now been accounted for, and seven
of its ten cruisers definitely locat-
ed. Twelve of its Is destroyers
were in Allied hands or informed
by the Spaniards. Fifty to. 60 sub
marines are still unaccounted for.)
In addition to the Italian war;
ships, there were indications that
the United Nations would gain
some portion of Italy's merchant
fleet, although many were at north
ern ports now in German hands.
| Come From laramie
The II ships Which arrived in
Malta late last night and early
this morning came in two flotillas
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