Germans foresee all isles’ loss; say they ‘forced’ Allies to attack
London, England (AP) – (July 10)
Fierce fighting in Sicily was reported tonight by Axis broadcasts, while the German press prepared the people for the loss of all Italy’s Mediterranean islands before the summer’s end.
German propagandists made a complete turnabout on their recent declarations on the German offensive in Russia in an attempt to show that the Allies had been “forced” to invade Sicily to create a diversion on behalf of the Russians, the Office of War Information reported.
As expected, the long-awaited blow sent the Axis propaganda machine into frenzied action. German propagandists belittled the importance of the invasion and insisted that it came as no surprise. At the same time, however, the Berlin radio told of elaborate preparations for Sicily’s defense and declared that Germany and Italy were confident that the Allies would not realize their aims.
Berlin said:
The invasion forces were immediately engaged in heavy fighting that proved extraordinarily costly for them. Coastal batteries and Axis bombers sank a number of landing transports manned with troops and laden with material 33 enemy aircraft so far have been brought down in aerial combats. Enemy parachutists who bailed out during the dawn were wiped out.
Capt. Ludwig Sertorius, the Transocean News Agency’s military correspondent, said in a dispatch broadcast by Berlin 12 hours after the invasion that:
In all probability, the Allied command will launch one or several diverting actions against the southern continent of Europe in order to worry the Axis powers and force them to split up their forces.
For the time being, the broadcast continued, most of the fighting seems to be going on in the southeastern coastal stretch. It was said:
This, however, does not mean that the enemy is actually concentrating his attacks against this sector of Sicily. In fact, it is quote possible that further and stronger landing attempts will be made presently against other parts of the island.
Capt. Sertorius, differing somewhat from other Berlin commentators, said that there was no else to underestimate the importance of the Allied thrust.
He said:
The enemy has many useful bases at his disposal in North Africa while the enemy navy is holding supremacy in the Mediterranean. Allied air force formations, although having suffered heavy losses lately, are probably still numerically superior to the Aix air force in the Mediterranean.
Furthermore, it seems that Anglo-Saxon troops concentrated in North Africa and the Near East are strong enough to permit simultaneous offensive operations against other points of the European southern front.
Not until 1 p.m. (Rome Time) were the Italian people told that the island had been invaded. Then the Rome radio broadcast a brief communiqué saying only that “violent fighting” was in progress in southeast Sicily after an Allied attack by air forces and parachute troops supported by naval units.