Current Events August 23, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 23, 1943:

The Italian press, according to a Associated Press dispatch from. Berne, Switzerland, yesterday declared openly what has already been hinted—that the German occupation of  Italy was blocking the Badoglio

government's efforts to -remove the country from the war

The mass of French people have suddenly become extremely polite, cheerful and pleasant towards the Germans and officials of the Laval government. Neither the Germans nor Laval's hirelings like it.

That is part of the extraordinary picture of the new atmosphere in France brought to Spain by Frenchmen, neutrals, Italians and even Germans.

The Luftwaffe is using formations of captured, rebuilt Flying Fortresses in a desperate last-stand effort to solve the tactics of American daylight bombing which in the last 29 days has struck a near-crippling blow at Germany's defensive fighter strength.
               THE STARS AND STRIPES
                    Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Force in the European Theater of Operations
                             New York, N.Y.—London, England Monday, Aug. 23, 1943
      Italian Press Says Germans Block Peace

Occupation Forces
Forestall Any Move;
Naples Hit Heavily
Axis Radio Reports Allied Landings in Italy and Crete.
The Italian press, according to a Associated Press dispatch from. Berne, Switzerland, yesterday declared openly what has already been hinted—that the German occupation of  Italy was blocking the Badoglio
government's efforts to -remove the country from the war.
A Chiasso dispatch from the Swiss Telegraph Agency said that Italian newspaper were "clearly stating
that the tirst aim of the Badoglio government is to remove the country from the war but Rome is seeking to prevent the peninsula becoming the theater of a gigantic battle between the Germans there and the Anglo-Saxons threatening to enter."
The agency reported that best informed sources agreed that German troops were constantly increasing in the peninsula, descending th/ough the Brenner Pass.
                                                              Naples Hit Hard
Allied air forces, in a concentrated day-and-night assault with Fortresses, Liberators, Wellingtons and Marauders, struck heavily at railway communications in the Naples area over the weekend, and Swiss reports said the Italians expected an invasion south of the port within a few days. One Axis-controlled radio station broadcast reports 'the invasion already had begun, with landings in the toe of Italy and on the island of Crete, but these were unconfirmed in Allied quarters.
Swarms of Axis fighters came up to attack the bombers as they roared in over Naples in successive waves to isolate the big port from railway traffic. More than 50 enemy interceptors were destroyed for the loss of nine Allied ships.

Smiles of French Puzzle Germans
MADRID, Aug. 22 (AP.)—
The mass of French people have suddenly become extremely polite, cheerful and pleasant towards the Germans and officials of the Laval government. Neither the Germans nor Laval's hirelings like it.
That is part of the extraordinary picture of the new atmosphere in France brought to Spain by Frenchmen, neutrals, Italians and even Germans.
"When our train stopped at Vierzan," said a Spanish traveller, "nearly 100 townspeople went to a carriage occupied by German officers. They stood, smiling,nodding and waving, until the Germans angrily demanded what they wanted. The reply was: 'We have simply come to greet you and do anything we can to make your stay in Vierzan pleasant.
"The women made exaggerated comments on the good looks of the German officers. The scene was repeated at all the station stops."

 

Luftwaffe Using Captured

Planes to Fight U.S.

Daylight Blows

The Luftwaffe is using formations of captured, rebuilt Flying Fortresses in a desperate last-stand effort to solve the tactics of American daylight bombing which in the last 29 days has struck a near-crippling blow at Germany's defensive fighter strength.

Formations of the B17s, shot down in USA AF raids on the Reich and occupied countries, have been flying alongside Eighth Air Force Forts during recent missions over Germany, but so far have made no serious attempts to interfere

with the U.S. raiders, it was revealed yesterday.

The captured Forts, apparently manned by Nazi experts on air tactics, are being used to study American formation flying and defense maneuvers, as well as to report to waiting defenses on the speed, height and direction of the attacking units, experts believe.

Peenemunde Attack a Success
To 'substantiate the growing belief that the Allied air offensive from bases here is culling into Nazi fighter power on a steadily increasing scale was a British Air Ministry statement yesterday describing the results of the RAF night attack Last week on the Luftwaffe radio-location research laboratories at Peenemunde, on
the Baltic.