The Pittsburgh Press (July 16, 1943)
Surrender of Italy demanded by Allies
Die for Il Duce or live for homeland, people told in message
By Merriman Smith, United Press staff writer
Washington –
President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill today served on the Italian people a life-or-death demand that they overthrow their leaders and made peace or suffer the consequences of invasion and total war at home.
Die for Mussolini and Hitler – or live for Italy, and for civilization.
That was the keynote of the message that was drummed into Italian ears by all available United Nations radio stations and put before Italian eyes on millions of pamphlets dropped by Allied air forces over the length and breadth of the Italian peninsula.
The message clearly threatened invasion of the mainland – presumably as soon as Sicily is in hand – unless Italy surrenders.
Although no time limit was set, Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill offered the Italian people but one alternative to capitulation – to suffer “the tragic devastation of war.”
The message emphasized that the air over Italy is dominated by vast numbers of Allied planes. They were dropping pamphlets today, but it could be blockbusters tomorrow.
And the Italian seacoasts are threatened by “the greatest accumulation of British and Allied sea power ever concentrated in the Mediterranean,” the message said.
Again and again, the message emphasized that it was the Fascist leaders of Italy who had “betrayed” the Italian people. Italy’s present plight is:
…the direct consequence of the shameful leadership to which you have been subjected by Mussolini and his Fascist regime.
As a prelude to the “last chance” appeal, swarms of Allied planes last night attacked Naples and northern Italy for the second time in three nights. And, of course, for days, the Axis propagandists have been preparing the Italian people for the loss of Sicily, where Allied armies are striking into that island’s vitals ahead of schedule.
The Roosevelt-Churchill message was made public simultaneously here and in London and Algiers at 7 a.m. EWT. At that moment, the pamphlets were being dropped on Italy and radios were beginning to beam the message to Italy.
Despite the lack of a time limit on the demand for capitulation, the message – with its description of the Allied might poised at Sicily implied that the United Nations would not wait long.
Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill have repeatedly hammered at the theme that they believe the Italian people to be the victims of that “jackal,” that “black-hearted Italian,” as Mr. Churchill has called Mussolini.
During Mr. Churchill’s last visit to Washington in May, he appealed to the Italians to revolt against their leaders. Early in June, on the morning of the fall of the Italian island of Pantelleria, Mr. Roosevelt again urged the Italians to revolt.
The joint message to the Italians today warned that they must disavow both the German Nazi leaders and their own “false and corrupt leaders” as the only way for “a reconstituted Italy can hope to occupy a respected place in the family of European nations.”
No promises were held out for the Italians – such as food. The message was devoid of any commitments concerning the future of Italy – such as the type of leaders and government to follow Mussolini.
Likewise, it avoided any statement that would preclude the use of Italian bases to carry the war to the German homeland.