Evening star., 1943-07-25
BY DON WHITEHEAD,
Press War Correspondent.

Associated Press War Correspondent.
PALERMO, Sicily, July % De-
laye0 The Yanks are swarming
through this great capital OF Sicily
today while most of the approxi-
mately 100000 inhabitants are
cheering their presence and well
coming them with an amazing show
of hospitality.
Even an old campaigner like 1t.
Gen. George S. Patton, jr., is slightly
bewildered by the enthusiastic re-
ception given him and his men.
They even threw flowers, lemons
and watermelons," he chuckled.
But it should be emphasized that
all the fruit was tossed to us in a
spirit Of friendliness."
Gen. Patton termed the drive on
Palermo the greatest blitz in his
tory"
Taken In 18 Hours.
Eighteen hours after a great
armored column began a drive on
the city 1t was officially surrendered
by Gen. Molinero, italian COM
mander Of Palermo.
II am just q visiting fireman."
Gen. Patton said. 1.-The credit all
goes to the men who led the troops
and armor on Sicily.
They did a remarkable Job"
When a corps commander entered
the outskirts of Palermo at 7:24
PM he found a carload Of Italian
officers waiting his arrival. Among
the Italians was Gen. Molinero, who
had tried to surrender to advance
patrols at dusk. He came to the
corps commanders car. But imme-
diate difficulties arose because the
corps commander spoke no Italian.
Unconditional Surrender
This difficulty was ironed out
through an interpreter, and the
American general came to the point
quickly, demanding unconditional
surrender.
Gen. Molinero said he was
through and would fight no more"
the corps commander said. "He
added that there would be no re-
sistance from his men.
However, Molinero said there was
another general who was in COM
mand of troops in the citadel of
Palermo, and that he couldn't speak
for him. He was unable to say
whether the other general would
| give up, but said he felt morally
sure there would be no resistance
He added that this general was at
the royal palace"
With this information, the Ameri-
can general organized an expedition
to find the second italian general,
Mario Arisio. He borrowed a pillow
case from an italian family and tied
it to the radio mast of his car for
the drive to the palace.
Borrowed a Sheet.
But the pillow case hung Imply
at the mast and wouldn't flap in the
breeze. 1t was pretty inconspicu-
Gus flag of truce, so one of the gen.
erals men noticed an Italian waving
a white sheet from a fishing pole.
He borrowed it for the occasion.
The sheet tapped fine in the
breeze as they drove through. the
streets.
But when we arrived we couldn't
find anyone to do business with"
the corps commander said. Finally
we located the head of police and
he brought the general to me-"
The Italian was willing to sur
render anything he could give the
Americans, and said he would sign
any terms of surrender. However.
there was no written surrender and
only the verbal demand for uncon-
ditional capitulation, which was ac-
cepted Immediately.
Patton Won Bet.
Officially, the fall of Palermo was
at 8 pm. Orders had been issued
that troops should be in Palermo
by 8. At exactly 8 orders were signed
for troops to march into the city,
and as result Gen. Patton won a
bet by % hours from Air Marshal
Wigglesworth.
On July 18 Gen. Patton bet the
air marshal his troops would be in
Palermo by midnight OF July %. At
that time this appeared to be an
optimistic estimate because troops
and armor hadn't begun to move
toward Palermo.
However, three days ago armored
troops moved along the coast road,
while task force under 1t. Col.
William Darby of Fort Smith, Ark,
moved in to protect the left flank
of the push.
Moving into the Menfi area, the
armor was held up at the Belize
River by demolitions. But on July
81 the corps commander gave Or
ders for the armor to move the next
morning at 6 o'clock for an attack
on Palermo.
Bombing Order Cancelled.
The air force prepared to bomb
the cities en- route to Palermo if
any of them resisted the advance,