h the 1 Behind d the War ar N News WS By Captain John H. H Craig INS War Analyst t It would wo ld be interesting to t know what Hitler and Mussolini discussed at their meeting In northern Italy while Rome burned with the fires lighted by American bombers and while General Dwight D. D Eisenhower's armies annies thundered at a retreating axis forces In Sicily The big Caesar and the little Caesar have come a long way since they signed their pact of union back In the dim days of the Ethiopian war The little Caesar bestrode the world like a colossus His fascist armies had just cleaned up Ethiopia in fairly quick time His air force was reputed to be the best in the world and his navy queen of the Mediterranean Today his modern Roman empire empire empire em em- pire is gone gOlle the myth of the power of his air force Is shattered shattered shattered shat shat- his army Is licked and his navy skulks in port without MarIng Mar Mar- ar- ar Ing to come out and fight On top of it all the strategy of his more powerful partner in the war daily emerges more clearly And that turns turns' out to tobe tobe tobe be the very unsentimental survival survival survival sur sur- vival strategy of tossing the weak to the wolves in the hope that the job of killing and eating the weakling will weaken and delay the foes that rin ring in Germany Germany Germany Ger Ger- many and postpone Hitler's own doom Now that Sicily's Enna has fallen and six of Italy's original original original nal 10 divisions of the Sicilian garrison have ha ve been shattered without inflicting anything re resembling resembling resembling re- re a defeat on General Eisenhower's men the only factor factor fac fac- tor tar left In doubt in the island campaign is how much time the final mopping up will take Bv By the loss of Enna and the cutting of the main railroad and highway artery in the center of the island axis forces have lost lo their original advantage of being able to shuttle troops from front to front and concentrate their whole weight against a portion of their foes more rapidly rapid rapid- ly than these latter could be re- re ed This advantage in peed speed of concentration possessed by land foes renders the danger of counterattack counterattack counterattack coun coun- a critical one to amphibious amphibious amphibious am am- armies that drive from the sea to the shore as did the allied force that stormed Sicily But the axis forces in the island never exploited their P advantage A force against one or rn Inore posed united nations u uni never organized Now N is gone forever Dispatches Indicate t that thal commanders of German tit troops in Sicily are arem J repa to adopt the only po course left them by n ing their remaining uj defensive line 0 running frol from I Etna to the sea on t tand the and east cast coasts and th there gin gins ging in for a last ditch sta d' d The terrain along thi thu this linn tremendously hilly and d ded ed ad by ridges Etnas Etna's I 0 foot peak The distance from sea to across the northe northeastern stern ac the Sicilian triangle at ang E only about 40 miles an and Ih to be two seems fresh Ita divisions and the rem rema remains two German divisions to the line If the Italians Italian f there will be troops eno heavy defense depth Even the Germans Germai could probably put Up UD a battle There is Is no doubt about their wil wiland and ability to fight From his headquarter I morning General Eisenh sued a note of warning a expecting too quick a f tj fitLin the Sicilian fighting He Ho j effect that It is calculate how long lon a jo fO desperate men will be abl abi hold the natural fort which axis forces are rel All of which adds up UD t fact that Mussolini hi his co ci and his armies annies are bei by Hitler for time And AM more the nazi fuehrer is I his own soldiers for th the I commodity 41 This is pretty cold cold- cold li strategy but it may ga gaIn gains r time As the e eq equi stands at present if Eise Else finishes the Sicilian job laj weeks more the total time will have been pu for Mussolini's Sicily ii 10 lJ ian divisions ant and two d dof di divisi of Germans The nazi nazi cl might think it a bargain i 4 Statements and opinion In are private to the vm vit are not to be construed fleeting the views of ot th department i