The Wilmington morning star., 1944-06-06
SOLDIERS GIVEN
GREAT WELCOME
Bombers Blast Highways
As Nazis Jam Roads
In Retreat

ROME, June 5.-P)-Al-
lied armor and motorized in
fantry roared through the
Eternal City today = not
pausing to sight-see - cross
ed the Tiber, and proceeded
with the grim task of de-
stroying two battered Ger
man armies fleeing to the
north.
Flashing forces OF Allied fighter
bombers spearheaded the pursuit.
jamming the escape highways
northward with burning enemy
transport and littering the fields
with dead and wounded Nazis.
The enemy was tired, disorganiz-
ed and bewildered by the slash.
ing character of the Allied assault,
which in Is days had inflicted a
major catastrophe on German for
ces in Italy and liberated Rome
almost without damage to the his
toric city.
Joining the relentless program
for destruction, 500 American hea-
Wy bombers blasted railyards at S
points in northern Italy between
Venice and Rimini along which
the Germans might attempt to
move reinforcements and equip
ment to bolster Marshal Albert
Kesselring's beaten armies.
At 10 am. today 1t. Gen. Mark
W. Clark, tall commander of the
victorious Fifth army, entered
Rome in a jeep and drove to the
city hall, where he formally pro-
claimed the Allied occupation and
praised the valor of his troops.
Addressing his corps command
ers and looking out over thousands
Of cheering Italians, Clark de-
clared that both the 10th and 14th
German armies had been at least
partially destroyed, more than TO-
600 prisoners taken and untold
quantities of Nazi equipment cap
tured.
He 1auded individually the
French, British and American
troops Of the Fifth army and paid
tribute to the gallant men and
women who made the supreme sac
rifice" that made today's occupa.
ton possible. Mussolini's famous
balcony lin the Palazzo Venezia, a
few blocks from where Clarke
spoke, looked empty and desert.
ed.
Pope Expresses Thanks
Pope Plus XII, addressing an
enormous crowd including many
Fifth army soldiers in st. Peters
Square, expressed thanks to God
that Rome had not been destroyed
by war.
Gin Naples, it was announced that
King Victor Emanuel III had sign
ed retirement decree comforting
his powers upon his son, Crown
Prince Umberto, whom he named,
lieutenant general of the realm.
However, the monarch retained the
title as head of the House Of Sa.
voy, thus remaining a king with.
out poWer.)
The inhabitants reception to the
troops approached hysteria as the
day wore on, and homemade con-
fetti soon Uttered the streets.
There wac an almost carnival at
mosphere. Little damage to the
CITY was visible, the NaZiS hav-
ing limited demolitions to few
installations of no artistic or re-
ligious importance.
The speed of the enemy's flight
once his lines before Rome burst
was evident in the great guam
titles of war material left be-
hind, stockpiles sufficient to. equip
several divisions. An Allied
spokesman expressed the official
opinion that the tremendous pres
sure exerted by the Allies in the
final phase of the battle for Rome
had forced the enemy to flee be-
yond the capital rather than make
a protracted fight for the city
itself.
The great circle in front of St.
Peters was crowded with towns
people, but no Allied soldiers en-
tered the area.
Just "a hours after the First AL
lied troops made their way through
dense minefields and broke into
the southeastern suburbs of the city
at 8 am. yesterday, the leading
elements had passed completely
through the capital and the last
German sniper had been killed or
captured.
Planes Sweep Highways
Hour after hour the Allied war;
planes swept down on highways
leading northward and tore the
fleeing enemy apart. Twelve-hun-
bred Nazi transport vehicles were
destroyed from dawn to dark yes
,erday, and hundreds more today.
Farther north meium bonbers
bridges and rail facilities,
leaving wreckage and fire that one
airman said looked like ''the city
lump on burning day.
British Eighth army forces adj
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