The Question

Two Allied bombings, 1,600 tons of bombs, were enough for Rome. The day after the second heavy U.S. raid on the Italian capital last week, the Government of Marshal Pietro Badoglio tried to call a halt by declaring Rome an open city. The broadcast announcement said: "Now all necessary measures in conformity with international law are being taken."

The great and only question for the Allies was: Are these steps being taken? The requirements for an open city are not clearly stipulated (the open-city concept is laid down in Article 25 of the Hague Convention of 1907). But clearly they include adequate guarantees from a neutral party that:

> All ministries and government agencies have been removed;

> All military organizations--garrison troops, artillery, anti-aircraft and other defenses--have been removed;

> All war industries have been removed;

> No military use is made of transport facilities.

Who Can Say? The Italian declaration was unilateral--there was no neutral power to back up Badoglio's assurances. There was, in fact, no party but Badoglio's Government to assure the Allies that the capital was being divested of all military usefulness to the Axis armies. But there was plenty of reason to doubt that it was:

> Rome, as the capital of Fascismo and now of Badoglio's government, is almost as crammed as Washington with governmental offices and employes. At least 500,000 government workers and 100,000 officials were in Rome at the outbreak of war.

> Rome, as a city of war industry, had aircraft, chemical and rayon factories, power plants, locomotive-repair yards.

> Above all, Rome, as a center of Italian rail communications, forms an integral link between northern and southern Italy. It was to interrupt this vital line of supplies for Axis armies in the south that U.S. bombers twice blasted Rome's most important railway centers, the San Lorenzo and Littorio yards.

Until he had adequate guarantees of Rome's demilitarization, General Dwight D. Eisenhower could continue to bomb Rome. The Italian Government seemed to realize this: it put a damper on rejoicings of Rome's residents (see p. 32) by pointing out that "permanent relief from air attack" could be expected "only when the belligerents on the other side agreed that all terms had been met."

The demilitarization of Rome would be tantamount to an admission that southern Italy would not, or could not, be defended. To this extent, the Allied bombings of the Holy City and war capital had already brought victory.

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