It is also significant that Rome has been liberated by the armed
forces of many nations. The American and British armies--who bore
the chief burdens of battle--found at their sides our own North
American neighbors, the gallant Canadians. The fighting New
Zealanders from the far South Pacific, the courageous French and
the French Moroccans, the South Africans, the Poles and the East
Indians--all of them fought with us on the bloody approaches to the
city of Rome.
The Italians, too, forswearing a partnership in the Axis which they
never desired, have sent their troops to join us in our battles
against the German trespassers on their soil.
The prospect of the liberation of Rome meant enough to Hitler and
his generals to induce them to fight desperately at great cost of
men and materials and with great sacrifice to their crumbling
Eastern line and to their Western front. No thanks are due to them
if Rome was spared the devastation which the Germans wreaked on
Naples and other Italian cities. The Allied general maneuvered so
skillfully that the Nazis could only have stayed long enough to
damage Rome at the risk of losing their armies.
But Rome is of course more than a military objective.
Ever since before the days of the Caesars, Rome has stood as a
symbol of authority. Rome was the Republic.
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