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HOW P ANTELLI, GAV
LACK OF WATER
!AS REASON:
86 NAZIS DOWN
Australian Associated Press
LONDON, June 11.-An air bombardment
more concentrated than any the world has known,
compelled the surrender today of Pantellaria,
Mussolini's naval base in the Sicilian Narrows.
At one time the sky was so thick with Allied
planes that those coming in had almost to queue
up and wait until aircraft ahead had left the
target.
More bombs were dropped on the island
yesterday than were dropped during April on all
tagets in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy. Between June
1 and 10 more than 3,500-tons of bombs were
dropped.
Flying Fortresses were circling to drop their
bombs when the white flag was run up. Shortly
afterwards a senior Italian officer sent a message,
"I beg to surrender through lack of water," says
Reuters correspondent.
In the final phase of the operation 78, enemy fight
ers which attempted interception, were shot down by the
Allies for the loss of 12 planes.
As Allied landing forces were going ashore between
50 and 60 German aircraft dived from the clouds, but they
were dispersed by American fighters, and not one ship of
the strong supporting naval force was hit. Casualties
among the landing troops were neglible.
The last battery on the island was reduced at dusk
on Thursday, and British forces began to land at noon
today. Occupation of the island was completed at mid
night.
Victory for Planes
HT E surrender of the island
came 72 hours after the first
Allied demand on Tuesday, when
three separate streamer-attached
messages addressed to the com
mander of the garrison were
dropped from the air. These and
- a second. demn, d-. on ..Wadnesday
were ignored.
Ankara Radio said that the
fall of Lampedusa was expected
soon, following the surrender of
Pantellarla.
Rome Radio early tonight ad
mitted the fall of Pantellaria, but
said that official confirmation
would not be available until the
next communique.
The surrender of the island was
the first time in history that a land
fortress has capitulated to air
power without assault by land
forcer. That is the outstanding
point.
British troops, landing under
cover of naval guns, had to fight
only a brief 22-minute engagement
against scattered defenders, who
were not aware of the surrender
The Allies did to* Pantellaria
what the Germans.~nd, Italians
failed-to do to Malta.
The island was taken virtually
without the loss of a single sol
dier or sailor--a striking demon
stration of the economy of air
attack. Not a man landed until
the garrison flew the white flag.
Brigadier-General Norstad, Chief
of Operations of the North-West
African Air Force, said that the
operation would go down in his
tory as a classroom classic.
It was prepared with particular
care by a large and competent
staff-a scientific job prepared
with a slide rule.
Personal App
A LGIERS Radio tonight broad
' cast the text of the ultimatum
sent by Major-General Spaatz,
Commander-in-Chief of the West
African Air Forces.
The ultimatum was on one side
of the leaflets, and the other car
ried a message to the garrison
and population of the island.
The message to the commander
was:-"To His Excellency the
Governor and Commander of the
Italion garrison of Pantellaria:
Your Excellency, In the name
of General Eisenhower, Comman
der-in-Chief of the Allies forces
in North Africa, I have ordered
that bombing should be suspended
for six hours, so that the follow
ine message should reach you.
"First, Gen. Eisenhower invites
you to cease all resistance to pre
vent further bloodshed. Secondly,
if Your Excellency refuses to
accept this invitation, the bomb
ing will start again on a far
larger scale, and will continue up
to the moment resistance ceases.
"Thirdly, I take the liberty to
appeal to you personally. Your
Excellency must know as well as
I do that resistance in the present
circumstances would be hopeless
for Pantellaria, in spite of all the
heroism on the part of the garri
son."
"Taking into account the over
powering superiority of the Allied
forces-a superiority which is even
admitted by the Italian Comman
der-in-Chief--and also taking into
account the blockade which makes
the arrival of all reinforcements
impossible, there is no dishonor,
after having done one's duty, in
accepting our invitation, which
seeks to prevent further blood
shed.
"If Your Excellency decides to
accept the request of Gen. Eisen
hower, then please take the fol
lowing masures:-l. End imme
diately all resistance by Italian
land, sea, and air forces, and
evacuate all military installations.
which must remain untouched.
"2. A white cross must be dis.
played in the middle of the aero
drome visible from the air, and
a white flag must be hoisted in
the harbor visible to all ships.
"3. All measures to facilitate the
reception of Allied officers and the
transfer of the government of the
island to our hands must be taken.
"If at 6 p.m. the two signs are
not displayed, I shall be forced
to consider that the request has
been refused, and all attacks
will be resumed with all the
means at my disposal."
The message to the garrison and
population ended:-"I have done
my utmost to prevent the destruc
tion of your property and loss of
lives. It is up to your commander
to make the decision."
THE military correspondent of
the "Daily Mail" emphasises
that the fall of the island has
another tremendous implication. It
lays before Italy in all its deadly
significance the might of the blows
which can be dealt her before in
vasion.
Pantellaria was a demonstra
tion of the new Allied offensive
technique. The capture was the
result of the softening of a
limited objective to a point
where there was no need to in
vade but merely to occupy.
Allied Headquarters revealed to
day that the Commander-in-Chief
(General Eisenhower), and the
British leader (General Cunning
ham) were aboard the cruiser
which led the naval force close to
Pantellaria on Tuesday to test [the
effectiveness of the shore batte
ries.
They both stood on the bridge
as the cruiser went in to batter
the shore defences. Shells fell
within 300 yards.
Gen. Cunningham, after watch
ing a while, said there was no
doubt the 'island would fall "once
the infantry got in there.",
This naval assault climaxed a
test run by torpedo-carrying
planes into Pantellaria's main har
bor. The planes came out un
damaged from the inferno of. the
harbor..
A communique issued tonight in
Valletta. said that Malta-based
fighters yesterday destroyed a
Macchi (Italian) fighter off Sicily.
while fighter bombers attacked
factories and marshalling yards in
South Italy. and Gela Aerodrome.
At night intruders attacked rail
way ?idings and road transport in
Sicily and south-west Italy.
A despatch from Valetta says
that attacks against Malta since
war began have resulted in 1,185
people being killed, 394 dead from
injuries, and 1,818 seriously
wounded.
Houses destroyed to the end of
1942 numbered 4,406, while 4,427
required demolition and 11,154
were slightly damaged. The num
ber of alerts sounded in the island
totalled 3,300.
$