Mediterranean Algiers Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 31, 1943, Algiers, Algiers                                Vol. I no. 34, saturday july 31, 1943 . Army newspaper two francs the Bot Comer Mussolini s downfall brings peace rumours allies Cut Sicily line important towns near it. Etna captured Trapani the Saga of a hitch hiker by a soft. Ralph g. Martin stars and stripes staff writer with the american forces in Sicily i was coing to Palermo. Iii four hours i had hitched Only two Short rides. One was on a motorcycle piloted by a Guy who should have been in the air co Cir the other was on a Peep crowded with la other soldiers. For 15 Miles of bumpy Road. I sat on the peeps left fender in a very Peculiar position. Every time we approached another Hitchhiker. I had the sinking feeling that the Peep would Stop to pick him up and i d have to move Over. And i did no to know where but hitchhikers always took one look 3t the peeps Busload and waved us on. In my last half hour of Curbstone sitting. I had a very interesting sign language discussion pledge to army enacted swiftly wac makes plans for servicemen Washington acting swiftly to carry out president Roosevelt s Promise not to forget servicemen after the War the War manpower commission late this week set up machinery to provide jobs for discharged War veterans. The wac will Quot put returned veterans in gainful and essential employment or refer them to the Prosper agencies for rehabilitation and training and thereafter Accord them selective training a the commission pledged itself in a statement of policy. The wac ruled that the reemployment division of selective service now a unit of the commission should let a responsible for the reinstatement of veterans in former jobs and should organize civilian committees to obtain Community support for the Job program. The us. Employment service also a wac Branch will provide registration and placement services through its local offices for veterans who were not employed when inducted or who Are disinclined or unable to return to their former jobs. The veterans employment service division of the wac will develop placement programs and its representatives will go into army and Navy hospitals to provide services Lor disabled veterans before their discharge. With a kid who gave me the still Arm fascist Salute. I carefully explained to him that he was definitely out of tune with the times. Just As he was getting tile Poy scout Salute Down Pat. A tis. Loaded with troop came up and Stopp a. A a going to Palermo a i asked. Quot no. We re going to Trapani a one of them said. Quot have we got Trapani already Quot i asked. A a we re Gonna take it  they said. A a Wanna come a sure i wanted to come. Its a twisting Road to Trapani. �?�1 wish that some of the sicilian women had half the curves that these roads  said one trooper wistfully. There were about 20 of them on the truck All looking Young and Tough ready for anything. We Kent picking up troop Road guides at the outskirts of every town we passed. Before Long the truck looked like the Coney Island express on the fourth of july. The crisis came when we nicked up the last guide. He had four prisoners with him. Everybody had All kinds of pleasant suggestions As to what to do with the prisoners. But finally somehow they squeezed in. All four sad sacks stared at til1 troop it ers with scared looks in their Eves until som be handed them some Cigar ret is. The they All broke into smiles and the tension was broken from the receptions we got at the different towns it roomed As if the word had been fir si1, cd continued on Page 2 Allied Force Headquarters july 30 Tough american and Canadian troops have cracked through the Center of the enemy s vital Etna line on Sicily and Are now strengthening their hold on the towns of Nicosia and Agua in the rough Region West of it. Etna. Thus less than three weeks alter the opening of the sicilian invasion the allies have punched through the vital outer defences of the last Axis stronghold on the Island and threaten to outflank the enemy positions on both sides of the break through. The allies now hold three fourths of the Island. Nicosia is easily the most important Road Junction town in the whole Region West of it Etna. With this Point in their Possession the american forces Are in a position to drive northward on san Stefano the Northern Anchor of the stable line which Allied military observers believed the Axis hulled to hold along a grand curve around the base of it. Etna. San Stefano is on the coast less than 20 Miles North of Nicosia. Other american forces have been moving on the town from the East in taking agora the canadians have made further Progress Down the Road which runs from the mountainous Interior to the Catania Plain. Further advances by the canadians along this route would endanger the germans defending Catania from the British forces pressing from the South. The Canadian first division captured. Lost then recaptured agora before sending the German 15th Panzer division reeling Back toward Regalbuto All during the week the British 8th army below Catania Lias probed the nearly impregnable German defences in the Gorn Alun a River Basin and up along the Westward reaches of the Dit Taino River. Sporadic fighting broke out now and then along this Southern sector of the front but most it the British Effort was confined i patrol activity there was no question however but what the 8th army a pressure continued on Page 8 riots split Italy As fascism bows out bombers reduce Sicily activity Allied Force Headquarters. July 30�?the tenpin of air activity Over Sicily and the italian Mam and slackened off considerably this past week although Allied bombers continued their persistent attack on Italy a harassed trans rotation system. Iii the air Battle to disrupt rail arteries carrying supp ies i Sicily from the inti Stival North bombers hit marshalling Yards and other rail Lacil ittes All along the West roast of Italy this past week the fact that Hying fortresses of the Northwest african strategic air Force on wednesday hit the relative v Small Inland rail junctions of Ca it i and Leon May indicate that so much damage has been done to Naples. Salerno and other key rail Points that the italians have Len obliged to divert urgent War traffic around the much longer in it and route via Foggia. With Italy a sicilian realm mildly dwindling much of the Al led bomb tonnage doting the week was a roof d on th1 Southern italian airfields to which the loft Waffle and Regia aeronautics had continued on Page i by to sgt. Hilary ii. Lyons stars and stripes staff writer Italy today is fishing for Pieace. The fascist party has been dissolved and its founder and Leader Benito Mussolini is in prison or protective custody. His chief lieutenants those Gaudy and arrogant champions of the glories of War have shared a similar or perhaps a harder Fate. The seat of to Taiwan authority has shifted from the balconies Palazzo Venezia in Rome to the Royal Palace of t ii e Quirt Al. Vittorio Emmanuele Iii fur almost 21 years dubbed the a a puppet King and a non fascist general marshal Pietro Sadoglio now hold Hie pulsing reins o f government i ii the italian Peninsula. These were the breath taking events of a week marked in Italy by strikes bloody riots and demonstrations for peace and abroad by political repercussions whose end no Man can yet foresee. In he fall of Mussolini and fascism Shook the world with the Lorce and unix Jirec Ted Ness of a Block Buster. Late last sunday night radio Rome tersely announced that Mussolini had tendered a formal resignation to the King who himself had taken com radio Rome yesterday resumed attacks on the United nations while the government of marshal Sadoglio kept silent on Allied peace demands. But Neutral sources continued to assert that the new italian Cabinet was examining peace conditions set Forth by Gen. Dwight d. Eisenhower. Allied commander in chief in North Africa Iii his message broadcast july 28. 1old Guy in Palermo is yanks Gran pop banned Rome papers Are banned again the Rome newspaper Quot la Mondo a which was suppressed by the fascists Iii 1922 and which made a re appearance last week after Benito Mussolini resigned is reported by a German news Agency to have been suppressed again this time on orders of Premier marshal Pietro Sadoglio. In 1922 and in the Brief period of its revival last week the editor of ii Mondoy was the pre fascist Liberal prime Munster Evermo Bonomi. Two other papers started up after the downfall of fascism were also said to have fallen under the Sadoglio ban. These were a review with the title a a july Date of ii Duce a resignation to risk Iossa a a recovery Hope which Berlin claimed a communist Organ new 25�?� and and was by sgt. Stars and with am Eft in an forces Palermo pie Tony c \ Ato of san Francisco had just settled Down in the Corner of the courtyard behind the Palermo police station. The Cobblestone paving was not a Beauty mattress but it did no to matter he was already half air keep for he had slept none the night before Iris first in Palermo. The guard at the Gate came Over Quot hey Tony some old Guy wants to i see  a a see me. Why a i Quot beats the hell out of me Why a said the guard Calato got up pulled on his shoes Slung his Rifle on his Shoul Der and stumbled through the eve Ning g Oom. Quot you Tony Calato a i asked the civilian a Small old wearing a stiff Straw hat. Quot Yah a said Galatro. Quot to Vostero nor to a announced the Man meaning Quot i am your i Grandfather. The yank looked at j the Sicly Ian. The Man looked Back at the youth with dark somber Eves pleading for recognition. Quot sure a said Calato i dark ice Jack hush strip gets staff writer in Tures lighting with latin excitement Quot you Are my  Fol Ogini. Six Quot is. Is and you Are my grand on Tony Calato six Sisi. Is. Six rippled his grand on. And As the guard to a me later i the two began a a hugging each other All Over the place and i i my arid babbling like hell in italian Tony i was always a quiet Guy and Here j he was going crazy Over an old Guy he had never seen before a reasoned the guard. Quot i done to get i  the guard did no to get it and i imagine a lot of th1 Axis tribe won t get it either. Here. Through the fickle Fate of War. Was tie first Man evidence of the overflow of americans melting pot having seeped Jinto th1 Quot old  Here was what Hitler had striven for and failed to get a Kindred ship Kindred people throughout Wor d. Here was an enemy and enemy who had for a moment Furler was Man and his j gotten War t continued on Page 2> Viand of the armies and appointed 71-year-old marshal Sadoglio to succeed la Duce As Premier. In a Brief proclamation the King called Lur Unity marshal Sadoglio said a the War  that was All the world was told but it was enough to fill the hearts of Allied Peoples with sudden Hope and to bring terror to the Axis. Throughout the remainder of the week the outside world has had to depend on Neutral news sources and Rumor factories for word of italian developments. Publicly marshal Sadoglio has taken few Steps. His first act was t o form a Cabinet made up almost entirely of italian technical exerts with no pronounced political leanings. In mid week his government took its most sensational step to Dan on the eve of Benito Mussolini a Goth birthday it dissolved the fascist party and the fascist grand Council the organizations unholy of unto lies. Later marshal Sadoglio announced that All prominent fascists were being imprisoned in the name of the Public safety and that All persons thrown into prison by the fascists for political reasons were being released. Historians will probably debate for years the immediate causes of Mussolini a resignation but the Basic reason will not be challenged. Fascism fell because it had plunged Italy into economic misery and military defeat the first Allied reactions to the of i italian crisis were cautious prime tie minister Winston Churchill last his tuesday told the House of commons that if they wished peace j the italians must submit to in continued on Page 3