It is but natural that very little should be heard of the Italians nowadays. All along. they have played an insignificant part in the war, and now, as completely under Hitler as any other country which he has overrun, Italy no longer ranks as an Axis partner. Mussolini who once fancied himself as a proud Dictator has been relegated to the position of Hitler's lackey, and with just about as much to say for himself as such a menial would have. But it is not to be thought that the Italian propagandists have not been doing the best they can with the poor material which Italian achievements, or lack thereof, provide them. Their impudence in unparalleled. It will be remembered that in 1940, when the Germans had all but completed their campaign against France, Mussolini with astonishing courage declared war against that stricken country. It was quite safe to do so then,—hence the courage. With considerable bravado Italian troops commenced the invasion of France just in time to claim a share in the German Victory.
History has repeated itself. Fol the costly onslaught by the Germans on Crete, which they forced the British to evacuate. The Italians decided that here too they must take a hand. Consequently a few Italian troops sneaked into Crete nine days after the Germans. And did the Italian broadcasters have a field day? In a broadcast to Britain on May 30 the speaker aver-will look on the Italian landing as one of the outstanding events of all ages." On the same day broadcasting to the from the enemy, have been escorted along without the Italians being al serious casualties, Of cor Where she has fought she has f: her large armies were defeated by numerically inferior British 4 Greece they failed ignominiously and to depend upon Hitler and his overwhelming strength to get them out of the mess were E Conditions in Italy are known be bad. one outstanding success. They have proved a liability to Hitler instead of an asset and are paying for their failure by being reduced to the status of merely another country which the Nazis have overrun. Their landing on Crete was at a time when the greater part of the fighting had been completed and the issue no longer in doubt in just the same way as their intervention in the campaign against France. Wherever they have undertaken separate action they have made mistake after mistake, and encountered defeat after defeat, and the world has been shown how shoddy is the military machine which Mussolini boasted he had built up, Of one thing the Italians may be sure,—whenever the Italian Navy again cares to come out in the open, instead of skulking behind the fortifications of its harbours, it will find the British awaiting them only too anxious for further argument with it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.