VARYING SCENES ON THE WAY TO GASSING

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24258, 16 May 1944, Page 4

VARYING SCENES ON THE WAY TO GASSING

A VISIT TO ITALY

Early next day we set out for Naples by car in company with Lieutenant Bill Hams, of Auckla ’ th cheery soul who is now attached to me Public Relations staff. After leaving Bari we ran for long mues through flat country . some of which had been reclaimed from swamp under one of Mussolmis more enlightened schemes to -ettie people on the land. Each farm, with house and outbuildings, is owned by the State. The houses looked sturdy but unkempt, surrounded by untidily littered yards. There were no gardens and the pigs and poultry seemed to have the run of the house. Signs of the recent fighting, appeared everywhere. Every bridge had been blown by the retreating Germans, ingenious temporary steel bridges of a British design replaced those destroyed. Large dumps of German and Italian ammunition and war material rusted alongside the roads. As we approached the blitzed town of Foggia large numbers of bomber and fighter aircraft, on their way out to strafe the Nazis, filled the air. Later in the day we were to see passing over the big flight that reduced the abbey at Monte Cassino to a shattered mass of masonry. Foggia is a dismal wreck. All of the town’s municipal services have been disrupted by wholesale demolition. It is torn and shattered as though by an earthquake followed by a devastating fire. We were glad to leave its gloomy environs and strike towards the mountains. It was bitterly cold as we hud a lunch of bread, bully beef, and lea on the side of the road.

Over )he Mountains Presently we began to ascend the foothills. The road was clogged with a stream of slow-moving lorries. A convoy of massive amphibious punts, almost impassable on the narrow road, threw us an hour out of schedule. As we ascended higher into the' mountains the snow lay thick. We'drove through high, dirty grey walls of it, which had been cleared from the streets of . mountain villages. The snow made* thpse places look even more unkempt than they usually are. They were dismal and unattractive. The usual dirty children haunted the streets; the usual idle men stood abput op corners or hung round the wine shops. The sturdy women seemed to be doing what work was going forward. They are adepts at carrying things on their heads. We saw a middle-aged woman carrying thus a full sack of grain, and others, fairly large barrels of wine, perfectly -balanced. The secret of their straight backs and graceful carriage was explained. , . So we wound all day through the mountain roads, thronged with American and British vehicles. At a Canadian transport depot near a fairly large > town we stopped for a minor adjustment to our engine. Officers and men were helpful and kind. We reached Naples l just before nightfall and were glad, to find accommodation at the Cyrena Hotel, which is now cleave hostel for officers. It had been a full and interesting day. Captain Ted Webber, commanding the Public, Relations staff, made us welcome. He accompanied us for the remainder of the trip. Off to Cassino

The following day zv.w us early on the road to Cassino. This was the Via Roma, better known® to the Allied 'armies as Route 6. As usual the road was thronged with traffic, but we Caserta in good time. Caserta, a city of the plain, is the ancient home of the kings of Naples. Like all the southern Italian towns that we saw, it is a dingy, untidy, dirty place, with

(Specially written for “The Press.”)

[By P. H. N. FREETH.]

narrow streets opening surprisingly into spacious squares. The palace, a huge building, now in Allied occupation. is divided by large, central paved courtyards, which are entered through massive doorways. Modern invention has left the palace untouched, as we discovered in mounting an exhausting 10 storeys without the aid of a lift. Some signs of war damage appear in Caserta; but it has not been as badly hit as Foggia. , • Our business did not hold us long there and soon we were pushing on again' towards Cassino. As we progressed, grimmer sights warned us that we were approaching the fighting area. We rode through villages flattened and scarred by the avalanche of war. Italian civilians were still living precariously in the ruins. Huge dumps si of ammunition and supplies appeared in the fields. Memories of France surged in on u« as the desolation, increased. Field ' ambulances and casualty clearing sta-’ ' tions, marked by the Red Cross, showed up. Now we began to near : ; the sound of the guns; but still the traffic poured on, bumper to bumper— , gun carriages, lorries, staff cars, tanks, and the übiquitous jeeps. We saw Indian troops, French troops. Ameri- : ; can troops, and, at last, bur own New -i. ? ‘ • Zealanders, who were at that time'--'/ holding the front in this area. For •■i.v’ some way up to here the country had. .v, been comparatively flat; but as we approached the line. high, steep hills appeared, forbidding , and awesome.,; The gunfire increased in volume to a' ’• mighty symphony of hate.

Divisional Headquarters . ; Soon we were turning off the main-’. ' road on to a rough, improvised track. A few minutes later we had arrived at New Zealand Divisional Headquarters. - A viciously cold wind- blew down y*' from the hills round the valley in';,,., which the camp lay, Most of the mea'v-w were accommodated in low tent ters. Several of them were swinging'!® improvised tin can braziers to warm I ’’-'.- their cahvas homes. This system of>'k‘ central heating is de rigueur on Italian front. ' We had little time to spare, smce-Si*' our own tent must be erected before* 4-S dark, but willing hands soon accom-.:;*, plished that. We wfcre glad to into its shelter from the thin half-gate;*s that had- blown up. Later we hail/J&v, dinner at the Public Relations carap.'/i. with the official war correspondents. was a jolly party, mostly of newspapermen, and there was much-V shop talk to be exchanged. A bottle of whisky wangled from LondoaVXV short supply sealed our popularity, ? We spent a shivering night onnatf row stretchers, though we were pro-tiv* tected by four blankets, our greatcoats,:]--:-and most of our other wearing Sfig&h parel. Sunny Italy, indeed! J V-M-] After breakfast we attended a daiM/y.. conference of officers representing the units of the corps to which, thdffe’; N.Z.E.F. was attached, and heard current tactical position We Igter received a very hearty wel-kc|M; come from Lieutenant-General Slip's Bernard Freyberg. to whose mess . .we®: were thereafter attached, and MajorGeneral Howard Kippenberger, was in command of "the division. spent the rest of the morning getting fS a general idea of the disposition -of p.: the troops in the area and the rugged topography of' the surrounding country. Particularly impressive wag, . Three .Million Dollar Mountain, a steep rampart that had been ‘stormed ‘ • and won by American troops and ceived its name from the cost of the '"i; shells poured into the. mountain be- 1fore and during the attack. On •’rim slopes the bodies of many bravtgpl American boys still lay unburied. ‘ (To be continued.) —~ 1