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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1963)
tJlA. mm m m 3 i i i: '.V J THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER li. 1963 MEDFORDMAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON - ome Recalls Surrender and 11943 iattle For DtcaHy United Press International ROME (UPI) - They cheer ed and wept with joy that day in London and New York. The date was Sept. 8, 1943. The newspapers broke out the big, black type and radio announ cers everywhere gave the tid ings: "Italy surrenders!" But in Rome, Florence, Na ples and hundreds of other towns and villiages along the Italian peninsula, there was ap prehension. "What will they do now?" The people asked as they sat by their radios or gathered in tlie piazzas. "They" the Germans gave the answer swiftly. Within hours, Rome was oc cupied. King Victor Emanuel III and the government of Marshal Pietro Badoglio were in fliight. Adolph Hitler began marshal ling fresh divisions to pour down through the Brenner Pass to meet the new crisis. Italy had surrendered. Now the battle for Italy began. It wa3 to go on for another 20 months and cost 350,000 Al lied casualties alone. But that day 20 years ago was, nonethe less, a turning point in World War II. Link Snaps The first link in the Axis chain had snapped. At a cru cial moment, Hitler was forced to divert troops from his hard' pressed Eastern front to do bat tie elsewhere. The way to Nor mandy was paved. Psychologically, the blow was immense. Everywhere, people sensed that this was the begin' ning of the end. The event that led up to Sept. 8. 1943, had begun two months earlier with the fall of Fascism the imprisonment of Benito Mus solini, the formation of the Ba rioRlio government and the Al lied landings in Sicily. TWENTY YEARS AGO Celebration of the demonstrators, taken in 1943 from a newsreel ouster of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is film. The demonstrators are riding through shown in this photograph of shouting, waving Rome's Via Nationale. (UPI) Danes Protest Film On Christine Keeler COPENHAGEN, Denmark (UPI) Nearly 50,000 Danes have signed a protest against the filming in Denmark of Christine Keeler's life "because it may spoil the character of our children," the newspaper Politiken said today. Since Sept. 5, about 300 per sons have collected the signa tures. They will work another week before applying to the gov ernment for a ban on the film making, it said. Miss Keeler is a London party pirl whose illicit love affair with British War Minister John Pro fiimo led to his rcsignatioo and set off a scandal which nearly toppled Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's government. In late July, the Italians made secret contact with the Allies to sound them out about the possible terms of an armis tice. Weeks of cloak - and - dagger operations ranging from Home to Madrid to Lisbon to a tiny villiage In Sicily were to follow before tnat would tin- ally be effected. the problem at all times was to avoid tipping the hand of the Italians to the Germans, poised everywhere along the peninsula with 16 well-equipped divisions. The key man in the operation for the Italians was Gen. Giu seppe Castellano, charged by Badoglio with making personal contacts with the Allies and try ing to secure the best terms pos sible for Italy. Castellano, Key Castellano, using a false pass port, left Rome by train Aug. 12 lor Lisbon. The train made an unscheduled stop of several hours at Madrid, and Castellano took advantage of this to make contact with the British Ambas sador, Samuel Hoare. He told Hoare that Italy not only was ready to break with the Germans, but also was pre pared to join the war on the side of the Allies. As Castellano continued on his way to Lisbon, Hoare tele graphed to British Prime Min ister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roose velt, then meeting in Canada, to tell them what the Italians had proposed. . . Castellano arrived in Lisbon Aug. 17 and made secret con tact with the British Ambassa dor Sir R. Campbell. It was nec essary to act with caution be cause Lisbon was full of Ger man spies. Two days later, the Italian counsul at Lisbon received a note from the British Embassy saying: "Mr. Du Bois is ex pected this evening at 10:30" It was the signal that the ne gotiations were to begin. Castellano went to the embas sy and met a group of Anglo American officials headed by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's personal representative, Gen. Walter Bedell Smith. Bedell Smith began by reading the Al lies conditions for an armistice. Castellano replied that he was not authorized to discuss armis tice terms, but only the terms of a military agreement. Allies Suspicious This surprised the Allied of ficials, and aroused their sus picions. The talks seemed about to bog down. But Churchill and Roosevelt meanwhile had re ceived Hoare's telegram, and they immediately drew up and sent to Lisbon the so-called "Document of Quebec," offer ing military assistance to Italy as soon as the Italians had giv en concrete proof of their col laboration with the Allies. On Aug. 31, the Allies sent a secret message to Castellano in structing him to go to Sicily. Castellano left immediately, carrying a message from the Badoglio government saying It aly could sign an armistice only if it were announced after Allied troops had landed on the peninsula in sufficient strength to keep Rome and the rest of the nation from falling into Ger man hands. Bedell Smith, who met Cas tellano at the Allied command post at Cassible a village just below Syracuse on the South east Sicilian coast told him the Italian terms were unac ceptable. Although he didn't spell this out, the Allies faced a severe shortage of landing cratt neces sary to invade all along the Italian coast. Their battle plan thus called for taking Italy the hard way landing in the smith nnH ftirhlinp their wav up the rugged peninsula. I Castellano told Bedell Smith that at the least the Allies should land a parachute division and an armored division at Rome to keep the Germans from capturing the King and the Badoglio government and setting up a puppet Facist re gime. Allies Agree The Allies finally agreed to send a parachute division and 100 anti-tank weapons. Castellano returned to Rome and reported to Badoglio on Sept. 1. After an indecisive cab inet meeting, Badoglio went to see the King. That afternoon, the King decided to accept the surrender and sent a coded tel egram to Rome explaining what wer is affirmative . . ." Then a strange series of de velopments - comic in any other circumstances set in. Castellano returned to Sicily on Sept. 2 and the Allies greeted him, thinking he was authorized to sign the armistice. But gov ernment officials in Rome had W IIIWIIH MM i 5 ' ' w Cr 1 - ZS' si k ; p ' " ' ' '.. .- ":W """'VS .V ' m n I Cm rwtct NlCC DOUBLE SOFT. New double-soft MD Tissue is i win-ply nice at a ono-ply price. As gentle as its colors, too. Pastel pink, yellow, aqua, lilac, and while. Twin-ply nice at a one-ply price. Softer, gentler, stronger, new double-soft M II Tissue. Also available in convenient tingle or 2-roll ,7"" packages. , eOEOROIA-PACICIC TlSSUt PRODUCTS DIVISION BELUNGHAM, WASHINGTON believed their telegram was sufficient to put the armistice into effect, and had given him no such authorization. Castellano quickly sent a tel egram to Rome explaining what must be done, but no answer was forthcoming. By niightfall Castellano was desperate, and sent another tel egram. Accept Terms At 2 p.m. the next day, a tel egram arrived from Rome say ing that the telegram sent on Sept. 1 contained "implicit ac ceptance" of the armistice terms. Nothing was said about authorizing Castellano to sign. Then at 5 p.m. a telegram ar rived from Badoglio, cancelling the one sent three hours earlier and authorizing Castellano to sign. Bedell Smith went to Castel lano's tent to notify him of this, and escorted him to the mess tent. There Castellano found Eisenhower standing before a long table, with the British Gen eral Strong, American General Lowell Rooks and two other Al lied officials beside him. The ceremony was short. Be dell Smith handed Castellano three copies of tthe armistice and the Italian signed first. Then Bedell Smith signed for Eisenhower. It was 5:15 in the afternoon of Sept. 3, 1943. Eisenhower stepped forward and shook Cas tellano's hand. At that moment, Allied troops were pouring onto the beaches of Calabria in the toe of the Italian Boot, and meeting little resistance. Five days later, on Sept. 8, Eisenhower announced the armistice to the world. In accordance with the armistice terms, Badoglio then announced it in Rome and the Italian radio carried his words to the nation. Happy as a bird with VCi5 VITAMIN D QQ Tn&HOMOGENIZED MILK V T Cjtrfyi TASTES BETTER S. MEDFORD'S FINEST MEATS SINCE 1940 GOOD LUCK BLACK TORNADO!! BEAT CORVALLIS FRIDAY NIGHT "SIGMAN'S" FROM DENVER FULLY COOKED HAMS 12 to 16 Lbs. EXTRA LEAN FRESH STOCK FULL HALF or WHOLE (0)c OUR GROUND BEEF IS ALWAYS THE BEST FRESH GROUND BEEF POUNDS $00 SAVE AT THIS LOW PRICE ! 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