Propaganda Raid?

Over the Rome radio one day last week Italians heard the terrifying news that war had reached inside the Italian coast. British parachutists armed with machine guns, hand grenades and high explosives had landed in the wild Calabria-Lucania region of Italy's instep. Though 19 had been quickly disarmed after a battle with carabinieri, some were probably still at large. All Black Shirt divisions in the zone south of Naples were mustered out in patrolling parties.

London denied knowledge of the whole thing for 24 hours, then issued a guarded communique hinting that some had not only completed their missions but returned to their bases. Their missions were described as demolishing "certain objectives connected with ports in that area." Significantly traffic on southern Italian railways was suddenly limited to military needs. As a military operation, the possible demolition of rail lines (and perhaps transformer stations) was no mean feat. As a lesson in Italy's new vulnerability it was powerful propaganda.

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