Evening star., 1943-08-02
Troop Landings
Promised After
Air Offensive
Peace Offer Declared
Unanswered by
BodogIio Regime
BY the Associated Press,

b! the Associated Press.
LONDON, Aug. Italians
were warned in radio broadcasts
from Algiers tonight that Allied
land forces would soon invade
the mainland to follow up re-
sumption of the aerial offensive
caused by the temporizing of
1taly'S military government on
demands for surrender.
we warn you again: Our air force
will strike at you from the air and
soon our land forces will be fighting
on the Italian mainland" tbs radio
said.
The Allied offer of peace has re-
mained unanswered by Marshal
Pietro Badoglio, the message to the
Italians declaxed, and it added:
our attitude is clear. Regimes based
on violence and on slavery must be
eradicated and destroyed"
BY the hundreds of thousands.
Italian civilians were reported flee
ing metropolitan areas even before
American Flying Fortresses headed
for Naples yesterday to pick up
where they had left off in attacks on
its many military objectives.
Surrender Demand Repeated.
Radio interference-generally a
sign that Axis operators are at
tempting to black out a transmits
slon-badly jammed the Algiers sta
ton, from which Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower's headquarters told the
Italians Saturday that the air war
would go on.
The demand for unconditional sur
render was reaffirmed.
We insist on the unconditional
surrender of these evil forces" the
broadcast said. You have been
betrayed by Mussolini. Now Pietro
baoogllo Is betraying you"
Dispatches from Madrid said Rome
adVlces indicated furry of activity
at the Vatican which apparently
was connected with some sort OF
peace discussions, but there was mo
evidence that Badoglio had made
any move to deliver a direct request
for an arnistice.
The impression grew here that
nothing short of a direct reply
would satisfy the Allies and that
possible attempts to put forth peace
feelers through an intermediary
would not save Italy the pounding
she has been promised.
Hour after hour yesterday. Allied
radio stations dinned into Italian
ears Gen. Eisenhower's warning that
aerial death and destruction would
be the penalty if Badoglios govern
ment continued to harbor German
soldiers on Italian soil.
Millions Flee Cities.
An Immediate psychological ef-
1ect on the populace was reported in
SWlss-Italian dispatches through
Bern, which said about 5000, 900
Italians already had fed the cities.
Ofhcially, however, the govern
ment's position was no clearer than
1t was when first formed after Mus
solini was ousted as premier.
The Algiers radio reported that in
one Italian town marching women
shouted Peace" and Set free our
prisoners, but press reports and
broadcasts from Rome continued to
criticize the Allies for failing to offer
Italy "a peace of honor" among ma
tions after Fascism was ended.
I'VE want to negotiate but we
don't want to capitulate," was the
tenor Of Italian press and radio re-
action.
Reports that Badoglio's aim in
holding out was to win a form of
neutrality which would remove italy
from the war but avoid an Allied
occupation were met with barrage
Of ridicule here. The press empha-
sized that Italy will be used as an
Allied base for striking Germany
whether she surrenders or prefers
to be taken by force.
Day and Night Meetings.
The nature of the discussions in
the Vatican was not disclosed in the
Madrid dispatches. but they said
that Luigi Cardinal Maglione, papal
secretary of state, and Msgr Gio-
vanni BattiSta Montoni. Vatican
undersecretary of state. were meet
ing foreign diplomats day and
night"
One semi official report received
in Madrid said Cardinal Maglione,
after conversations with Harold
Tittman, American charge daft
faires, called on Badoglio at the
Royal Palace.
With the Sicilian campaign run
ming ahead of schedule, the general
reaction was that the Allies we're
justified in letting Italy stew Ill
(See ITALY, Page A-12D